Grande Ballroom, Dance hall in Detroit, United States
Grande Ballroom is a dance hall at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit with Moorish arches and decorative tile work inside. The second floor hall has a spring-mounted hardwood floor that extends across a large rectangular room with a raised stage.
Charles Agree designed the building in 1928 for Edward Strata and Edward Davis as a dance venue for social dancing. Russ Gibb transformed it into a rock music venue in 1966 after visiting the Fillmore in San Francisco.
The venue introduced psychedelic light shows in the late 1960s that covered the walls and ceiling during performances. These presentations created a new kind of concert experience that joined sound and visual expression together.
The ballroom has stood empty since 1972 and the facade shows decay with graffiti and broken windows. The building entered the National Register of Historic Places in 2018 but remains closed to visitors.
Led Zeppelin played their first US concert here in January 1969 to fewer than one hundred people. Janis Joplin performed multiple times and often held conversations with the audience between songs.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
