What happened to Olympia Stadium? Behind the legacy of Detroit Red Wings' treasured home

For nearly six decades, Olympia Stadium was a mainstay of Detroit sports and culture, perhaps most infamously as the Detroit Red Wings ' home from 1927 through 1979. "The Old Red Barn," as it was lovingly known, was not merely an arena but a place where championship flags fluttered, legends were born, and music legends wandered the Motor City.
From Stanley Cups to concerts, Olympia Stadium was the heart of Detroit Red Wings
Olympia Stadium, built in 1927 on the corner of Grand River and McGraw, was the world's largest arena when it debuted. The 15,000-seat venue not only hosted the Detroit Red Wings but was the location of a vast list of historic events. It opened on October 15, 1927, and was initially planned as a hockey facility. The building became a home to the Detroit Pistons during the years 1957 to 1961. But the building was never truly built for basketball—Pistons games were played occasionally around hockey boards still encasing the court. One of its darkest times came when the team played a playoff game at Grosse Pointe High School in 1960 because of a scheduling conflict.
Olympia Stadium's true charm, however, was supplied by the Detroit Red Wings, who took home their first seven Stanley Cups playing there. Both players and spectators revered the arena's buzz. “Olympia was such a beautiful building with such a great history,” former Red Wing Paul Woods admitted to the Free Press in 2017. “The Olympia, in my mind, was a better building. It sounded deep. It had this real intensity. … I loved going to that place.”
What happened to the Olympia Stadium?
Despite its beauty, the arena couldn't help but be part of the city's greater ills. Following the 1967 riots, the west side neighborhood around Olympia declined. Although relocation to Pontiac's Silverdome-clinging site—dubbed "Olympia II"—was nearly an accomplished fact, Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young was able to talk the team into staying downtown. The Red Wings played their final game in Olympia on December 15, 1979, before making the move to the newly constructed Joe Louis Arena on December 27.
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Olympia's last show was in February of 1980, and the building was demolished in 1986. However, its legacy continues to live on at Little Caesars Arena. The original "O-L-Y-M-P-I-A" signs that illuminated the old facade now hang on a wall in conjunction with a painting of Gordie Howe .