Kate Smith Goes Into Storage As Spectrum Demolition Nears
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The iconic statues outside the Spectrum -- Kate Smith, Gary Dornhoefer, and Doctor "J" (Julius Erving) -- are being moved, to make way for the arena's demolition in the coming weeks.
A crane lifted the Kate Smith statue onto a flatbed truck outside the Spectrum. Former Flyer Gary Dornhoefer (right) watched, before his own statue was moved:
"The memories are there. She was a good luck charm. The people certainly responded. And even today they continue to play 'God Bless America.' "
But now, that's in the Flyers' current home, the Wells Fargo Center.
Comcast-Spectacor spokesman Ike Richman says fences will go up around their former home in mid-November:
"They'll start demolishing it from the inside, and then late November, maybe early December, you'll start seeing claws come out and they'll start taking apart the Spectrum."
The statues are being put into storage, and Richman says it still hasn't been determined whether they will be displayed at the Wells Fargo Center or the "Philly Live" complex planned for the Spectrum site.
Reported by Mike DeNardo, KYW Newsradio.
Photos by Mike DeNardo
