The Cow Palace, an arena and event center nearly eight decades old, is being memorialized in a new exhibit at the San Mateo County History Museum opening in early March.
“There’s no question that the Cow Palace had international significance from a historical point of view,” said Mitch Postel, president of the San Mateo County Historical Association. “Every time we discover something new, it was a surprise to me.”
To the right of the grand staircase of the old County Courthouse, now home to the San Mateo County History Museum, are the doors to a vault. These days, the vault holds a different type of valuable goods — pieces of county history on display as part of a rotating exhibit.
Beginning March 2, that exhibit will focus on the Cow Palace, a historical site by its own right built during the Great Depression through the New Deal Works Progress Administration. Starting in 1935, thousands were put to work constructing the new arena. About six years later, the Cow Palace was opened and its first event, the Western Classic Holstein Show, was hosted in April of 1941.
Much family-friendly entertainment was to follow including the first Grand National Livestock Expo in November of that same year, the Junior Grand National beginning in 1946, college level basketball games, the Dickens Christmas Fair, Disney on Ice and the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, one of the center’s longest tenured renters.
Historic musical and political events also took place at the arena. It’s where the Beatles played one of their first live show in the United States, where the Republican National Convention was held twice with one of those conventions featuring Richard Nixon’s nomination as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president, and where John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. gave speeches.
The Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley, the Who, the Doors, the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Santana, ZZ Top, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Elton John, U2 and Prince have all performed sold-out shows under the arena’s roof. The San Jose Sharks played some of their first few seasons at the Cow Palace, as did the Golden State Warriors.
“We were really busy. We were just running all the time which was kind of neat,” said John Root, former Cow Palace CEO who said seeing the display felt nostalgic. “A lot of big deals have happened here.”
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The events are all featured in some way in the new exhibit which has been two years in the making. After being approached by Root, who also served as a member of the advisory body assembled to help develop the exhibit, about the matter and touring the site, Postel said the museum ended up collecting many items for its archives.
Pieces of those items and others on loan — panels from the box office wall covered in signatures from various music acts, a leather vest worn by Eric Clapton, drumsticks used by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, a Metallica setlist, a purple leather banner, chaps, rodeo barrels and rope from various Grand Nationals, an autographed basketball signed by the Harlem Globetrotters, items sold at the Dickens Fair, and plenty of photos of music acts, political figures and annual events taken by — will be on display as part of the temporary exhibit for two years.
Other items not yet named will be featured in a permanent display as part of the $1.5 million revamped Innovators Gallery set to open this summer. Museum Deputy Director Carmen Blaire said the main pieces of the permanent display have already been selected but the community’s reaction to the temporary display may help influence portions of the exhibit.
The community will have the chance to hear directly from some of those who either worked at the Cow Palace or participated in its events during a free panel and exhibit showing on Saturday, March 2. Doors open at 1 p.m. with the panel kicking off the event.
“That’s really special too, to get the history directly from the source and to have former Miss Grand Nationals talk about being Miss Grand National in the ’70s or ’80s, that’s really valuable,” said Associate Curator Rowan Smith.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. and access to the exhibit will be free from then until 4 p.m., during which Brass Farthing, a local musical group, will perform songs from each of the eight decades Cow Palace has been in existence.
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(3) comments
Does anyone know offhand if the Cow Palace has any type of historical designation? If not, perhaps we can get a heritage alliance to work their magic and instead of trying to impose their will on an entire neighborhood (for example), they can work on a single building which is important enough to garner their own exhibit.
As a college student I had a part time job as a Rent-a-cop with a security firm which had a contract with the Cow Palace organization. I spent many hours there, including overnight shifts to guard car exhibits. As mentioned there were multiple events each year. My highlight was escorting a giant 6 foot plus wrestler from his dressing room. I weighted in at 120 lbs at 5-10. He towered over me but he was very friendly. I also was present at a rock concert for "Sly and the Family Stone." They were actually a real family and invited me in for a night cap after the show. It is a scary, creeky place at night, and I was not all that comfortable going through these halls to inspect possible intruder activity. I did carry a Colt 45 but I was not even sure I could fire it. I only had firearms training in the US Air Force, all of two days with an M-16. The best shows were the Grand Nationals, with all of the Western hoopla, horses, bulls, cowboys and pretty women. The Cow Palace is a treasure and I am glad to see that some history will be preserved.
The Cow Palace is a very interesting building. I've been to dozens of events there over the years and every time I am there, I feel l would like to explore it further. Architecturally, and from a construction point of view, it has a lot of hidden nooks that would be really neat to see. I wish they opened it up for "History of the Cow Palace" on-site tours. I'd absolutely go to check it out!
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