Dancehalls in Iberia Parish

Casa Blanca Club

From iberianet.com/forum/do-you-remember: “I worked at the Casa Blanca club for 20 years when Barbara and Shelton Leleux had it. Served the last drink that was ever served there before they closed for good. Was working at the Tradewinds at the time but had to be there on the last night.” Located at the corner of Center Street and Admiral Doyle corner of Hwy 14 & Admiral Doyle- where Burger King is now ...

Blue Moon Dancehall

Featured in Philip Gould’s book “Today’s Cajuns” are images of Aldus Roger & the Lafayette Playboys playing a benefit dance with door prize items in front of them, elderly couples dancing, people at bar, and women dancing together. It was located on Hopkins Street at a place that is now an empty lot. From a plaque at Vermilionville: “Blue Moon Dancehall was located in the ‘tit Coteau section of New Iberia near Admiral Doyle Drive. The club closed in the fall of 1978. Photographer Philip Gould describes his first visit in 1974: ‘The accordionist spoke nothing but French from the bandstand. Acity policeman and sheriff’s deputy, both hired as security, also helped the waitresses serve drinks when things were calm. I remember seeing the dancers there the first time. Collectively they seemed to suggest waves as they waltzed around the dance floor locked together in tight embraces.'” Mentioned in Project Louisiane tape #151, available at the Archive of Cajun and Creole Folklore, Center for Louisiana Studies, UL Lafayette. ...

Rock and Roll

Mike Provost: New Iberia/Loreauville Road- Teen side and bar side- owner was Emile Dressel- people say that the lights resembled the Virgin Mary from the road ...

Club Leon

Hwy. 347 near intersection of Cemetary Road and Neuville Anthony Road Included in Emily Ardoin’s 2014 thesis “Fais do-do to ‘Hippy Ti-Yo’: Dance Halls of South Louisiana”: “Club Leon is a Creole Zydeco club located on a rural highway. It is unknown when the club opened and it closed after the year 2000. It is currently vacant. The building is of a frame construction, has a front gabled roof, a mansard parapet, and has a concrete pier foundation.” ...

Moon’s Hall

Herman Gesser’s remembrances from a souvenier booklet given out on June 25, 1989 on the occassion of the 80th anniversary of the incorporation of the village of Loreauville: I had an early start in social life by having been permitted to attend dances from the age of 16 years oldat the then well known “Moon’s Hall.” It was an old skating rink with a beautiful polished floor and plenty of room. There was always beautiful music played by big bands, including Louisiana Six from Loreauville, one of the best, which played waltzs, foxtrots, slow drags, and of course at that time “The Charleston.” This occured almost every Sunday night. The dancing charge was 50 cents for men & boys only. The girls, who were quite frequently accompanied by their mothers, sat together on the benches around the edge of the dance floor & waited to be asked for a dance. The hall was air conditioned by a large fan under the bandstand & large open wooden windows all around, not even screened. The men would stand in teh middle of the hall awaiting the next dance or waiting to tag another girl after their parents had been tagged. Funny, we didn’t seem to mind the heat on the hottest nights & we moved too fast for the mosquitos to bother us. I well remember when the Louisiana Six was composed of the original six: Cap Hebert, teh leader, on teh trumpet, Wilton Hebert, on the sax and clarinet and sometimes piano, Noah Hebert on teh piano and base violin, and alief “Coosoon” Girouard on teh slide trombone, Leo Girourard on teh drums, and Viola Hebert on the banjo. I well remember dancing by their beautiful muisc at Monn’s Hall in teh twenties and also Charenton in the thirties. In fact, Wilton, Viola, and Noah attended school in Loreauville at the same time I did. However, Wilton & Viola were a few years older than me. The three brothers and sisterto “Cap.” I well remember Wilton practicing on the piano at school, during recess. Their last performance on Saturday, April 24, 1982 at the community center in the New Iberia City Park was given for a dance benefit of the Cajun Kiwanis Club. It drew people from near and far and left a memory not to be forgotten. ...

Otto Club

Herman Fuselier told me about it ...

Shady Oaks

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.” ...