Maple Leaf Gardens

The future of the Maple Leaf Gardens is still up in the air, but after a 76 year life, the cultural relevance of the venue is still undeniable.
In 2004, Friends of Maple Leaf Gardens, a group who’s primary goal is to maintain the social and cultural significance of the Gardens, lost their battle when the city of Toronto sold the rights to food retail chain Loblaw Companies. It is reported that the deal eventually fell through.
The group, often referred to as The Friends, was created in 2004 when rumblings of the Gardens being sold began to surface. The Friends have not made any significant moves since September of 2004 after it appeared that their efforts were becoming irrelevant.
Friends member Dan Diamond met with one of David Miller’s assistants, Cara O’Hagan, to suggest that maintaining an ice rink in the building while also allowing the Loblaws development to unfold was not impossible. The Friends website claims that Mayor Miller inquired about this possibility, but the company said that through studies, they learned it would not be economically realistic.
The construction of Maple Leaf Gardens was initiated by Conn Smythe and opened on November 12th, 1931 when the Leafs lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in front of over 13,000 people.
Maple Leaf Gardens was home to several other sports teams aside from the Maple Leafs, including the N.L.L.’s Toronto Rock and the O.H.L.’s Toronto Marlboros.
Sporting events were far from the only form of entertainment that the Gardens were host to. Over the years, Winston Churchill and Pierre Trudeau gave speeches there, and universally successful musical acts such as the Beatles and Elvis Prestley held concerts at the venue.
The final Maple Leaf game was played on February 13th, 1999 when ironically, the Leafs lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. Aside from some musical acts using it to prepare for upcoming tours, the venue is generally unused.
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Sources- http://www.friendsofmapleleafgardens.com/
www.tmlfever.com
www.wikipedia.org