Saturday, June 6, 2009

Catalina Casino's 80th Anniversary-pt1




We celebrated the world famous Catalina Casino’s 80th birthday last weekend - May 29. This celebration brought back a very special memory of my own and I’d like to share it with you.


WARNING: TEAR JERKER -- HAVE YOUR KLEENEX READY!!!!!

About ten years ago I was giving a tour of the Casino. (I still conduct this tour, today. You can catch me leading this special tour every Sunday and Monday). On my tour, I begin by taking the group into the movie Theatre (decorated in Art Deco Style design, it was the first movie theater in the world built for the advent of "talkies") and then we walk up a series of ramps to the Grand Ballroom (the world's largest circular “floating” ballroom).

During my tour to the Ballroom I play a tape recording of "Big Band" music and allow people to dance if they wish. After a few minutes I turn off the music and continue the tour. I get a lot of older single women on my tours and because I am limited by time (which I usually go overtime anyway, ask my boss Eric). So, I "vowed" that I would NEVER ask any of the ladies to dance, because if I danced with one, I would have to dance with all of them!

So, here we are, about ten years ago, I was standing on the stage playing the recorded music when the "Spirit" spoke to me. (If you are a "believer", then this won't come as a surprise to you. If you aren't, I guess that you will just have to trust me.) A “Voice” told me to go to a certain little old woman (she appeared to be in her 80's) and ask her to dance. First, I had the "gall" to silently explain to Him that I had a policy of NOT dancing with anyone during the tour!

Next, louder, and more forceful, the "voice" told me that I must hurry over to her and ask her to dance! This time I realized that I wasn't in the position to question so I ran across the ballroom to her and asked her to dance. She was a good deal shorter than me and her head only came up to my color bone. She immediately closed her eyes and put her head on my chest and we simply walked around on the dance floor for a while. After a few minutes, the song ended, and I thanked her. Everyone clapped and I went back to work. (to be continued-gotta go overtown now)

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