Quote:
Originally Posted by tovangar2
Solomon's Dance Hall, S Grand and 9th, scene of church services, weddings, riots and, of course, dancing, probably deserves a post of its own
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And here it is.
Fred H Solomon, born in San Francisco about 1877, had a grim, hardscrabble childhood as a newsie. Instead of it making him bitter, he decided to have fun. He wanted everyone else to have fun too.
Fetching up in Los Angeles in ca 1909, he turned the old Grand Avenue Auditorium (a skating rink built in 1906), at 924 S Grand, into "Solomon's Penny Dance Deluxe".
B'nai B'rith temple will fall in the 20s when the congregation moved on to Wilshire Boulevard Temple (the site is a parking lot these days).
Trinity Church will be replaced by Trinity Auditorium in 1914:
bigmapsblog birdseye 1909
"The Largest Manufacturer and Distributor of Pleasure on Earth" (so why does Fred look so
glum?):
oviatt dl
This souvenir, copper-covered-lead "penny" is actually almost 3" in diameter IRL:
ebay
After sailors and soldiers rioted at the club in early 1918, Fred tried to make military men sign in before entering, but they threatened to riot again, so the cops came. Everyone backed down and fun won:
cdnc 8 Feb 1918
Overall however, the hall was a big success. Fred redecorated and had a second Grand Opening in late 1918:
cdnc 2 Dec 1918
"terpsichorean" adj., in case you didn't know (I didn't), means
"pertaining to dancing,", literally "of Terpsichore," from the Latinized form of Greek
Terpsikhore, muse of dancing and dramatic chorus.
Hence the theatrical slang word "terp" = "stage dancer or chorus girl"
Fred did his best to spread the good times around. He had free dance nights and contests. There were all manner of events, a weekly "Amateur Nite", church services Sunday mornings, the minister trying to capture the celebrants from the night before as congregants (dunno if that worked) and the annual Police Relief Association Ball.
When one of Fred's instructors (Solomon's also offered dance lessons), Elmay Day, decided to marry her beau, Sergeant Milburne Taylor, Fred offered the dance hall as a venue and provided the minister and the cake. It was the hall's first wedding, but not its last:
cdnc 10 July 1919
Were public dance hall weddings a thing back then?
cdnc 17 Nov 1921
Even babies were invited to Solomon's:
lapl
Fred looks delighted with the infant on the floor:
lapl
These are the only two pix I could find of Solomon's. I'm hoping someone else has some more.
Back in 1909 Fred bought a lovely hillside meadow in Topanga Canyon. He lived there on his 24-acre Solomon Ranch. It had a house (formerly a hunting lodge), an events hall, stables and various outbuildings. He kept horses and swam in the spring-fed pool. One of the outbuildings contained a still to provide Prohibition-era whiskey.
Not forgetting his hard boyhood, Fred held a special Newsie's Holiday Dinner at the ranch every year, starting in 1915, for LA newsboys.
Besides the Newsie's Dinner, the ranch was the also the venue for Fred's annual Orphan's Picnic, started in 1923:
pinterest
Uncle Fred having fun with the orphans at a Solomon Ranch picnic:
oviatt dl
Fred's mother and sister helped with these events. Wu, Fred's majordomo at the ranch, ensured perfection.
Much as Fred liked having kids over, it was his
weekly adult parties that he really enjoyed. People said the parties were "notorious", but that's probably just a stupid euphemism.
Fred and male friends in the "boat" he had built atop his house, the "FHS Penny":
oviatt dl
Fred hosts some female friends from an (actual) boat on the pool, helped along by a partially-submerged band:
oviatt dl
The
current owner of the ranch is slowly restoring it. The events hall looks good:
the topanga messenger
Meanwhile...back at the dance hall (now named Solomon's Dance Pavilion Deluxe), Curtis Mosby’s Dixieland Blue Blowers took up an extended residency starting in 1924 (Mosby later opened oh-so-famous-and-successful Club Alabam). Les Hite and many other artists played too (Solomon's audiences were white-only though).
"So Hot That They Use Asbestos Chairs":
the78rpmrecordspins
About 1930 Solomon's was renamed Vogue Ballroom and big bands played through the early 40s
924 S Grand became a bowling alley later before being demolished in 1966.
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco now takes up most of the block.
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Carry on! 
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