The Aragon Ballroom is the name of a significant ballroom in Chicago, Illinois. Situated on West Lawrence Avenue about 5 miles (8 km) north of downtown in the Uptown neighborhood, it was built in the year 1926 and designed to match a Spanish village and named for a province of Spain, the Aragon was generously appointed. The hall was an immediate success, and remained a famous Chicago attraction through the years of 1940s. The Aragon's nearness to the Chicago 'L' (elevated railway) helped people gather to the hall, and crowds often exceeded 18, thousand guests over the 6 open nights every week.
Powerhouse radio station WGN broadcast an hour-long program from the hall each night to radio crowd throughout the Midwestern United States and Canada. The Aragon hosted about all of the top names of the big band age. Among the most famous names were Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, U2, Queen, Guns N' Roses, Tommy Dorsey, Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Dorsey & Wayne King etc, among others. Myth has it that the top secret tunnels under the nearby Green Mill bar, a ban period hangout of Al Capone, lead to the Aragon's basement. A fire at an adjoining cocktail lounge in the year 1958 forced the Aragon to close for several months.
Address: 1106 West Lawrence Avenue,Chicago, IL 60640
The Aragon Ballroom is the name of a historic ballroom in Chicago, Illinois. With its extraordinary architectural design and aesthetics, the Aragon Ballroom is one of Chicago’s premier live entertainment venues. under the name Aragon Entertainment Center, the hall hosts a variety of Spanish language and Vietnamese language shows as well as English language rock concerts.
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