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Report - - The Blue Horizon, Philly USA Sept 2016 | European and International Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - The Blue Horizon, Philly USA Sept 2016

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mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User

The Blue Horizon is a historic 1,346-seater boxing venue in Philadelphia, and was named the greatest boxing venue in the world by The Ring magazine. Originally constructed in 1865 as a row of three four-storey townhouses, in 1914 they were sold to the fraternal society the 'Loyal Order of Moose'. The conversion to a fraternal lodge added a ballroom, a bar and an auditorium to the building. In 1961 boxing promotor Jimmy Topper Snr. bought the building and renamed it The Blue Horizon, taken from the song Beyond the Blue Horizon from the 1930 film Monte Carlo. Over the years a whole host of big names in the boxing world made appearances at the venue and it hosted regional, state and international title fights as well as it's first world title fight in 1997. It closed in 2010, reportedly due to tax problems.

The venue was used in the filming of Rocky V as well as for the boxing scenes in the movie Annapolis.

In 2011 it was sold to developers who wanted to demolish the auditorium part of the building and construct a large hotel using the frontage, but this was repeatedly knocked back. The most recent planning application has called for the total demolition of the building with it replaced by a parking garage.

I didn't have very long in here at all, it was an extremely sketchy little explore and I was on my own too which is something I almost never do - especially not in a bad part of Philadelphia when it's getting dark as happened here. The resulting photos aren't all that great but I felt so honoured to be in such an incredible space.

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Thanks for looking :)
 

mookster

grumpy sod
Regular User
Very cool mate. I bet those lights made it tough to photograph.

Looks great.

The lights were a bastard but it lit it up so well compared to almost pitch black in there otherwise - and I can confirm after standing under them that the amount of heat they give of is insane.
 

Boomstick84

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
As a boxing fan that looks a bit special, photos are cracking to boot.

Ballsy roaming around abandoned buildings in Philly after dark on your own aswell!
 

Punk

Punkus Explorus
28DL Full Member
Very nice, you've got some nice shots there :thumb
I know what you mean with places getting overrun over there. I spent an hour in a school in Philly, and bumped into about 20 different people.
 
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