In old movies, you always see people going to those fancy restaurants with a live orchestra and a large dance floor, where everyone is dressed in tuxedos and top hats or evening gowns. Sometimes they call it a nightclub, but I don’t know of any nightclubs that are also full-service restaurants. Maybe this makes me a trashy, slackjawed yokel – I don’t know. Do places like that still exist?
One of the classics does, apparently:
Don’t you love looking at all the shiny people? Women checking their fur coats, cigarette girls walking around with trays of Camels, photographers taking pictures of that special night. Gorgeous. Especially the jewelry on the women.
No black ties, but people used to dress up and go to “supper clubs” in the Midwest for dinner, drinks, and dancing. They’ve died out – haven’t heard of one since the 60’s. I don’t know what killed them. TV, maybe?
I saw one of these as recently as the mid-90s. I was at a wedding reception held in another room in the complex, but the main dining room had a big dance floor and a stage band, complete with female and male vocalists, depending on the song. It looked like you could book a table for dinner and stay for dancing. No tuxes, but there did seem to be a dress code–jackets and ties for men, dresses for women–and it looked like it might be a fun thing to do. I never got the chance to find out though, as I moved out of town later.
I don’t know when was the last time you were in the Midwest, but supper clubs are alive and kicking – though they’re not glamorous at all, just dive steak joints stuck in the 60s. Can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a supper club.
Perhaps the definition simply morphed.
Yeah, supper clubs! I think that’s the name you hear most often in older movies and TV shows, and I guess they could be dressy but not quite formal.
I don’t know if they ever caught on in Texas. I have one photo of my father’s parents at one sometime in the 1950s, while they were on a trip to New York City. They’re all glammed up and look like movie stars.
I’ve been to jazz clubs like DC’s Blues Alley that almost fit the bill. Club owners discovered to their delight that they could pack more butts in seats with a 4-piece rock band than a 20-piece orchestra for a fraction of the price, and sell a lot less food and a lot more booze.
Desi Arnaz’s Tropicana is lost to a bygone era. It’s a damn shame.
Yes, in New York you have places such as SOBs (Latin/world music & table service) and Joe’s Pub (not a pub per se, I think it’s short for public theater). The World Trade Center used to have such a place called Windows on the World. Also there are a number of cabaret venues where you can eat a full dinner & listen to a singer. They tend to be intimate places, though, with dancing not likely. And mind you, you wouldn’t find many tuxedoed men in any of these places, just a lot of smart dressers.
Having said that, I do think that Hollywood largely concocted the idea of these massive, dreamlike supper clubs with the glitz & the perfect penthouse views with the moonlight & stars etc. Remember that back in the '30s & '40s they filmed all interior scenes on constructed stage sets in Hollywood. So even when the nightclub in the movie was supposed to be in New York it was not, and it may not have even been a representation of an actual NYC club.
I realize the movies weren’t remotely realistic, but I’d heard stories about real ones too. The Rainbow Room is an obvious example, but I didn’t realize it was still like that on weekends. I thought it was just a restaurant.
I love the Rainbow Room. Went there on my first anniversary.
Oyster Rockefeller in Rockefeller Center is a nice treat.
I wore a suit, but not a tux.
the only dress code i ever encountered was down at the French Lick Resort in southern indiana. this was some years ago now, but back then, women had to wear dresses and men a tie and sportcoat to go to dinner.
the closest these days to an old-style nightclub/supperclub in the old ‘circle city’ is
by all accounts it’s gorgeous, although i’ve never been there.
I went to one in Seattle on the top of the Smith Tower in the '70s, but alas, it’s long gone.
How did people in those 1930’s ever go to work? I mean-you stay out till 2 AM-how did they sleep?
That said, those old night clubs must have been neat places-I always liked those scantily-clad cigarette girls!
Back in the 80s, my ex and I took a trip to Atlantic City. We were in a casino bar where a jazz band was playing, and I ran out of cigarettes. My ex said, “Oh, the gift shop is down that way; you could get some cigarettes there.”
Rather reluctantly, because it was a good band, I left and went all the way back to the shop, where I got some cigarettes. When I returned, I saw the scantily-clad and very leggy cigarette girl making her way through the bar. “Aw hell,” I said to my ex, “I could have stayed here and got cigarettes from the girl. I didn’t even know there was a cigarette girl here.”
My ex said, “I knew she was here. That’s why I sent you to the shop.”
