The Embassy Ballroom was home to thousands of jivers, twisters and stompers throughout the first half of the 20th century. Constructed in 1928, it was originally was called the ‘Temple Court Cabaret and Tea Rooms’. It is unknown at what point the name changed, but around the time of the 1950s (which is the period that this tour is specifically focussed) it was called ‘The Embassy Ballroom’.
It was located on the corners of William Street, Perth and the Esplanade in the Perth CBD. At the time of its construction, the Embassy Ballroom was located next to the Capitol Theatre, another thriving music venue (which was sadly demolished in 1968). The Embassy Ballroom was in fact partly destroyed by fire in 1933, and rebuilt and reopened the following year in 1934.
The interiors of the Ballroom were said to be ‘palatial’, with apparently 12,000 square feet of timber floorboards. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Embassy Ballroom featured a number of staff balls for commercial enterprises and businesses (such as Coles and Boans). Throughout the second world war, it is said that the Ballroom was used to welcome a Battalion of returning soldiers, and ex-prisoners of war, back home.
It is in the post-war period, however, that things really started to kick off. The Ballroom held some big names for Australian (and overseas) rock ‘n’ roll artists. As the legal drinking age in Western Australia was 21 in the 1950s, the venue operators found that they were missing out on a significant portion of their potential market. The Coca Cola Bottlers Hi Fi Club began to operate at weekends out the Ballroom – and soon became a haven for underage rock ‘n’ roll fans.
