Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom Phone Number
Coordinates: 42°54′34″N70°48′40″W / 42.90944°N 70.81111°W
Aces and Eights is a NEW Casino Room. Located right on the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom Boardwalk, offering a full bar and restaurant plus large screen televisions in a clean, fun beach atmosphere! Open weekends first three weeks in June. Last week of June through September 11th open 7 days a week. Hotels near Casino Ballroom, Hampton on Tripadvisor: Find 4,527 traveler reviews, 1,073 candid photos, and prices for 640 hotels near Casino Ballroom in Hampton, NH.
| Former names | Club Casino (1976-92) |
|---|---|
| Address | 169 Ocean Boulevard |
| Location | Hampton Beach, New Hampshire |
| Owner | Schaake family |
| Capacity | 2,200 |
| Opened | July 4, 1899 |
| Website | |
| www.casinoballroom.com | |
The Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom is a seasonal live music and comedy venue located on the boardwalk of Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, United States. The venue is open from April to November, and within those eight months schedules upwards of 70 shows.
In 2010, Pollstar ranked the Casino Ballroom #23 in the Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues.[1]
History[edit]
The facility was opened on July 4, 1899, by Wallace D. Lovell, who owned the Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway Company, with the hope of bringing more business and tourism into the Hampton Beach area. In 1927, with performers beginning to achieve national stardom through various media, the ballroom was added to adapt to the changing nature of entertainment. The new owners wanted a facility that could hold 5,000 people, and thus the Casino Ballroom was born. After the expansion, the Casino Ballroom boasted the largest dance floor in New England, and 20,000 people made use of the massive space on a weekly basis that hosted acts such as Bing Crosby and Duke Ellington.[2]
The rise of rock and roll brought many more changes to the Casino Ballroom. The owners at the time sold the facility to a consortium of local businessmen interested in restoring it to its former glory. After renovating the facility and restoring many of its original features, the Ballroom reopened in the 1970s as Club Casino. Renovations, however, were not enough to draw promoters back to the venue. Seeing an opportunity, one of the new owners sought to book then-little-known names such as U2 and aging stars such as Ray Charles as a way of restoring the venue's reputation. His bet paid off, and following another renovation in the late '70s and early '80s, Club Casino began booking the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa Etheridge and Phish. So popular was the location, in fact, that it was able to fit 50 events into a three-month period, unheard of at the time for most music halls.
In the 1990s, the club started to develop a reputation for tough bouncers and strict rules against dancing. Again, changes were made to the Club Casino. In an attempt to regain some of its past glory, the name was changed back to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, the facade of the building was redone, and the adjacent hotel demolished. The venue's season now extends from April to November, and it continues to bring in some of the top names in entertainment.[3]
Notable events[edit]
On July 8, 1971, an additional 4,000 fans showed up to an already sold-out Jethro Tull concert with Yes on their first American tour as a supporting band. Ticketless fans started rioting and scaling the walls to climb in through the windows. Police and the National Guard were called in, and the incident resulted in the town of Hampton banning rock concerts for a number of years.[3]
On August 9, 1995, the day Jerry Garcia died, his former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir and his band RatDog took the stage to play a show at the Casino. Fans and media outlets descended on the Ballroom, filling the venue's parking lot to hold a candlelight vigil while listening to the band play inside.[3]
Micky Ward, professional boxer of The Fighter fame, fought Emanuel Augustus here on July 13, 2001. It was later named the 2001 Fight of the Year.[4]
The Casino Ballroom is the only venue in the world that has hosted three generations of the Nelson family: Ozzie & Harriet Nelson in the 1930s, Ricky Nelson in the 1960s and '70s, and Matthew & Gunnar Nelson in the 1990s.[5]
Notable performers[edit]
The following are some of the artists who have performed at the Casino Ballroom:[3]
- Bob Weir & RatDog
- The Pixies
- The Pretty Reckless
- The Ramones
- Stephen Wright[disambiguation needed]
References[edit]
- ^'Pollstar's Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues 2010', 10 January 2011. Retrieved on 2011-02-17.
- ^Trodson, Lars. 'Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom: A Century of Entertainment Excellence', 25-29 May 1999. Retrieved on 2011-02-17.
- ^ abcd'Casino Ballroom History', 30 July 2010. Retrieved on 2011-02-17.
- ^Garcia Quinones, Rafael. 'Revisiting the Fight of the Year for 2001: Micky Ward vs Emanuel Burton', 9 January 2010. Retrieved on 2011-02-17.
- ^'Historic New England Ballroom Features Bag End Bass Sound System'Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine, 10 June 1999. Retrieved on 2011-02-17
External links[edit]
It began shortly before the 1900s, when Massachusetts businessman, Wallace D. Lovell, owner of the Exeter, Hampton and Amesbury Street Railway Company financed the construction of a two-story wood-frame building in the hopes that it would draw people to the Hampton Beach area and stimulate business. The building, which opened its doors on July 15, 1899, was christened the 'Hampton Beach Casino.'
At that time, the word 'casino' did not connote a gambling establishment as we understand it today. The word is Italian for 'summer house' and came to describe a social gathering place, a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble. Lovell likely chose the term because, at the time, all things European were vogue in America. The name sounded exotic, and was familiar to thousands of immigrant workers in Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill.
Though it is not yet classified as such, the Hampton Beach Casino is, to many, a historical landmark. It has been and will continue to be the heart of Hampton Beach. It has been the center attraction at one of New England's most popular summer resorts for more than 100 years.
The Casino's doors were first opened to the public on July 4, 1899. The top floor of the building contained sleeping rooms for employees as well as a suite of rooms made available to summer renters. The second floor was comprised of a large dancing and entertainment hall and also housed a spacious dining room, complete with a grand fireplace erected with sea stones and lined with seashells. The bottom floor, also containing a dining room and a cafe, boasted two bowling alleys, one billiard and two pool tables. The rear of tbe building was reserved for recreational activities, namely baseball and tennis. Just across the street, facing the Casino, was a kiosk of sorts for music entertainment such as bands and singers.
The facility expanded in 1900, with the construction of a 57-room hotel, the Ocean House, to the north of the Casino. The hotel, which was connected to the Casino by a bridge, advertised electricity and running hot and cold water in every room. In addition to the hotel, a two-and-a-half story convention hall was built at the Casino's south end. One year later, construction of the Opera House was completed. The first floor housed 156 dressing rooms for local beachgoers. On the second floor was a large auditorium with a capacity of 700. Two hexagonal towers were added to the front corners of the casino, providing sightseers with a commanding view of the surrounding seacoast.
Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom Photos
The Casino provided entertainment for the whole family. Vaudeville shows ran in the Opera House; a penny arcade, merry go-round, and shooting range, complete with live ammunition and clay pigeons were added below, on the street level. Baseball, now popular to many, was played frequently in the back to sizable crowds. Like most Atlantic resorts, the Casino flourished during the industrial revolution. Beginning in the first two weeks in July when the mills shut down, workers escaped their dark, ten-hour work days and streamed to the shore for sunlight and fresh air. Running on the new alternating current, the trolleys made the resort accessible to those near and far. The droves grew larger with the automobile's advent, and by 1914, hundreds of Henry Ford's inexpensive Model T's were parked in front of the Casino.