Looking Back

Young Chang

The Rendezvous Ballroom helped bring an era of music and musical

legends to Newport Beach.

It was how big name celebrities cozied up to the city, how stars like

Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole became accessible to excited girls in

poodle skirts and guys with flat tops.

The ballroom burned down 35 years ago, succumbing to the second fire

to eat up its insides, but locals today still remember its presence on

the Balboa Peninsula.

The ballroom was built in 1928 by two developers named Harry Tudor and

Ray Burlingame in the 600 block of East Ocean Front. The cost back then

was $200,000, according to James Felton’s “Newport Beach, The First

Century, 1888-1988.”

The Balboa Pavilion was across from the Rendezvous and, until then,

the only cool place to groove and be seen. There was competition at first

between the two venues when it came to celebrities performing and drawing

crowds. But the Rendezvous eventually won, becoming the more popular

place for big bands.

Through the ‘30s and ‘40s, especially during Balboa’s annual Bal Week

(the equivalent of today’s Spring Break), the Rendezvous attracted

generations of trendy teens who were into partying and dancing to the

music of Johnny Mercer, Les Brown, Benny Goodman and other big-time

musicians.

But in 1935, just seven years after it was built, the ballroom burned

down because of what officials then traced to a cigarette that hadn’t

been put out. The blaze didn’t deter the fun though as builders

re-created the structure and the surfer generation crowded in after the

Big Band era passed.

Bill Grundy, a longtime Newport Beach resident, used to be a bouncer

and ticket taker there in the second half of the 1930s.

“All the local kids did that,” he said.

Grundy remembers in-house musicians who played at the ballroom

year-round. The roster included Bob Crosby, brother to Bing Crosby, and

Claude Thornhill.

“We had a lot of terrific musicians that were here,” he said. “And

then we had all the big ones that would come by on weekends such as Glenn

Miller and people like that.”

The place was a block-long, he added, and had hardwood floors that

made it great to dance.

“It required everyone to have a coat and tie, it was quite a big

deal,” Grundy said.

But in 1966, another fire consumed the Rendezvous and eventually

caused everything to cave in. The ballroom was never rebuilt.

According to Felton’s book, the last band to have played there that

Saturday was a group called The Cindermen.

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at young.chang@latimes.com; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.