Bayfront Auditorium

Bayfront Auditorium formerly the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium
The Municipal Auditorium in 1974
Building Information
Location	900 South Palafox Street
Client	City of Pensacola
Completion Date	1955
Cost	$820,000
Date Demolished	2005
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Bayfront Auditorium (known as the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium until 1988) was a building that sat for fifty years at the foot of Palafox Street, overlooking Pensacola Bay. It was demolished in 2005.

History

Planning for the auditorium was begun in the early 1950s. The development faced early opposition from the Saenger Theatre's owners and others who questioned "the right of the city to levy amusement taxes which would tax the theatres for the construction of a competitive business."

The Municipal Auditorium was built for $820,000 and dedicated on February 8, 1955. The Pensacola High School band played at the dedication ceremony and was the first group to perform there. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra was the first major concert a month later, to a crowd of about 2,000.

The building was managed by former Pensacola mayor Walter Wicke from its opening until Wicke's death in 1966. During segregation, blacks were forced to use a side entrance and sit in the balcony.

During its lifetime, the building was host to some of the world's biggest musical acts. Elvis Presley performed at the auditorium on February 26, 1956. Patsy Cline sang at the auditorium only a few years before her death. When Jerry Lee Lewis performed, he pounded the new piano so fiercely that the management stopped the show halfway through. The attendance record was set by Charley Pride, whose 1971 concert packed in 3,000 fans.

In later years, the building also hosted the Civil Airs Dance Club and the Pensacola Junior League's annual "Bargain Sale" fundraiser.

The building began to lose its appeal to more modern venues with better acoustics and more accessible parking. As more musical acts chose to perform at the larger Pensacola Civic Center and more intimate Saenger Theatre, Bayfront Auditorium fell into disrepair. In its final years, the City of Pensacola was losing more than $100,000 every year to keep it open.

On January 22, 2004, the Pensacola City Council voted to demolish the building, to be replaced by a new municipal auditorium as part of the Festival Park project on the Trillium site. It got a reprieve when that project was halted by a voter referendum. However, after receiving extensive damage during Hurricane Ivan, the building was again slated for demolition. Big Dog Demolition completed the demolition on July 24, 2005, and debris was used for offshore fishing reefs and in Phase II of Project GreenShores.

Plaza de Luna was built on the site of the auditorium in 2006 and opened in 2007.

Other performers

• Red Foley, with special guests the Phatons, and Sandpipers (1965)
• Lovin' Spoonful (1966)
• Liberace (1966 & 1967)
• The Byrds (1968)
• Three Dog Night (1969 or '70)
• ZZ Top and Savoy Brown with Fever Tree and Aphrodite (1970)
• The Cowsills (May 17, 1970)
• Ted Nugent (Noel Christmas Dance, December 1970)
• ZZ Top (January 1, 1971 and June 19, 1972)
• Blue Oyster Cult (June 21, 1972)
• Bloodrock, with Ted Nugent, and Pensacola's premier band Lyman Slack (February 1973)
• Charlie Daniels Band (May 31, 1973)
• BB King (June 11, 1973)
• Foghat (August 22, 1973)
• Cheech and Chong (Fall 1973)
• Black Oak Arkansas (with Les Moore and Charlie Daniels on July 16, 1973. Also January 1974)
• White Witch (Summer 1974)
• Bee Gees (1975)
• Wet Willie (Spring 1975)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd (March 29, 1975)
• Manhattans (1975)
• Rare Earth (Winter 1975-'76)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - (July 28, 1976)
• Atlanta Rhythm Section and LeRoux (1978)
• Pablo Cruise, with Sanford-Townsend Band (June 28, 1978)
• Gulf Coast Corvette Club Car Show (Summer 1978)
• Blackfoot and Johnny Van Zant (1979)
• Molly Hatchet and Dixie Dregs (April 1, 1979)
• Heavy Metal Mardi Gras featuring Kix, Slasher, and Anyone's Daughter - (January 31, 1986)
• Mike Danger's No Wave Jam with The Pilots (Summer 1986)
• Megadeth (April 14, 1987)
• Echo and The Bunnymen (April 14, 1988)
• Ted Nugent and LA Guns (April 25, 1988)
• Yngwie Malmsteen (June 28, 1988)
• Continental Championship Wrestling (Late 1970s-late 1980s)
• New Kids on the Block (May 18,1989)
• Carlos Santana (1990)
• Roy Jones, Jr. (several times between 1989 and 1991)
• Bob Dylan (September 12, 1992)
• Primus (1993)
• Jethro Tull (April 3, 1996)
• Presidents of The United States of America (May 11, 1996)
• 311 (May 23, 1996)
• No Doubt (May 23, 1996)
• Rage Against the Machine (July 15, 1996)
• Tori Amos (August 10, 1996)
• Foo Fighters (April 29, 1998)
• Widespread Panic (April 28, 1999)
• "Weird Al" Yankovic (October 5, 2000)
• Green Day (January 15, 2001)
• A Perfect Circle (February 18, 2001)
• Papa Roach (March 18, 2001)
• The Offspring (April 25, 2001)
• 311 (October 19, 2001)
• B. B. King (December 29, 2002)
• Puddle of Mudd (April 20, 2004)

Images

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  From Pensacola Bay, 1959