A dime a dance … guests could pay 10 cents to dance with a girl for 90 seconds.
Clustered in a rectangle, two by eight city blocks in size, in the less elite business district, were Honolulu’s seven taxi-dance halls. Around the entrance sit sellers of leis, corsages, and boutonnieres.
The ballroom is just a large room, whose floors are heavily painted, varnished, and oiled … Lining the walls are benches where the girls sit and wait for dances, or chat with the men.
In one corner is a counter and an ice-box, where soda pop is sold. A peek into the ice-box reveals about a dozen leis and corsages, presented to the girls by admirers.
They are not worn because, in the stuffy smoky room, they wilt quickly, and because they offer too much incumbrance to the hopping around of the girls. (Lord & Lee)
“Dance halls that cater to Filipinos waste no money on overhead. The Filipinos have a need for feminine companionship, and accept it under any conditions.
“They are offered partners, room to dance, and exceedingly “hot” music. These halls are smaller, darker, more crowded, and to a considerable degree, more odorous.” (Lord & Lee)
“Considered one of the more popular and common forms of masculine recreation during the 1920s and 1930s, taxi-dancing all but disappeared following the years of World War II.”
“A taxi-dancer or dance hostess is usually a Caucasian, Hispanic, or Asian female between the ages of 18 and 25 (sometimes older), employed by a public dance establishment which caters to the tastes of male customers by providing paid women partners for dancing within a reasonably acceptable social sphere.”
“A man can, in effect, “rent” a woman’s company for as long as he likes; thus, the term “taxi-dancer” appears applicable.” (Meckel)
“The customers (would buy) tickets by dollar’s worth or two dollars’ worth, and they would dance with the girl. And if the girl not so good, they would change.”
The customers “were mostly Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese (local and a few servicemen —and lot of servicemen too during the war. Yeah, a lot of servicemen used to go.” (Dacossos; NPS)
There were live bands … “The Brown Cats of Rhythm played in a taxi-dance hall called the Casino Ballroom, which was located on the corner of Nu‘uanu and Beretania Streets in downtown Honolulu.”
“It was a typical dime-a-dance hall with about sixty to sixty-five hostesses of all nationalities. The dances lasted about two minutes and then a bell would ring.”
“Soldiers and sailors frequented the place, buying rolls of tickets at ten cents a ticket, which they would give to the hostesses at the end of each dance.”
“The music was a mixture of popular tunes and hard-driving jazz, riffing very much in the Kansas City and South-Western style; …The musicians worked from 8.00 to 12.00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, for approximately thirty-five dollars per man.” (Storyville)
“When a lull occurs, the customers are scarce, the girls pair off, and rather than let the music go to waste, dance together, displaying an amazing series of intricate steps, slides, dips, twirls, and backbends. Because they have to be able to follow anyone, they display rare ability and grace. They are marvelous dancers!”
“The taxi-dancers are all much alike in appearances. The average age is twenty-two years, with eighteen as the lower limit and thirty-eight as the upper, most girls being around eighteen years.”
“Out of about three hundred girls, forty are Portuguese, thirty-one are Filipino, twenty-eight are girls (are) pure Hawaiian. twenty-seven are Hawaiian-Chinese, twenty-four are Japanese, fifteen are Korean, and twelve are pure Chinese. No girl admits having either Negro or Jewish blood.”
“The older dancers are of the Caucasian races, and the reason is an obvious one. They come from the mainland where dance halls have been operating for years and they are old hands at the game, whereas in Honolulu, dance halls are a comparatively
new development.”
“One distinguishing characteristic of the taxi-dancer is the inevitable permanent wave. This, added to plenty of mascara and eye shadow, rouge and lipstick, is supposed to render her sexually attractive.”
“She usually chooses a dinner, or cocktail dress, of clinging form-revealing lines, and of medium length, worn with sandals — for comfort and for durability.” (Lord & Lee)
“Previous to becoming a taxi-dancer, the girl works in the pineapple cannery, in private homes as a house maid, or in a restaurant as a waitress. Monotony, long hours and little pay are the rewards of these positions. However, at this period, she still retains her neighborhood or childhood friends.”
“Through another taxi-dancer or a patron of the dance hall, probably just a chance acquaintance or a friend of recent development, the girl gains her introduction to this vocation.”
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In the early 1960’s, Cha Cha’s Ball Room was still going in Wahiawa during my teenage years. The ballroom was on the second floor of a Cane Street building. Function and payment appeared similar to what was described in your article. Antoquie’s Pool Hall occupied the lower story of the building. He may have been the owner of the building. Both places were agreeable enough most of the time but things could get radical in a second.
In 1968 one of my roommates and I needed extra money, we liked to dance so when we saw an ad for “The Crystal Ballroom,we called. What an experience. First of all we were horribly underdressed in cotton mini dresses, all the other women were very exotic and wore cocktail dresses. There was a large band I remember also it was somewhat dark in the ballroom. I remember one local man asked me “what are you doing here”? We were clearly out of our element. My dad who had been in Hawaii during WWII was horrified when he found out what I had done. My regret is that none of the other girls talked to us. We only lasted one night, we didn’t even get paid as we would have had to work the next night to collect our wages.
When ever I’m In a situation where a group is asked to name there most unusual job I always say Taxii Dancer” most people have no idea what that is.
My husband’s mother and her sister, both of Portuguese descent, were taxi dancers during the war.
Hi Cecily! Does he have any photos? It would be cool to see. My mom was adopted and she was told that her birth mom was a dancer (Japanese) who met a soldier (haole) at the dance hall. That’s how she was conceived.
I am trying to track down a taxi dance hall that was located in downtown Honolulu as late as 1983. I think it was called The Palace but I haven’t been able to find anything with that name and I can’t remember the street. I think it was located on the 2nd floor of the building. I worked there for a few months, late 1982- early 1983. It was run by an older couple with kids going to college on the mainland. The husband had throat cancer and had his voice box removed. They had drivers that picked up the girls. I think it closed a year or two later.