A moment in history was missing from the Jan. 31 edition of The Pulse, but we thought you might still like to read it, so enjoy!
On this day in 1951, those looking for a party were getting ready to hit one of Edmonton's hottest clubs.
The advertisement for the Rainbow Ballroom on Whyte Avenue might not seem exciting to us in 2025. It promised Waltz Night Wednesdays, Old Time dancing on Friday, and music by the Golden Spark Orchestra. However, the expansive dance hall was one of the anchors of Edmonton's nightlife for decades.
Built at Whyte and 108 Street in 1948, at the beginning of a construction boom, it wasn't long before lines of young dancers stretched along the side of the building on Friday and Saturday nights.
Once inside, party-seekers would find a large wooden dance floor big enough for the hundreds of patrons the Ballroom would attract on a busy night, as well as a bandstand and concession. The walls were decorated with painted murals depicting the Rocky Mountains, which surely felt outdated as the orchestra music of the '50s gave way to the rock-and-roll of the '60s.
Many of Edmonton's most popular and well-known musical acts played at the ballroom during its lifetime. Tommy Banks and the Muirhead Orchestra both performed there in the early days. During the 1960s, the Rainbow was the regular home for one of the city's most popular rock bands, The Lords (known at the time as the A&W Lords because they were sponsored by a local burger drive-in). The dance hall's rock days were immortalized by a live album, Direct from the Rainbow Ballroom, which features performances by The Lords, Mary Saxton, and Southern Freeway.
The Rainbow Ballroom remained a staple of Edmonton's nightlife into the 1970s, but it eventually shut down. In the 1980s, it was briefly a bingo hall before returning to its roots as a Mother's Music store. In the '90s, the building was replaced by something diametrically opposed to a music venue: A bank.
Whyte Avenue has long been the brightest light in Edmonton's nightlife scene. However, the street has received less attention over the past few years, with increasing shop vacancies. During the same time, the city has encouraged more vibrancy in other parts of the city, such as last year's pilot project for a special entertainment district along Rice Howard Way downtown.
This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.