The Viking Ballroom was at 69th & Emerald (near Halsted St.) Events were still being held there as late as 1969. James J. Coulas Sr., who started the ballroom in 1932, during the Depression, passed away in 2007. Admission during 1946 was 80 cents plus tax.

Dot's sister remembered what it was like:

“Viking Ballroom was a great place for us girls to go. I don't think any of us ever went there with a date. It was a dress-up place and we usually went with several girls and had to take two streetcars.

The dance hall was upstairs and had a nice, dark atmosphere, unlike our high school dances. They had a professional dance band. Altho there were no name bands, they were still good. As Dot said, they had a cocktail lounge, which also had a nice atmosphere.

We had no trouble getting a drink— usually a highball. And remember I was 16 at the time. Never an I.D. check in those days. We really felt grown-up when we went in there and I can't remember ever getting more than one or two drinks.

Dot was right about an older crowd, but we never had any trouble for our one rule was: we came together and we go home together. If a gal broke that rule, we didn't go with her again. And it happened a couple of times.”

Below: a 2018 view of what I believe once was home to the Viking Ballroom building