8. The U.S. Open Wasn’t Always at Flushing Meadows
Modern media has etched into our brains the aerial views of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park from the Good Year blimp, but the original location was actually at the Forest Hills Tennis Club, where a stadium that still stands. The first U.S. Open was played there in 1915 and has hosted tennis icons like Billie Jean King, Margaret Court and Bill Tilden, musicians like Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and the Beatles in the 1960s, along with a shooting and bomb threat during a particularly scandalous 1977 season.
In 1978, the tournament moved to the much larger space in Flushing Meadows and the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium declined into a tired-looking remnant of its past. Though previously threatened with demolition, the stadium was renovated and repurposed following a preservation effort led in part by the Rego-Forest Preservation Council. Since its reopening in 2013, the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium has hosted musical acts like Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran and The Who.