LEWISOHN STADIUM
136th Street and Convent Avenue
1915-1973

 

From 1918 to 1966, thousands of New Yorkers poured into this colonnaded Greco-Roman amphitheater for summer open-air concerts — classical, jazz and more — that cost as little as 25 cents.

One person who remembers those events is Claudette Law, from the Pelham Parkway area in the Bronx. In the 1950’s, she used to take the subway with her small son each Independence Day to watch Louis Armstrong play at the stadium, a performance that was always followed by fireworks. “I remember Louis coming out,” said Ms. Law, 72, “and his wife got up once and told us his birthday was really on the first ‘but we always celebrate it on the Fourth’ and he was always here to celebrate it.”

She added: “He was quite picturesque himself. He had his white handkerchief, and he’d just be waving it around.”

But she is unsentimental about the loss of the stadium. “I was born in Harlem Hospital, and the building I was born in and every building I lived in before this one is gone,” Ms. Law said.

“You can’t go around missing things,” she added, laughing. “Otherwise, you’ll be still sitting here, missing.”