Grande Ballroom

In the late 1920s, prominent Jewish businessman Harry Weitzman hired architect Charles N. Agree to design and construct a building in his home neighborhood of Petosky-Otsego, Detroit. Per Weitzman’s request, the building’s first floor was designed with ample space for businesses to rent and the second floor was designed to be mostly occupied by a large, hardwood ballroom- complete with springs underneath the flooring to give the dancers the feeling of floating as they moved. Construction of the Grande Ballroom was completed in 1928 and was, at the time, the largest ballroom space in the city.

Due to the 1929 stock market crash which occurred six months after the Grande’s opening, the ballroom never saw the frequent dancing events that other ballrooms had in Detroit earlier in the 1920s. Most of the ballroom dances that occurred at the Grande were for private parties put on by organizations or local businesses. From 1928 through the 1940s, the second-floor ballroom was operated by dance hall entrepreneurial partners, Edward J. Strata and Edward J. Davis.

Records show that the first-floor retail space, meanwhile, was occupied by several businesses including a department store and a drugstore. Due to Weitzman’s ownership of the property, the building was also frequently occupied by other, less law-abiding tenants- Purple Gang members. The most prominent, successful, and violent criminal organization in Detroit during the 1920s and 30s, the Purple Gang was a largely Jewish mafia that specialized in hijacking liquor cargos, bootlegging, and kidnapping. Although Weitzman was not a member of the Purple Gang, he was known to have financial ties to them. Several of his properties, including the Grande Ballroom, were used by the Purple Gang as hangout spots and for business dealings until their demise in the 1930s

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Changes in popular dance and music as well as the war furthered the Grande Ballroom’s limited success as venue for ballroom dancing. The building was purchased in 1955 by John Hayes and his wife- both of whom held a passion for the joys of ballroom dancing and a distaste for the rising tide of rock ‘n roll. Under their ownership, the Grande began the difficult process of attempting to revive ballroom dancing in Detroit, holding weekly events with dances taught by Mrs. Hayes herself. However, due to their conservative approach (the Grande Ballroom was the only dancing venue at the time which refused to serve liquor), the Mr. and Mrs. Hayes were forced to sell the venue in 1961. Over the next five years, the Grande was used as a skating rink, and then a mattress storage facility.

Then, in 1966, the Grande Ballroom was acquired by the man who would make it famous. Russ Gibb, a high school social studies teacher and popular local DJ in his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan bought the Grande and immediately began working with Detroit counterculture music figures to create a new venue for psychedelic rock ‘n roll in the city. Starting off by inviting notable local bands such as MC5, Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent, and The Stooges, the Grande slowly gained notoriety in the music industry for having great acoustics and even greater crowds. Headliners at the Grande during these years included Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Chuck Berry, John Coltrane, Howlin’ Wolf, Pink Floyd, and Iggy Pop. The Grande Ballroom soon became known as the “hippie capitalist center of Detroit”.

The last show at the Grande Ballroom was on New Year’s Eve of 1972. Russ Gibb, who had grown tired of the hovering concerns of band managers and the Detroit Police, was finding more success with other venues in the city. After its closure, the building was left largely unused for years. It was bought by Chapel Hill Missionary Baptist Church in the mid-2000’s, and despite a painted mural declaring it to be the future location of the church, the property has sat vacant ever since. In December of 2018, thanks to advocates for its preservation, the Grande Ballroom was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Recent inspections have reportedly shown promise for full restoration of the building, which Chapel Hill and members of the community have outlined as a goal for the upcoming years.

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