Frank Zappa at The Richmond Coliseum - November 2nd, 1974

38 years ago tonight Frank Zappa played the Richmond Coliseum:

Ad courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Santana - Richmond Coliseum - October 22nd, 1971

41 years ago tonight Santana played the Richmond Coliseum:

Photo courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Part 2: Richmond Coliseum under construction - 1970

Here's another great shot of the Richmond Coliseum under construction, the first post is here. You can see I-64 connecting to I-95 in the background, to give you an idea of the angle. I think all of the buildings you can see in this picture that are within a few blocks of the coliseum are now gone.

Richmond Coliseum under construction - 1970

There's been a lot of talk recently about replacing Richmond's 42 year old coliseum. So let's take a trip back to 1970 to look at the construction of what was then a state of the art arena.

War & Ohio Players at the Richmond Coliseum - 1973

Continuing on the theme from yesterday...38 years ago today War played the Richmond Coliseum with the Ohio Players.

Today's ad comes from the October 11th, 1973 issue of the University of Richmond's newspaper The Collegian.

Photo courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Richmond Coliseum Grand Opening - 1971

In 1971 we were 750,000 entertainment starved people...40 years later we're 1.2 million entertainment starved people. Love the info on the renovated Mosque as well.

Photo courtesy of Billboard magazine

Yes & The Eagles - Richmond Coliseum - 1972

Continuing on the theme from yesterday, here's an ad from the University of Richmond's Collegian for The Eagles opening for Yes on September 27th, 1972 at the Richmond Coliseum. 39 years ago today. The Eagles were opening the tour, and supporting their first album that had only been released 3 months earlier. See below for a review of the show from VCU's Commonwealth Times, from an obvious Yes fan.

Top image courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Bottom image courtesy of VCU Libraries

VCU Rams - 1979

The VCU Rams have a big game coming up tomorrow, their first ever Final Four game. What better way to get psyched than this great shot of the Rams playing William and Mary from the 1979 VCU application booklet?

Open air 6th Street Marketplace - 1969 Architectural rendering

Happy New Year everyone! Vintage Richmond is back from a short hiatus, and I've got a ton of great stuff planned for 2011: Some before and after posts, videos, and more concert flyers and ads to name just a few.

We'll jump right into things with this architectural rendering of the "Sixth Street Mall" from 1969. It probably would have been better to go with an open air design, then the city wouldn't have had to spend all that money demolishing the enclosed mall (built in 1985) a few years ago. Or did they initially go with this open air design, then later build the enclosed mall? Anyone care to give some insight?