forest-hills-tennis-club

The iconic Forest Hills Tennis Stadium reopens tonight with a sold-out Mumford & Sons concert. This is the first major concert for the 17,000 seat venue since the 1980s. The stadium hosted the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Frank Sinatra until residents started protesting against them. The big night tonight is the result of a grassroots campaign to restore the stadium and put it into use. The Rego-Forest Preservation Council reports that “a reported nearly $1.5 million has been spent to restore and upgrade the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium since June 2013, and future restoration plans and upgrades are envisioned by the West Side Tennis Club and concert producers.” The West Side Tennis Club, where the stadium is located, built a new stadium entrance on Burns Street, further away from residential buildings than the main entrance on Tennis Place, to deal with noise and crowds. (Queens Crap has a cool picture of the new entrance. Check out interior and historic shots at this Flickr set by the Rego-Forest Preservation Council.) Also to discourage late-night noise, the concert’s scheduled to end at 10pm. DNAinfo has word on how surrounding businesses are planning for the big crowds in Forest Hills. It’ll be a big night in the neighborhood for sure.

Iconic Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Makes a Comeback [Rego-Forest Preservation Council]
Mumford & Sons Concert to Bring Crowds and After-Parties to Forest Hills [DNAinfo]

Photo by Rego-Forest Preservation Council


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