Quote:
Originally Posted by Slauson Slim
The Cheetah was originally the Aragon Ballroom, where big band and swing dances were held in the '40s and '50s. Also, Western swing bands of Spade Cooley and Bob Wills and others played there too. There used to be a large country western and Western swing audience in the LA area, dances and clubs all over.
Good line up at the cheetah in that photo: Moby Grape, Spirit and Genesis. A great show.
If I recall correctly, the building burned down in the early '70s.
|
Thanks
Slauson Slim.
With the information you provided I was able to find this really clever poster.
http://www.theoriginalglenbuxton.com...goncheetah.jpg
snapshot 1967
fans
http://www.westcoastfog.com/west-coast-branch/
http://www.westcoastfog.com/wp-conte...clubflickr.jpg
Earlier days:
Lining up to see Lawrence Welk.
Here's some history (some of this has been discussed in the earlier days of the thread)
"The ballroom and the pier, named Lick's Pier, was erected in 1922. Lick's Pier was located at the foot of Navy Street adjoining the south side of the Pickering Pier. Lick's Pier was, in 1922, almost entirely in Venice. It was 800 feet long and 225 feet wide. At the opening of Lick's Pier and the Bon Ton Ballroom on Easter weekend 1922, the ballroom was 22,000 square feet, and the pier featured a Zip roller coaster, a Dodge'em, Caterpillar rides, and Captive Aeroplane rides. Development, costing $250,000, commenced in 1921 and was financed by Charles Jacob Lick (1882–1971), Austin Aloysius McFadden (1875–1960), and George William Leihy (1865–1940)."
"Schooler, whose Swing Shift Dances had originally been held at the nearby Casino Gardens, signed a 10-year lease in 1942 for the old Ocean Park venue, which was said to have 1,500 electric lights and 14,000 square feet of floor space, from owner Charles Lick. Schooler renamed it the Aragon, then spent some $50,000 to refurbish it."
"By August 1943, the 25-year-old Schooler was earning $55 a week as a toolmaker at Douglas Aircraft Co. in Santa Monica during the graveyard shift, a job which he later claimed he retained to protect himself from the wartime draft. But the balance of his reported $250,000-a-year gross income came from his several roles as dance hall impresario, bandleader and promoter, which by August 1943 included seven nights a week at the Aragon Ballroom, Friday and Saturday nights with the Swing Shift Dances (12:30 a.m. to 5 a.m.) at the nearby Casino Gardens, monthly dances for African-Americans at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and barn dancing in the Plantation Ballroom in Culver City."
"Billboard magazine reported in July 1944 that "cowboy outfits" such as Spade Cooley and Bob Wills had been, and would continue to be, booked to play at the ballroom."
"The Aragon was later known as the hall where Lawrence Welk and his big band, the "Champagne Music Makers," parlayed a scheduled four-week engagement in spring 1951 into a ten-year stint and a noted television show. Welk's orchestra played to crowds numbering as high as 7,000. Klaus Landsberg, the manager of Los Angeles television station KTLA, offered Welk the opportunity to appear on television, and on May 11, 1951, the station began broadcasting a weekly show live from the Aragon featuring Welk's band. The show evolved into The Lawrence Welk Show, broadcast each Saturday night on ABC."
"Welk’s stint at the Aragon ended in 1955, when he moved The Lawrence Welk Show to a television studio in Hollywood. The Aragon soon went into decline. Around 1967 it became the Cheetah Club, where bands including The Doors, Alice Cooper (then called Nazz), and Pink Floyd played. It was destroyed by fire on May 26, 1970."
after the fire.
The Bon Ton Ballroom: 1922–1942
1922–1924: Harry Baisden and His Bon Ton Orchestra
1924–1925: Ben Pollack and His Bon Ton Orchestra
The Aragon Ballroom: 1942–1967
1944: Spade Cooley
1944: Bob Wills
1951–1955: Lawrence Welk
Cheetah Club: 1967–1970
1969: Black Pearl
Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
The Grateful Dead
The Standells
The Doors
The Leaves
Iron Butterfly
Pink Floyd
Alice Cooper
some info. from-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragon...ca,_California)
Prev
GSV
This rekindled a memory of another haunting image at nearby 316 S. La Brea. 
GSV
GSV
) 
KABC7
Metro Library and Archive
Linear Mode
