I'm working on a Youtube story on the old Ridgewood Grove Arena that is listed as being in Brooklyn, New York. It isn't a big issue but the actual arena is located in Ridgewood, Queens, but it has always been listed as being in Brooklyn even in the New York papers. So I think that it is accepted that it quoted as being in Brooklyn.
I recently did a video story on the mob boss, Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante, who fought professionally at the Ridgewood Grove a total of six times during the 1940s. When I prepared that story I was somewhat stunned by the sheer volume of future World Champions who appeared at the small arena that I filmed (43 in total)
As I am preparing the new story though I think that I have found a problem. The new Ridgewood Grove Arena that was located on the corner of St. Nicholas and Palmetto opened on November the 6th, 1926. Tony Canzoneri headlined the event and suffered his first professional loss.
Here is the problem that I discovered though, all fights listed for the Ridgewood Grove Arena between 1914 until October 30th, 1926 occurred at a completely different boxing venue. Those cards were held at the old Ridgewood Grove which was known as Ridgewood Grove S.C
Ridgewood Grove S.C was located on the corner of Cypress Ave and Centre Street in Ridgewood, Queens and it operated until 1926 when it moved to the new arena. The old Ridgewood Grove was torn down in 1927. I have images of the old Ridgewood Grove S.C at this location.
So here is my question. Do the website owners need to know that all fights listed as taking place at the Ridgewood Grove Arena prior to 11/6/1926 actually took place at a completely different boxing venue? I believe that the website already has a venue entry for Ridgewood Grove S.C although it is rather sparse.
Further complicating matters is that the old Ridgewood Grove S.C sat in an area that was known as Ridgewood Grove and Park, a much wider area where the Brooklyn Dodgers played their Sunday games during the summer of 1886. Some fights also occurred in the park itself.
If you match the records between the Ridgewood Grove and the Ridgewood Grove S.C on this website, you will discover many Saturday night boxing cards missing from the Ridgewood Grove S.C between the years 1920 to 1926. All of those missing Saturday cards can be found listed under the Ridgewood Grove (Arena) page instead. Like I said, the Ridgewood Grove didn't open until 11/7/1926, so all of those Saturday cards prior to that date should be listed as happening at the Ridgewood Grove S.C.
All information can be found on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper archive. Just search for Ridgewood Grove and select the year 1926 and you will discover all of the information that I have included here. Pay specific attention to the dates 11/7/26 and 10/31/26, Sunday newspaper reports for the fights that happened the night before. Those dates detail the closing of one venue and the opening of the other.