MUSIC HISTORY 101 JULY 21, 2000 - The Evergreen Ballroom in Lacey, Washington was destroyed by a fire. During the ballrooms heyday in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, many of musics greats played there: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Duke Ellington, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and Fats Domino. Glen Campbell had lived in the kitchen at the venue for a while before he became famous. The Ballroom was a significant location in the history of the song Louie, Louie, as it was the was the first place Richard Berry performed in the Northwest when he did a 1957 tour with Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and Etta James. It was this very show where many folks in the Pacific Northwest first heard the classic novelty tune, which was released that year on Flip Records. Four years later, Rockin Robin Roberts (with the Wailers) and Little Bill and the Adventurers released the very first covers of Richard Berry’s song in 1961, which inspired a multitude of recordings, including the Kingsmen, Paul Revere & the Raiders, and a handful of other Northwest bands. The most fabled of any historic dancehall in Washington (the Evergreen State), the Evergreen Ballroom stood for nearly seven decades along a section of Highway 99 called the old Tacoma and Olympia Highway. The Evergreen Ballroom (9121 Pacific Avenue SE) was situated just outside of Olympia where it became established as a favorite local dining and dancing spot for Olympians -- as well as Tacomans who were willing to travel 20 miles south.The halls real claim-to-fame though, was as a legendary tour-stop for a few decades worth of Americas top musical performers. The venerable dancehall brought in the best big-bands of the 1930s and 1940s, the country music stars of the 1940s and 1950s, and some of the earliest local shows by the first generation of 1950s rock n rollers. Among the unforgettable headliners to draw crowds to The Green -- as locals came to fondly call it -- were such marquee attractions as: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Bird Parker, Hank Williams, Dinah Washington, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, and Little Richard. Along the way the ballroom also served as a nurturing incubator for the nascent Northwest rock n roll scene, providing early dates for top local bands including the Wailers, Kingsmen, and Sonics. The Evergreen was destroyed in a possible act of arson in 1932, but was immediately rebuilt. It then weathered waves of musical revolutions ranging from country rock to heavy metal to hip-hop. It long served as a key community gathering place, but the beloved hall sadly did not survive a second fire on July 21, 2000. READ MORE: historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9557
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 23:27:14 +0000
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