Louisiana Dance Halls | Dance Halls Archive - Page 88 of 173 - Louisiana Dance Halls

Photos courtesy of Robert Thibodeaux Judith Kershaw: “My grandmother, my father’s (Robert Thibodeaux) mother, owned and ran her husband’s (A. Martinez) Dance Hall. When my dad (Robert) was starting barber school in Monroe, his stepfather became ill and my dad and mom moved back down to help my grandma run it. I have many memories from that time. I sat on a bar stool behind the bar with my grandma many Saturday nights. I also spent Sunday mornings helping my dad clean it. I have great memories of sitting on the stage while upcoming greats played awesome music. My grandmother owned the entire block in which her home and the dance hall sat. My heart broke at the age of 10 when my grandma passed away from cancer. Martinez Dance Hall was closed forever after that. Eventually it was torn down and my dad sold the property, which now has four homes on it.” Stacy Lejeune: “When I was six years of age to about 9 or 10 years old, we lived in Morse, LA. We lived about a two blocks from Martinez’s Dance Hall, which was next to Hwy. 91. In those days, which would have been in the early 1970’s, we didn’t have air conditioning, so we would sleep with windows open. From our bedroom window, we could hear the music, from Martinez’s. My mother and father visited many of these dance halls back in the day. Some of the halls that I can remember that they visited were: Martinez’s, Country Club in Riceville, the Bannecek, the Lake Shore Club in Lake Arthur, and the Riverclub in Mermentau. My parents were awesome dancers and even won a dance competition! My mom and my step-father could probably give more names because they have been to many of these places and more.” From “Louisiana Fiddlers” by Ron Yule and : “By the early 1950s, Lionel (LeLeux) began playing around the area with his son, John (rhythm guitar), and other musicians. Their first shows were at Adolph Martinez’s Dancehall in Morse.” ...