A LOOK BACK:Talent took a step into Pavalon

In the 1940s Huntington Beach had two major tourists attractions — the beach and the Pavalon.

The Pavalon was next to the Huntington Beach Pier and was the place for many civic events such as the city’s well-known “Black Gold Days” and the equally known “Twins Contest.”

During the heyday of the big bands, the Pavalon was a popular place to take your gal and go dancing on weekends.

This auditorium came about during the last days of the Great Depression as a Public Works Administration (WPA) project under President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration.

This $70,000 project helped many local men find jobs to help feed their families at a time when jobs were scarce.

When the building was completed, the city held a huge grand opening May 28, 1938, in which several thousand people celebrated.

The name for this new civic building was Pavilion Huntington or simply “the pavilion” as most people called it.

Lee Mann was picked to manage the ballroom where weekend dancing was held.

Under Mann’s early leadership several notable bands entertained inside the pavilion, including Ben Pollock and his Orchestra, Joe Venuti and his band and the Sunny Californians whose leader, by the way, happened to be Lee Mann.

In 1941 two radical changes occurred. The first was the removal of the steel arches at Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street in May and the second was the relocation of the Pacific Electric depot from in front of the Pavilion in June.

Beautiful landscaping was added to the depot’s old location and the Pavilion became more visible to passing motorists.

In June of 1941 the name was changed from Pavilion Huntington to Pavalon — some say as a way to rival Avalon on Catalina Island — and the manager was George Mitchell.

Mitchell started at the Pavilion in 1938 as a janitor and watchman.

When it became time to renew the lease of the ballroom to Mitchell in 1945 there were some in the community who felt Mitchell had overstepped his authority in signing a contract for a band instead of advertising for bids. Others wanted an opportunity to bid on his lease.

In a special City Council meeting on June 25, 1945, the council granted Russell Henry a year’s lease for the management of the Pavalon’s ballroom.

Mitchell told the council that he would relinquish his contract and would be leaving Huntington Beach.

Russell Henry had an interesting life before he became manager.

Russell Melvin Henry was born in Clinton, Ontario, Canada in 1896.

He was one of 17 children and when he was 3 years old the family moved to Portage, La Prairie in Manitoba Province and in 1906 the family moved to Foam Lake in Saskatchewan with the nearest town some 40 miles away.

The family lived in a log house plastered with mud. It was warm and comfortable but not much to look at.

Russell attended school until 1910, but spent the last six months of his schooling on crutches after he hurt his ankle.

After he recovered from the ankle injury, he went on to serve in the Canadian army during World War I and was discharged in 1918.

When Russell was 24 years old he married Charlotte Crossen on Nov. 3, 1920, and by the next year their son, Robert, was born.

In 1923 Russell and Charlotte moved into town where they ran a moving business until 1925 when they sold it and moved to California.

For several years Russell worked in Long Beach and Balboa before coming to Huntington Beach to work in an oil field.

In 1931 they purchased a grocery store in the Ocean View area that they operated for the next six years.

By June of 1942 Russell signed on as a shipwright foreman with Calship.

He left Calship to manage the Pavalon in June 1945.

Right away he hired Bob Richardson and his band to play on Friday nights, Wally Reed and his Westerners on Saturdays and Hal Brooks and his Swing Boys on Sundays.

In July 1945 he engaged the popular Jimmy Higson and his 17-piece band for Wednesday nights.

Higson and his band starred on NBC’s Hoagy Carmichael program, making the group popular with young dancers.

He hired several other popular dance bands, including Art Mooshagian and his Swing Kings and Bob Lively’s Dude Ranch Boys.

For our 1947 Fourth of July event he hired Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band to entertain that evening.

By 1950 Russell and Charlotte were living at 907 Palm Ave. and Russell had become a general building contractor in Huntington Beach.

He would continue as a contractor throughout the 1950s and worked out of his home, now at 216 Baltimore Ave.

Russell Henry is best remembered for hiring many of the talented bands that entertained at the Pavalon during its early golden history.