Levin’s Hall

Newspaper mention about a dance there in The Louisiana Democrat, Alexandria, April 19, 1884 http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82003389/1884-04-19/ed-1/seq-3/ ...

Little Club

Masonic Drive & Texas Ave.- “Meet your friends at the Little Club- Think Nothing of it- You buy the beer and I’ll listen” Claude Luno, Owner ...

Old Barn Dance

Mentioned in “Louisiana Fiddlers” by Ron Yule and Bill Burge :Family atmosphere with no liquor sold. Country fiddler Eddie Raxsdale played the first fiddle tune there to reopen it in 1971 and the last fiddle tune, “Sweet Bunch of Daisies” to close it in 1984. From Louisianafolklife.org: “In 1970 Troy and his wife, Edwina, took over the operation of the Old Barn Dance, which had been established in Alexandria in 1945 and gone through several operators and locations. Now located in a building next to his home, the Old Barn Dance still provides family entertainment every Saturday night with music from Troy’s Country Kings band.” ...

Rendezvous

907 Second Street, “The largest stage bar in the South- continuous entertainment- Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer- Dine, Wine, and be Entertained” ...

Silver Moon Nite Club

Matchbook: “Phone 505 for Reservations. 4 miles south Hwy. 71. Orchestra Nitely” ...

Turf Bar

1024 2nd Street, “Beer, Liquor, Wine, Pool & Dominoes- A friendly place to meet” ...

Palombo’s

DL Menard: “The first dance hall I ever played was Palumbo’s. It was between Abbeville and Maurice. That was with Mr. Elias Badeau in 1949. The first song I sang in public was ‘If you’ve got the money – I’ve got the time’ by Lefty Frizell. I don’t remember how much I made that night- maybe $1.50. I started with that band to sing Country & Western- sang it three years before I started singing Cajun. Big John (Suire) sang Cajun but it wasn’t that popular then. You really had to be able to play requests in those days because if the people would complain to the owner- you wasn’t playing in that club no more.” Doug Palombo: “My Great-Grandfather, Joe Palombo, now deceased, owned a club/dancehall called “Palombo’s” in Abbeville. It’s no longer there, but it was located on the Abbeville Highway (Hwy 167) about ~ 1 mile North of Hwy. 14, at what is still known as “The Palombo Curve” by the older folks in Abbeville. The club closed sometime in the late 50’s, (years before I was born), but I’ve heard from family and strangers alike that it was THE place to go back in the 40’s & 50’s. According to website for the Acadian Museum in Erath, it was the first club that the legendary Cajun musician D.L. Menard was paid to perform.” ...