“It had the largest dance-floor in the whole city – even (bigger than) the hotels.”Įl Casino was and is living history. “The El Casino was THE place,” notes Latin American Social Club president Edward Lopez. But because El Casino could accommodate 1,000 people, it seemed to become the favored hub for Tucson’s Hispanic community.

Once El Casino opened its doors, several other now-defunct ballrooms popped up, among them The Victoria (later Del Rio) at I-10 and Speedway Boulevard and the AMVET Ballroom (later Bob’s Place) on West St. When it opened, the old Riverside Ballroom on West Congress had recently closed to build Interstate 10 in Tucson and a fire had destroyed the Blue Moon – located where the Tucson House is on Oracle Road now. Back then, in the wake of World War II, El Casino filled a recently created void. More than any other place in Tucson, the El Casino Ballroom has been the true community center for the town since it opened its doors in 1947 at the corner of East 26th Street and South Second Avenue. 2, while the adults lined up to do the Electric Slide at the famous dance hall, which marks its 60th anniversary this year with celebrations Friday and Saturday. Kids were still doing the same thing when Ponce and Gonzales married there Nov. “In-between dances, we little kids would run and slide on that floor,” she says. Tucson’s Deputy City Manager Liz Rodriguez Miller has vivid memories of childhood at El Casino and the dance floor that seemed to “go on for miles.” The couple joined a long chain of Tucsonans who had their weddings, quinceañeras, reunions, cultural celebrations, parties, charitable events, club meetings, political rallies, concerts and more, surrounded by friends and family at the 60-year-old landmark. It’s where the couple met, where they had their first kiss, where he proposed to her and where they had their baby shower.

When Christopher Ponce and Stephanie Gonzales decided to get married, they knew one thing absolutely: The wedding would be at El Casino Ballroom. INSET: Children play on the ballroom's dance floor, which can accommodate many people. BACKGROUND: Wedding guests dance at a cermony at El Casino Ballroom in the early 1980s.

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