The Taxi-Dance Hall

Examining the scourge of the ‘pay-to-dance’ system in Depression-era Chicago.

“In these halls, young women and girls are paid to dance with all-comers, usually on a fifty-fifty commission basis. Half of the money spent by the patrons goes to the proprietors who pay for the hall, the orchestra, and the other operating expenses while the other half is paid to the young women themselves.” – pg. 3.

This volume, published in 1932 as part of the University of Chicago Sociological Series, outlines the public menace of the so-called Taxi Dance Halls that were popular in major cities at the time. (They were seen as a variant of ‘professional’ prostitution and segregated vice districts). A fold-out map (one of three total) shows the concentration of licensed dance halls across the Chicago City Limits. Several have a seating capacity of over 2,500!