Most photos of the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel show it crowded with funseekers, which makes for great atmosphere, but also makes it hard to see what the famous nightclub itself looked like. This photo shows us how big the dance floor was—it’s not as big as I pictured—and how many palm trees dotted the place—more than I would have expected. And those little lamps on the table, I never realized they were little metal palm trees too. Let the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in—it’s time to cha-cha!

This is an auto-colorized version. I don’t know that the Grove’s chairs were red, but overall, I think it did a pretty good job of bringing the place to life:

Susan M says: “The dance floor could be increased in size quite a bit. If you look close, there are a few rows of round tables on the dance floor. Seating number shifted some based on who was playing. If it was a big singer, the seating increased. It’s hard to remember how it was set up in the 40s. But by the mid to later 50s, a lot of the shows I saw there, had next to no dancing. Might have been who I choose to see there as well. My memory is this was more an older crowd for dancing. Younger folks tended to go to The Palladium and a few other places if you wanted to dance. But it was hard to beat some of the headliner singing stars who were booked in here during the 50s. one I remember really well was seeing Bobby Darin here in the late 50s. But for my money, by the late 50s, I wanted to see the shows in Las Vegas as compared to here at The Ambassador. The food was always decent here.”

Andie P says: “When I went there in the mid-to-late ’60s it wasn’t as dark and the stage was different. we went once for a charity auction and the dance floor was entirely covered with tables and they were spaced further apart than in this photo – to facilitate the mostly women moving through, holding auction items. It was either better lit or the upper parts of the room were not as “heavy” looking.“