Gray's Lakewood Dance Hall

History / Biographical: In the mid-1930s, built by Joe Grey and family because the Old Boys' Pavilion at Port Glasgow was packed every Wenesday night for nickel-and-dance, dances, Lakewood dance hall was in its prime and continued to attract good bands and crowds until the war siphoned off the male population and dance were discontinued. Manay a romance kindled there, particularly when full moons raised red out of the lake and cast shimmering, silver or gold sheens on the water to the pavilion. Directly below the hall, access on a grassy slope could be had to a 50 foot wide sand beach, which fronted the property. Beyond it, a sandy lake bottom was ideal for swimming. Hundreds swam there, since, during the summer there was next to no beach in front of the Old Boys' Park, and what was there was probably pebbly and stony. Mrs. Grey operated a booth at the dance hall. that catered to dance and weekend crowds. Hot dogs provided her specialty, because she made buns fresh for Friday night dances and for Sunday picnic and bathing crowds,

Scope and Content: Gray's Lakewood Dance Hall, just east of Port Glasgow Park, ca. 1930.