California's famed Cow Palace could face demise

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Cow Palace, in its glory days the site of an iconic conservative rallying cry and two shrieking Beatles concerts, would be reduced to rubble if sold under a proposal by a California lawmaker.

State Sen. Leland Yee said on Friday he has drafted a bill that would allow California to sell the state-owned Cow Palace arena to Daly City, which neighbors San Francisco and which wants to redevelop the scruffy area around the facility.

The sale would also benefit California's cash-strapped government by eliminating the cost of maintaining the aging arena, Yee said in a telephone interview.

"Where is the state going to find the money to rehabilitate the Cow Palace?" Yee said, adding that the arena is well past its glory days as premier convention and entertainment venue.

A Depression-era project, the Cow Palace opened in 1941 and hosted the first Grand National Rodeo. It remains the home of the Grand National Rodeo, Horse & Stock Show.

Barry Goldwater's fiery 1964 speech accepting the Republican Party's presidential nomination at the Cow Palace is still fondly remembered among conservatives.

The Beatles performed two concerts there, in 1964 and 1965 -- just one of many major rock bands to play the Cow Palace in the 1960s and 1970s. But the bands have moved on to newer local venues and the arena now hosts such events as flower, sports memorabilia, gun and home exhibitions.

The proposal to sell the venue comes at a time California's budget watchdog says the state budget shortfall may widen to $16 billion, up from the $14.5 billion deficit through June 2009 projected by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration.