Concert halls & amphitheaters / Grand River at McGraw Ave (west side)
Olympia Stadium
Closed – archive entry · 1980
A former arena on Grand River Avenue on Detroit's west side (1927–1980), home of the Detroit Red Wings and the city's main arena for big concerts.
01 / The story of this place
Make time for these
Olympia, designed by C. Howard Crane in Romanesque Revival style and nicknamed “The Old Red Barn,” opened on October 15, 1927 as the home of the Detroit Red Wings, and its seating grew from 11,563 to about 15,000. Besides hockey and boxing it was Detroit's main arena for big concerts: The Beatles played there on September 6, 1964 and August 13, 1966, and Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin and Kiss also appeared. The Red Wings played their last game there on December 15, 1979 before moving to Joe Louis Arena, and the final event was held on February 21, 1980.
- “The Old Red Barn”
- The Beatles in 1964 and 1966
- Red Wings home until 1979
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 2
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Joe Louis 1914–1981 · boxer, world heavyweight champion
Played here
Louis defended his title here, including against Abe Simon in 1941; the arena was razed in the late 1980s and a National Guard armory stands on the site.
- Sugar Ray Robinson 1921–1989 · boxer, world welterweight and middleweight champion
Played here
Site of his two February 1943 fights with Jake LaMotta: his first professional loss and his revenge three weeks later.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
Published events automatically linked from our event guide. Times are local to the venue.
We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
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