Dorsey High School and the Clubs

Earlier I mentioned the girls' club The Chanels and a boys' club Ronin. I spoke to Ken by phone, who knew several of the girls of The Chanels. He was adopted into their club as a result of their mutual friendship. A 1964 graduate of Dorsey High, Ken typically attended public dances at the usual places like Rodger Young's, Aeronautical and one place that I believe has not been mentioned by others: King's Tropical Inn.

At Dorsey, he said there was another dominant girl club called Jeunes (translates to Young People). Ken also had some older friends, and he recalls they were a part of a guys club called Chonin.

I asked Ken whether it was true that those early public dances were semi-formal in dress. Ken confirmed what I had heard: people attended the functions in coats and ties, wearing what you would wear to church, he said. For that matter, he told me, many dances were sponsored by Japanese churches, like Centenary in Little Tokyo and Buddhist churches like Senshin at Normandie and 36th. He said the monthly dances were not broadly publicized, so mostly Japanese Americans attended.

I inquired whether bands or recorded music was played - Ken said the functions he remembered in the 1960s were a little of both. One group from the mid-1960s that came to mind was Thee Chosen Few, a band whose members were multi-ethnic, including a Black member named Royce. Dances were also conducted 'low-tech' whereby probably a phonograph player was situated, allowing 45's to be played - with instances in which attendees brought their own latest records to be played and danced to. (Oh, oh, is it necessary to explain to some readers what is a '45'?? No, just google it with key words 'vinyl record' and figure it out if you don't know.)

Turning back to the Dorsey clubs, I asked him whether dances put on by the clubs were business ventures. Ken said, oh yes, they had to rent out a dance hall, along with a bar that was very "liberal" in serving drinks. Ken also recalls that The Chanels held many, many house parties around 1962 to 1964 or so.

I couldn't finish my phone interview without bringing up the subject of 'cruising'. Ah, yes, Ken remembers cruising Hollywood Boulevard, and around eating joints the Hodys and an A&W somewhere in Hawthorne. Cars in those days, he said, were equipped with record players spring-loaded to play 45's. Ken distinctly remembers in the year 1963, a friend proudly cruised in a 1950 Olds that he restored into a head-turning, eye-popping "pearlescent lime green."

Betty