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Paradise Ballroom
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Paradise Ballroom was in an old 2-story warehouse, with a grand entrance, with an awning over the front door area, and with RED CARPET there? Painted dark purple outside; sometimes it was PACKED, and other times lacked FUN, because no one came!.. the other main feature was that it had a large room with CIRCUS/COUNTY FAIR ACTIVITIES!.. even HALKERS, men with canes & money/ticket aprons who taunted you to play their booth games! That room was always noisy & exciting in a silly way, especially when you were buzzed!..
I recall on the next main corner, up SM Blvd., (by BARNEY'S BEANERY??) was a SKATING RINK owned by CHER (of sonny & cher fame) and some other artist, a rock star i think, with live, cool bands, performing in the center island of the "rink" and there were sunken "bars" you could roll-up to, if you had skates on: full-on rental of skates or bring your own, just like when you were a kid, but you could have your drinks, tooooo!! BOTH THESE PLACES WERE SOOOO FUN... where are my old photos, darn it!!!
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Submitted by aprilsadvice (1)
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May 15, 2011 | 2:40 amOMG! Thank you soooo much...I thought perhaps I had made it up after a bad mushroom trip or something! I don;t remember it at 836, but I absolutely remember it being on San Vicente, just south of Santa monica Blvd. What a totally "hip" place. :)
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Dec 13, 2010 | 1:34 am
Hello I remember during the mid 70s thru early 80s the Paradise Ballroom was located in Hollywood, at 836 N Highland Avenue to be exact. (Before/after?) "Probe" it was called "836". I distinctly remember Paul Lynde there with a young man on either arm! What a hoot! Another time I recall a local news channel reporting on the gay lifestyle (still somewhat mysterious at the time) and an announcement was made by the DJ alerting everyone who did not want to be on the 11pm news to leave the dance floor and head to the back patio or bar; my friend Gilbert was lucky enough to get on the final broadcast dancing away!
Around this same time era across the street on Highland was a club called The Other Side which was in a warehouse's 2nd floor and about 1/2 block down was Falcon's Lair and Greg's Blue Dot. And of course up the street the 24 hour coffee shop Arthur J's. So convenient!
I loved the Paradise Ballroom when it was in Hollywood.I think the last time I went there was on a New Year's Eve.It was probably 1974 or 75? New Years' it was absolutely PACKED. There was an outside area that was rather pretty, with trees or tall bushes around, and it was packed, too. I miss my friends from those days..Freddie, Frankie, Greg, Mark..many of us were from Riverside, a few from Pomona. I miss those days so much, miss the music! We were so excited about everything..life was fun.AIDS was all around but nobody knew it yet...makes me sad how it a ll turned out.
Other places I used to go: Friends in Pomona, Arlo's in San Bernardino, The Other Side and Odeyssey,(in LA somewhere) DOK in Garden Grove..fun memories of dancing all night long!