Cal Porter's Then & Now
Biography
There are many famous opening lines from great works of literature: “It was a dark and stormy night”, Bulwer-Lytton, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Charles Dickens, “Call me Ishmael”, from Moby Dick, but ever was there a line more to the point than, “I Am Born”, in Chapter 1 of David Copperfield. So that’s where I will start. It happened to me in the year 1924, and by my calculation that makes me 85 this year.Beach Stories
DANCING AT THE BLUE EGYPTIAN
Once, many years ago, there was a whole lot of dancing going on, and it was all on the beach side of the boardwalk. Dance halls, pavilions and ballrooms were plentiful along the waterfront, some built right on the sand and others out on the piers. But like the beach clubs, bath houses and salt water plunges where are they today? I wasn’t a regular customer of these establishments but I dropped in frequently enough to see what was going on and to listen to the name bands that played there. Even as kids we could edge our way in and stand in the shadows to listen in person to the strains of Artie Shaw and “Begin the Beguine” or Tommy Dorsey’s “Stardust”. These beach ballrooms were always packed, especially on weekends. I remember them all. There were other dance venues, of course, The Palomar, The Coconut Grove, The Palladium, but they were all inland, downtown, and everyone liked to come to the seashore. Many would come for the day, sunning and swimming at the beach while the sun was shining, and then stay for the dark to come, and dance into the night.
La Monica and pier - photo source: http://www.lapl.org/
The Santa Monica Pier
The La Monica Ballroom was on the south side toward the end of the pier. It was gigantic and ornate with its ten Byzantine turrets soaring into the sky like something out of Arabian Nights. It claimed to be the largest ballroom in the world, with room for ten thousand people and accommodating twenty-five hundred dancing couples on the floor at any one time. It opened in 1924, and soon after, the famous Paul Whiteman Orchestra was playing there, followed later by Earl Hines, Ben Pollack, Jimmy Dorsey and other top bands of the day. In its later years, the mid 1940’s, Spade Cooley, The King of Western Swing, took over and broadcast his radio and later television show from there. I was there often, and poked my head in occasionally to take a look and hear the music during the 30’s and 40’s, but I was there mainly because during the 1930’s one corner of the huge building was used as the first Santa Monica Lifeguard Headquarters. The other corner of the building brought me there, too, because as kids that was where we jumped off the pier for a cooling swim.
The Crystal Pier Beach
The Rendezvous Ballroom was built right on the sand just down the beach a short distance from the La Monica, and just north of the Crystal Pier. It didn’t draw as many name bands as some of the others but it did have its share of movie stars in attendance, Charlie Chaplin for one. They would spill out of their dinner hangout, Nat Goodwin’s, and see what was going on at the Rendezvous. Nat was a former actor, and his place on the end of the pier was quite famous with its own music and entertainment. Later, in the early 1940’s, gay night clubs opened across the boardwalk from the ballroom increasing attendance at the Rendezvous.
The Ocean Park Pier
There were more dance halls in this area than anywhere else. The Casino Gardens, the first one south of the Rendezvous, always drew the big name bands. It was built on the beach side of the board walk and extended out onto the Ocean Park Pier. It stood next to the outdoor bandstand where I one time accompanied Eden Abez, who was dressed in his sandals and wrap around sheet outfit, to listen to his music played by The Ocean Park Band. He was the composer of Nature Boy which was made into one of the top number one hits of all time by Nat “King” Cole. As a teenager I could go to the Casino and hear the bands of Artie Shaw, Harry James, Charlie Barnet, Glen Gray, Louis Prima, Orrin Tucker and his vocalist, “Wee” Bonnie Baker (“Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh”; which was on the top of the charts for fourteen weeks). Tommy Dorsey and brother Jimmy played there, and often joined up for a “battle of the bands”. For a while Tommy Dorsey owned The Casino Gardens along with investors Jimmy Dorsey and Harry James. Movie stars such as Judy Garland, Lucy and Desi, and Mickey Rooney were there. This was the place! My unlikely claim to fame at The Casino Gardens was that I was thrown out of the place one night. A group of my teenage friends and I entered the hall on this particular night with an acquaintance that we just happened to bump into outside the ballroom. He was a Venice street fighter and was quite famous for his many successful encounters along the waterfront, not exactly my best friend. Sure enough, we hadn’t been inside very long before he started to tangle with a rough looking guy that apparently rubbed him the wrong way, it didn’t take much. A couple of bouncers were called upon to break it up, they knew who he was, and he challenged them to step outside where he’d take on both of them at once, giving them the first shot. They wanted no part of him. The manager arrived with a couple of more bouncers and we were all escorted outside, whereupon, with a threat of legal action, the manager announced in a loud voice that from this day forward Joe and his gang were banished from The Casino for ever. What? Who me? Joe’s Gang? I had had one fight in my life, and I lost. In the first grade Andrew Renwick took me apart. This was at Nightingale Elementary just down the beach. But Barbara, the girl we both liked, took my side in the matter. Anyway, sometime later on I got back in The Casino Gardens. I guess they forgot how tough I was.
Egyptian Ballroom. photo source: http://www.smpl.org/
The Egyptian Ballroom was way out toward the end of the pier next to the Chute the Chutes boat ride, another spot where we kids would jump off for a long swim to the beach. I don’t remember a lot about The Egyptian or who played there, I was a young kid when that hall was there. But I do remember the beautiful blue interior with visions of Cleopatra and the god of the Nile painted on the walls. The interior was actually a replica of the temple of Rameses II, king of Egypt. Then there was another dance hall on the beach side of the boardwalk across from The Ocean Park Plunge, the name I don’t recall. The Fraser Dance Pavilion was also out toward the end of the pier when it was once called Fraser’s Million Dollar Pier. There were others through the years.
The Lick Pier
From my lifeguard tower alongside the pier in the early 40’s I could hear the music coming from The Lick Pier Ballroom. Afternoon dances were often held in the summer months. When I was very young it was called The Bon Ton, in its last years it was named The Aragon. The big name bands that played The Casino Gardens, the Dorsey’s, Artie Shaw and all, often played Lick Pier. For a time my older brother worked the ballroom as a ticket taker and sometime bouncer at the entrance, so my friends and I had no trouble slipping in to check the action in the evening. Early on The Bon Ton was larger with a separation in the middle, and two bands could play at the same time. During World War II swing shift dances were held that started after midnight and went on until dawn. In its later life as The Aragon, Lawrence Welk and his “Champagne Music” held forth, with his television show broadcast from the pier.
Venice Ballroom - photo source: http://www.smpl.org/
The Venice Pier
The Venice Pier never had the number of dance halls that Ocean Park had, there was just the one, The Venice Ballroom, but maybe others early on that I don’t remember. The site of the ballroom is better known for a performance put on there by the world’s most famous actress, Sarah Bernhardt in 1906. The story goes that she was scheduled to play in Los Angeles at that time but a conservative group there deemed her show to be, “immoral and unfit to play downtown”. The founder of Venice, Abbott Kinney, immediately invited her to Venice instead, where not only did she perform, but went fishing at the end of the pier to the delight of the many spectators and the fifty news reporters sent to cover her. She caught a bass. Later on The Venice Ballroom came in for some renown when it conducted the “dance till you drop” marathons during the depression years.
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Sunset pier & Ballroom - photo source: http://www.smpl.org/
The Sunset Ballroom
The final ballroom along this stretch of beach, and I can think of none farther south in the bay, was on The Sunset Pier and was aptly called The Sunset Ballroom. The pier was built the year I was born, 1924. I always saw the dance hall as I passed by on the pier but remember little about who played there. There was a bandstand and concerts out at the end of the pier. The Sunset was not one of the more spectacular halls, and it was demolished and long gone when I used the end of this pier for years as a diving or jumping off place to surf or bodysurf the fine waves that formed there.
The Last Dancer
And where are all these dance halls today? Gone. All gone. Not one left. All the piers and all the ballrooms and all the dance pavilions demolished long ago, vanished without a trace. Only the Santa Monica Pier remains, but without its dance hall. So we’re closed! Out of business! There will be no more dancing on the beach!
Well, at least I can now stop worrying about ever incurring a second ejection from The Casino Gardens for rowdy behavior.
Submitted By Cal Porter on March 30 , 2009
© Cal Porter 2010, all rights reserved
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