By Rene Torres
RGV young men saw a need for entertainment during the Depression. After the stock market crash of 1929, many in this country experienced a dramatic change in their lives.
The economic downfall, which lasted about ten years, caused a downgrade of lifestyle, as many lost their jobs, and some had no choice but to live in shanty towns. Some of the well-to-do of the Roaring 20s were reduced to selling apples and pencils on street corners.
The Valley was home to many of those vagabonds, and transients created by the era. “They came in record numbers, more than this region had seen before,” said local police.
Word spread among the down and out that the Valley was prosperous, with a mild climate, and that a person could eat as many grapefruits as their stomach could hold. A newspaper of the time reported, “The highways of the Valley are literally lined with human driftwood, hobbling along the side of the road or footing along the railroad tracks.”
It was written that the RGV went from the land of hope to the land of despair and people did what they could to make their lives bearable.
NEED FOR
ENTERTAINMENT
WAS APPARENT
In the Valley, no “Depression” was going to damper the spirit of the people, and what better way to depart from the pains of their daily routines than to dance the night away?
Listening to the radio offered some escape, but dancing to the Latin rhythms, swinging to the Shim Sham Shimmy, Charleston and the rest brought instant romance.
So the idea of forming a social dance club in San Benito during the Depression had its skeptics, but that did not deter 20 local young men from doing what seemed impossible.
The people of this era were typically entertained by sporting events like baseball and/or girls’ softball games, high school football, boxing, wrestling, horse racing, cock fighting and the more influential were playing golf and tennis, and, of course, the movies were hot. Reading and board games were popular as well.
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