I don’t know what was going on at the Cocoanut Grove this night in 1949, but oh boy, look at that dance floor—it’s packed. Considering those palm trees had been standing there since the place opened in 1923 (having been repurposed from Valentino’s 1921 movie, “The Sheik”), they look like they’re still in pretty good shape. (Unless, of course, they’d been replaced at some point.) But I can’t see any of the toy monkeys that used to hang from their branches. Perhaps by this point they’d all been “souvenired.”
The toy monkeys even featured on their matchbooks:
I love these pictures of the night clubs of the ’40s. I always blow them up so I can see as much detail as the resolution allows. The clothes, the expressions on the faces, the minutiae, of their watches, jewelry. And I liked seeing a few members of the band in this shot. I wonder what they were playing.
I should tell you I’ve enjoyed your site for years. I come here almost daily, trying to get another glimpse of a past era that seems so intriguing to me. It was a less complex time, perhaps, but people of all eras, everywhere are ever complex. So, they were just like us, only their history was different.
I don’t know what was going on at the Cocoanut Grove this night in 1949, but oh boy, look at that dance floor—it’s packed. Considering those palm trees had been standing there since the place opened in 1923 (having been repurposed from Valentino’s 1921 movie, “The Sheik”), they look like they’re still in pretty good shape. (Unless, of course, they’d been replaced at some point.) But I can’t see any of the toy monkeys that used to hang from their branches. Perhaps by this point they’d all been “souvenired.”
I love these pictures of the night clubs of the ’40s. I always blow them up so I can see as much detail as the resolution allows. The clothes, the expressions on the faces, the minutiae, of their watches, jewelry. And I liked seeing a few members of the band in this shot. I wonder what they were playing.
I should tell you I’ve enjoyed your site for years. I come here almost daily, trying to get another glimpse of a past era that seems so intriguing to me. It was a less complex time, perhaps, but people of all eras, everywhere are ever complex. So, they were just like us, only their history was different.
Thanks so much for the memories.