Tom Jones International

It was where John F. Kennedy gave the 1960 speech that outlined the creation of the Peace Corps. It was a major west coast concert venue and, in between, saw a vast variety of entertainment and events. (The variety of entertainment is only hinted at by the photo at left.)

“It” is the famed Cow Palace outside San Francisco. It opened in 1941 as an exposition center and, since then, has welcomed an astonishing range of events — the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Liberace, the Billy Graham Crusade (with attendance of 696,525), John F. Kennedy, Evel Knievel and, in 1964, the Beatles. It was at the Cow Palace that the Grateful Dead unveiled their “wall of sound” on March 23, 1974.

The Cow Palace website says, “The Wall was a wonder to behold, rising up like the skyline of a small city with its towering stacks of speakers (641 in all) and amplifiers (putting out more than 26,000 watts) and it was even more of a joy to hear. Alas, the Wall would also prove to be both physically and financially cumbersome, requiring two (and sometimes three) separate crews to set up the stage, and five trucks to carry 72 tons of equipment. It was a huge drain on the band’s resources, and would only be used by the band for thirty-seven shows spread over seven months, passing into history when the Dead took their two-year hiatus from touring in October of 1974.”

Others who played the venue include the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, the Who, the Doors, Rod Stewart, Santana, ZZ Top, Yes, Paul McCartney & Wings, Neil Diamond, Elton John, U2, Prince and, of course, Tom Jones.

Last month, legislation was proposed in California to allow the state to sell the venue to Daly City — where it is actually located. The city manager of Daly city was quoted as saying, “The Cow Palace has outlived its usefulness.” Events there, she said, “contribute nothing to our community. Why would we keep it?”

Instead, as with so many other famous buildings (and, trust us, living in Las Vegas we know about this) if the sale goes through, the Cow Palace property will be demolished and the land, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “will be used to build a grocery store, bank, housing and other projects that will benefit people in the underserved areas.”

We think it’d be great — if the Cow Palace is demolished — if they’d sell the box office wall, or pieces of it, to raise money for charity.

The photo of the Cow Palace box office wall is by Paul Chinn from the San Francisco Chronicle. The posters shown here really reflect the evolution of rock music art, from no art at all to real collectible posters.