The Coliseum

All my Coliseum memories are vague. I grew up in the '80s in Meriden and would occasionally come to the Coliseum for some cultural atrocity like the monster trucks or Disney on Ice. I seem to recall watching the Harlem Globetrotters, but that may have been at the Hartford Civic Center. By the time I moved to New Haven after college, the Coliseum was closed, dilapidating, returning to rubble. I knew it wasn't long for this world; I wanted to do something to preserve what memories remained.
One day last January, I set off on a mission. I wanted to explore the half-destroyed remains of the Coliseum. I took my camera and found a hole in the fence. I was surprised by how much was already gone. The red and blue seats could be seen from the street and invoked memories of over-salted nachos and sticky cola hands. But the twisted exposed wires and dripping ventilation pipes disturbed the reverie. The whole scene had a post-apocalyptic vibe. It seemed like the kind of place where I would camp out after the bombs fell. Standing on the spot where Twiggy may have landed that three-pointer from between his legs and off the head of one of the Washington Senators, I felt exposed and vulnerable; every siren from the nearby police station reminded me of my trespass and the doomed nature of the place electrified my spine with instinctual fear.
Now, the Coliseum is a strange conversation-piece. When people come to the city to visit me and pass by the skeletal remains, it usually brings a moment of nostalgia. I didn't know New Haven back then. I never got the sense that the Coliseum belonged to some city or was part of anything else. Every trip to the Coliseum was under the shroud of night and it was a quick rush up the spiral to the garage and through that strange interzone of commerce and lowest-common-denominator culture. It seemed to be an alternate dimension made of concrete and brightly-colored plastic. I'm sure it'd be a different experience now and, in that way, I'm glad it's gone. I don't like nostalgia; I prefer progress. I'm glad I got my pictures and I look forward to whatever replaces it. Though I'm sure it won't be as obscene.
DM - 1/19/07

60 photos | 220 views

items are from between 02 Jan 2006 & 20 Jan 2007.