History of The Grande Ballroom

The Grande Ballroom was a music venue that was built in 1927 and completed in 1928. It originally served as a jazz ballroom, capable of holding 1,500 people. The building also hosted retail shops on the first floor. The Grande Ballroom functioned as the original jazz ballroom-style venue until the early 1960s, when the owners realized, too late, that jazz had fallen out of style and ballroom dancing was no longer as enjoyable for the young as it once had been . The owners refused to change the style of the venue, and it remained the last ballroom in Detroit . It was then converted into a roller-skating rink, remaining so until 1966, when the ballroom transitioned into perhaps its most well-known phase as a rock venue from 1966 to 1972. It is also recognized for surviving the 1967 Detroit Riots. Many notable artists performed at the venue in its later years, such as Pink Floyd, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, The Who, and many more. It was the major rock venue in Detroit during its time. Hippie counterculture was prominently present at the venue post-1966, as it was owned by Russ Gibb, a prominent promoter in the scene of the late '60s. Gibb was inspired to purchase the Grande Ballroom after a trip to San Francisco, where he attended a show at the Fillmore Theater. Upon returning to Detroit, he realized the city did not have a rock venue like the Fillmore and chose the Grande Ballroom as his first location to capture the rock and roll spirit in Detroit. Gibb knew how to attract young crowds for a great show , drawing from his many experiences in the media, including work at Local 4 News, as a disc jockey at WKNR-FM, and also working in the Dearborn Public Schools District nearby for over 42 years before retiring in 2004. The ballroom was abandoned in 1972 after it became Gibb's best interest to book larger venues than those at the Grande Ballroom, which had become too small to host the shows Gibb had grown accustomed to presenting since 1966. When Gibb returned to the Grande about 2008, he said he was overcome with "a wee bit of anger over how a place that meant so much to so many people doesn't mean that much to the powers that be. There's a bit of anger at myself but mostly at the city that didn't realize what it had."