The View from the Dance Hall

The View from the Dance Hall. . [Left column] , "The Dance hall in these days... the main Dance Hall was a three tiered building. On the lower floor there was bowling alleys, washrooms for the swimmers and restrooms, and a pool room. The second floor was the main dance floor, and on the third floor there was a balcony. People used to sit up there and look down on the dancers below. At that time, that was The Dance Hall of the North American continent. They used to come from all over the world and have contests there, and dance there. They used to bring all the name bands in from all over the world to play at Erie Beach. Now in later years, they built an outdoor dance floor and the people used to dance on the cement floor, but it was all open air. They used to dance out there by the thousands at night time. , There was the large swimming pool for the real professional swimmers. Beside it was for the beginners and for younger children, that was on the west side of the Dance Hall. On the east side there was a wading pool for little children from babies up. The parents used to take their children there and let them wade in the wading pool... They used to bring the best swimmers from all over the world in for contests and diving. There was a balcony at the west side of the Dance Hall. People used to go up there and watch all the swimmers from that area." Al Reid , [Right column] , They called it The Casino, but you knew it as the best dance hall around. It was the heart of the park, and you found yourself inside it many times during a visit. It was a place for music, dancing and dining (not for gambling). But it also served very practical needs, like providing a place to check picnic baskets after lunch and dressing rooms to change into that rented wool bathing suit before going swimming. , From The Casino's southern balconies, you had a view of the state-of-the-art pools, their bottoms covered with sand and filled with filtered water. From the eastern balconies, you caught a view of the open-air theatre, complete with bandshell. It didn't take you long to figure out that this was a prime spot to enjoy concerts and operas, religious services and pageants, animal acts and fireworks. For movies shown in the evenings on the outdoor screen, there was no better place to be than in the middle of the crowd. The sing-a-longs always sounded best when you were surrounded by other voices.