Posted 13 years ago
Tim
(36 items)
This is a "reserved" table card from the Casino Gardens in Ocean Park, CA which to the best of my knowledge is now part of Santa Monica. The Casino Gardens was a dance hall opened by Tommy Dorsey, which later became a joint venture with his brother and fellow band leader Jimmy Dorsey, as well as band leader Harry James. The dates on the card are troubling, as it looks like 7-14-34...which is impossible. It could be '38, but that's still way too early from what I've read.
I'll have to re-read my Tommy Dorsey biography, but I'm pretty sure the Casino Gardens didn't exist until the mid-40's.
That is really cool. Casino Gardens opened in July 4 1944. My mom and dad were there in late 46 or early 47 and I found a Cocktail bar menu my mom saved and the artwork is great..you won't believe the bar prices..!!!
I'd love to see the bar prices! The dates you refer to sound solid to me, which is why I have a hard time with the dates scrawled on the table card. The folks on Antiques Roadshow often state that what gets passed down by word of mouth (or pen and ink in this case) are often not correct to the piece, and this did come from a family scrap book. You need to scan and post that menu!!
Perhaps it's possible that someone has very poor handwriting and the '3' is supposed to be a 5 :) . I am not very computer literate and don't have a scanner but I can take a pic of it and post to your facebook account.
It my my guess that the Casino Gardens existed back into the 1930s before Tommy Dorsey owned it. Notice that the above card does not mention Dorsey. I have a matchbook from the '30s just mentioning Casino Gardens and one of the images here online is also from the pre-Dorsey period. I would post a picture of my early matchcover, but there is no option to do so.
I was basing my info on the Tommy Dorsey biography "Livin' In A Great Big Way", which does list an opening date, however you are correct. It did exist as far back as 1930 according to http://www.oceanparkhx.com/1900-1950/1930/1930-casino-gardens-dance.html
Thanks for the info. Now I have to edit my item, as it's clearly pre-Dorsey era.