The Roaring Twenties

In Rockaway Beach

By the 1920's, crowds flocked to Rockaway for seaside resort entertainment. Big bands, dance pavilions, bathing beauties, pool halls, and card rooms flourished.

Norman Johnson of the Bill Darby Orchestra described the scene in 1925: 

"We played every night except Monday. On Sundays and holidays, we played in the afternoons and evenings. We called it the “Jitney Grind."​

No admission was charged to enter the dance, but tickets were sold for 5 cents each. … dancers would cram through the entrances and give the floor man a ticket. We would play two or three tunes per dance and then chime the end of that dance, after which the floor men would encircle the dancers with long ropes and usher them back through the openings."   

Seven musicians pose on a porch with instruments and a drum labeled “Darby’s Orchestra.”
Crowd gathered in a town square for a public event, with people standing around with instruments and buildings in the background.
Two seated dancers in 1920s dark swimsuits on a boardwalk, one with a bent knee and one with legs extended.
Crowded vintage car gathering in an outdoor park, with many early automobiles parked among people and trees.

"The dances were always well attended, especially at weekends when we had many people from Tillamook, Wheeler, and Camp No 4 at Mohler. On most Saturday nights, people would start lining up on the plank sidewalk several hours before the doors of the dance hall were open. Fire regulations allowed only 500 people at a time, and many were turned away." -Florence Darby

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