| Opened in 1911 as The Coliseum Ballroom,
the building is better known as The Valencia. In the 1930s it
was known far and wide as one of the best ballrooms in the
region, playing host to crowds of up to 2,000 people listening to
the likes of Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and
even Frank Sinatra. The Valencia even had its own band, the Blue
Moon Orchestra.
The original faηade was torn down in the early 1930s,
replaced with an Art Deco influenced
exterior. The grand
ballroom was restored and reopened in the late 1980s.
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© 2002 by Scott D. Butcher
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