20 JANUARY 2, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Ridgewood’s most famous arena
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
The Ridgewood Grove Arena was, at one point
in time, Our Neighborhood’s answer to Madison
Square Garden. The venue on the Brooklyn/
Queens border attracted thousands of local residents
for evenings of entertainment, from boxing
and wrestling matches to even the circus.
Opened in 1926, the Ridgewood Grove Arena
carved a small, yet unique place in sports history.
Two of boxing’s greatest stars at the time — Sugar
Ray Robinson and Willie Pep — fought there,
and wrestling legend Antonino Rocca made his
American debut at the Grove.
On Nov. 3, 1939, it was also the site of the first
televised indoor boxing match, which was produced
by the National Broadcasting Company
(NBC). However, by the 1950s, the Ridgewood
Grove was but a memory — closed and replaced
by a King Kullen supermarket.
But years after the supermarket came and went,
in 1982, two intrepid individuals — Frank and
Nancy Sciacca — decided to try and revive the
Ridgewood Grove Arena as a sporting venue.
Then-Ridgewood Times editor (and, later,
owner and publisher) Maureen Walthers wrote
about the Sciaccas in a “Community Cavalcade”
column published on Sept. 30, 1982 headlined, “A
New Round.” Excerpts of the column follows:
Exactly 56 years after its original opening day,
the Ridgewood Grove, at St. Nicholas Avenue and
The former site of the Ridgewood Grove Arena on St. Nicholas Avenue in Ridgewood, where Andre
the Giant wrestled twice in 1983. Photo by Christopher Bridge, PropertyShark
Palmetto Street, again becomes a mecca for boxing
fans.
“It was down for the count,” says fight promoter
Nancy Sciacca, “but will now regain its former
title.”
The doors to the Grove were shuttered in 1956,
and it was turned into a supermarket, but the
building, which has stood vacant for the past few
years, was always a source of colorful and exciting
stories for residents in the community.
“I grew up in the Ridgewood area, went to school
here and was married in St. Joseph’s Church,” said
Nancy. “My husband Frank and I worked together
in our realty and construction business in the
Bushwick section, and it was during that time
that my husband introduced me to boxing,” she
added.
In 1978, Nancy promoted her first show at Pratt
Institute. “It wasn’t exactly the greatest boxing card
in the world, but it was a beginning,” she added.
Her progression in the fight promoting business
picked up and she scheduled three shows in
1978, followed by a series of other boxing shows in
Harlem, Atlantic City, Pennsylvania and Florida.
In 1981, she ran a boxing card at Madison Square
Garden’s Felt Forum, which paired John Verderosa,
ranked fifth in Junior Lightweight Division, against
Enrique Solice.
“Any promoter is not considered a major force
unless they have their own site,” Nancy explained.
“Since both my husband and myself knew the tradition
of the Ridgewood Grove, we decided to direct
our energies into restoring the Grove and reactivate
the growing interest in boxing.”
After three years of negotiations with the previous
owner of the property, a settlement was reached
The Ridgewood Grove Arena exterior, as it appeared in this 1980s photo.
Photo via PropertyShark/NYC Department of Finance
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