This blog is primarily about the history of the buildings the Grateful Dead played in. Why? I don’t know except I’m a fan of old buildings and especially how they’re transormed over the years for various purposes. These old buildings speak to me of people, places, culture and ideas from long ago. So the Dead are just the springboard for talking about these places.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Stockton Ballroom, Stockton CA

Ideally, this blog will be for more thorough discussions of venues, such as the FDGH post. But I'll also occasionally post links to Google Earth files (kmz or kml extension) of venues now and then. Like now, for instance!

Corry over at the lostlivedead blog just posted some info on the 4/28/67 Stockton Ballroom show/venue here. To supplement that post here is a photo of the glamour that is the Stockton Ballroom with a link to a kmz file to show you just where it is on the face of the planet. The place is still in use for various get-togethers, wedding receptions, club meets, etc. Not too fancy a place but hey, if your wayback machine could take you there to hear a scorching Viola Lee Blues and some raunchy Pigpen would you complain about the facilities? I thought not.

And why didn't I think of checking out youtube for interior shots of the place? Jeez, a whole new source (for me) to look at the inside of some of these places. Anyway, photo below courtesy of Google Street View (but hosted at imageshack.com)

Stockton Ballroom on Google Earth


image from Google Street View

2 comments:

Corry342 said...

Man, you are good. I clicked and clicked and couldn't find a view of the place, and you found one with a sign!

The quote on Dead.net that refers to Jerry standing around the lobby gassing with the fans now makes sense. It was such a tiny place, there probably wasn't anything resembling a backstage anyway.

Unknown said...

Man this is excellent, love the historical aspect, ty. Tiny venues rule!

About Me

I'm fascinated by the evolution of place. Or more precisely how a location has been used by humans and how we've changed a place to fit our needs and fit our needs to meet a place. The older I get the more I feel a connection to people from the not-too-distant past. We walk past a building housing a Rite-Aid and mobile phone store without realizing that once there were people dancing and falling in love there, or laughing at a movie there, or skinning their knees while roller skating there, or dropping acid for the first time and grooving to Hendrix there. So this blog is a weird bit of history/architecture/Grateful Dead arcania. But what's the internet for if not for weird little bits of arcania?

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