Included in a 2006 Louisiana Cajun dance hall list compiled by WYNK Cajun DJ “Tee Mick” Abed, sent to me in personal correspondence from David Marcantel ...
Club Streamline
Chitlin’ Circuit blues club Mentioned in “South to Louisiana” by John Broven: page 145: Tabby Thomas played there in 1952 after returning home from serving in the Air Force on the West Coast. Mentioned in “Flashbacks: Eyewitness Accounts of the Rock Revolution, 1964-1974” by Michael Lydon: page 49-50: In 1968, B.B. King was promised $650 for a gig and stiffed by the promoter, who only paid him $400. A late night food stop at a diner in Baton Rouge resulted in a run-in with local self described George Wallace supporters that ended with sax player Lee Gatling being stabbed in the arm and trumpet player Pat Williams being struck with a chain on the forehead with a heavy chain. ...
Unknown Hall
Alton Dupuy: It was on the left on 190 near the Carousel. It was one of the last bars there to close. I saw Ernest Tubb there in the early 1980s. I think it became a topless place whn it closed. It was a brick building I think- I believe it is still there. ...
True Friends Hall
Bernard Pearce: “They still have a lot of Zydeco dances there- it’s over 100 years old!” Mention in newspaper article 1909: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064454/1909-09-04/ed-1/seq-3/ ...
Tuxedo Club
Was previously half of Dauphine’s dancehall- reopened in 1940 on the east side of the bayou by Rene Dauphine’s son- Morris. Morris was a member of Oscar Celestine’s Tuxedo Band in New Orleans and had recently recturned home to Parks. Aubrey Pearce- “it recently burned down. It was the largest dancehall in town. I went there with my father a few times when I was a child. The waiters wore gloves and there were private booths- seperated from the room by curtains. My parents attended a ball there for the eldrely put on by a local school teacher. The women wore gowns and the men suits. The Tennessee Waltz was the theme.. It was the late 1940s or early 1950s.” ...
Joe Wiltz’s bar
Aubrey Pearce- “It was across from Joe’s house. I went there with my father. He’d sit me on the bar and we’d listen to the jukebox. There was a small dancefloor.” ...
PB Dee’s Classic Club Valentine
Resweber Highway and Promise Land Drive. Aubrey Pearce: “It’s still there- I think the owner’s name is Wilbert. The family originally had a grocery store and then expanded it to a bar.” Included in Emily Ardoin’s 2014 thesis “Fais do-do to ‘Hippy Ti-Yo’: Dance Halls of South Louisiana”: “PB Dee’s is located in the Creole community center of Parks/Promiseland. The club was opened in 1955 and remains open. The building is of frame construction, has a front gabled and metal roof, no parapet, and has a concrete pier foundation. The dance floor is constructed of wood strips and the ceiling is composed of plywood panels and acoustic tile. The bar and dance floor are located in the same room. The building is in good shape. Interior has been altered with continuous use. Bars have been added; original bar removed. Last remaining dance hall of several in the Promise Land community.” ...
Valentine’s
Aubrey Pearce: once was PB Dee’s- Wilbert owns it. The family had a grocery and bar. ...
Happy Landing Club
Photo courtesy of James Perry 1940s- Freddie Hanks: Dana Olivier: The Happy Landing, located on Highway 741, Arnaudville (its actually located in Pecaniere). It still stands but is now a Woodmen of the World hall. “It used to be a wood building, then remade with concrete blocks. They stapled numbered tickets to your collar while dancing- they would draw for door prizes after the dance- case of beer, fifth of whiskey, stuff like that. I’d always try not to get my collar stapled- I’d dance away from them and they’d try to catch me.” Ray Brassieur: The first time I went in there- an older man was looking at me and studying my face. He finally asked in French: “You a (insert Cajun surname)?” I answered “No Sir- Brassieur.” He looked at me again and said: “Oh yeah- the ears.” Edmund Stelly: “Happy Landing was originally owned by Lekay Lalonde. The building is now home to Woodmen of the World.” ...
Silver Slipper
Listed in “Readers recall clubs where they danced to Louisiana Music” from The Daily Advertiser, December 29, 1998: “Readers of The Daily Advertiser were asked to submit names of’ the clubs where they danced to Louisiana music in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with a brief recollection of what the club was like and who played there.” mentioned in Today’s Cajun- Philip Gould- 1980- JA 1954 ...