Memories Dinner & Dancing

This place is a amazing venue! Upstairs the décor is gorgeous. Lee will work with you. Everyone is friendly and helpful. Womens restrooms are gorgeuos. All the family and friends were in impressed. I would have another event here!
I do have a few cons. one is the stairs is the only acess. But the pluses of the venue overide that for sure.

Very disrespectful guy, I called to just get information and he was so rude. If he was rude over the phone I can’t imagine in person

Celebrated my daughter’s Sweet 16 here last Friday. My friends and family had a great time. The staff were very professional and helpful with my requests. We had the pasta buffet which was really good. The linens for the table were were very nice (pink/​black). We had party on first floor which had a good size dance floor. The lighting was perfect. Several guest told me how much they like the dance hall. Pricing was affordable, food tasty, and the ambiance perfect.

Memories is where I started dancing, almost six years ago now, on Labor Day of my sophomore year of college. I stuck here for four years before I tried any other serious venues, and I still definitely have some nostalgic memories here.
Back in the day, when I first started coming here, this place was really hopping. I remember most nights you could barely fit on the dance floor because it was so full, but you could also barely fit anywhere else because there were just as many people on the sides during any given song. I made a lot of friends there, some of whom are still good friends of mine today, and I learned a lot of my foundational swing dancing skills here.
After about four years, I added a new place to my weekly excursions: Atomic Ballroom down in Irvine. Around the same time, Memories started dropping off, falling to as few as maybe a dozen people the whole night over the summer of ’14, as opposed to the 100+ who used to show up. To this day, I’m not sure what caused that, but it eventually caused me to leave and look for other places to dance.
In recent months, it has picked back up again. It still costs only $ 5 for admission (with water included, as opposed to when it was $ 3 but an extra dollar for water), and that’s a big plus. They’ve also brought in some live musicians, which spices things up. It’s definitely worth checking out if you haven’t been and are looking for places to dance. Personally, I didn’t feel connected anymore when I went back recently, and would rather stay more invested in the other places I dance now, which is why I can only give it 4 stars.

Had my daughters Quinceañera here was happy with the location and love the set up, everyone enjoyed themselves. Only negative things I have to say is food came out later than I was told but the food was delicious got the Italian menu and microphone system was not working but we made it work without one. Customer service we received was good and friendly staff. Would definitely book this place again.

As I am looking for a wedding venue I happen to see this place, so I called the number Im guessing is the owner answered. He was a total douche, I politely asked if he had a website and he rudely argued why wouldn’t he had a website. And asked me why would I insinuate he didn’t. I haven’t stepped in this place and I already received horrible customer service just by calling. I am definitely not stepping here.

great low key place to dance swing

Awesome! My husband and I just had our wedding reception here and it was great! The owner John is such a pleasure to work with. He answers all questions and tries his best to fill a request. The top floor is the best. We loved the decorations. I know it sounds odd but the women’s restroom on the top floor is so cool. We had a great time and received lots of compliments for picking such a retro and fun place.

It’s funny how my dancing preferences have changed over the years… I still dance at Memories, but usually only on certain weeks of the month when i know that the music I will be swinging out to will be more to my liking.
The last Monday of the month is now Splitz night…$ 5 gets you a couple of hours dancing downstairs on the smaller floor, and then around 10:30 the party moves upstairs where you can swing out on a much larger dance floor until around 1 or 1:30am. The floor upstairs seems to be much less sticky than it was a couple of years ago as well, which makes for much better sliding. :-)
It still gets really hot… and there still tends to be a large congregation of college kids from the local area filling up the place… and you still need to practice defensive dancing… but for $ 5 or less, it’s a pretty good time.

We went DANNNNCING yesterday night!
Cover is $ 3. cheap compared to $ 7-​$ 10 charge at other dance studios.
We were here for their open dance floor. which runs from 9P-​12A –
MONDAY NIGHTS ONLY!!! They have classes upstairs and open dance downstairs.
Their website says doors open at 8:30P, but it doesn’t get crowded ’till 9:30P.
The place reminds me of a slightly run down saloon. large bar with medium sized dance floor, up turned chairs, stained glass, and vinyl plush booths. There’s even a little stage with a velvet covering on it. Music comes in loud & clear.
They have a bar area… and charge for water. UH HUH.
1 cup — $ 1. =(
Dance floor does get slightly crowded. but with enough room for everyone
to move about. Some people were obvious pros… some were beginners, some were teaching others to dance. There was even a row of young guys approaching girls to dance. It was kinda cute actually… none of that awkwardness in high school dances. =P
Despite the dim lit setting … everyone had a smile on their face — even me
who didn’t know how to swing. =) Husband led and made me do some spins to help me loosen up hehe =P We used to go dancing before we started dating. well I guess he danced. I tried not to trip over him. He mentioned this was one of the places to go dancing (the other being Lindy Groove in Pasadena)…but it’s scaled down in open dance floor offerings.
Free beginner swing classes 6−7P on Tuesdays! :)
Note to the wise — please wear deodorant. don’t want to smell your b. o… *ahem…

Memories is a fairly decent social swing dancing venue. For me it largely depends on the DJ/​music, and I prefer vintage, big band and jazz.
There are two DJs, one of whom plays music more to the vintage taste, and one who plays more to the post-​jive taste, including jive, rockabilly, groove, blues and neo-​swing.
Depending on what dancers come out, the DJs will change up their music (the newbie and first-​time college crowd that usually populates Memories tends to prefer jive and neo-​swing style).
Memories has two stories and two dance floors:
Monday night social dancing usually takes place on the ground floor, with the exception of the LAST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH, when at about 10:30 everyone goes upstairs to dance on the larger floor (a new practice).
The upstairs floor is usually used for special events like band nights. In my experience the upstairs floor is not nearly as good as the much smaller downstairs floor in terms of dance quality.
The price is right: $ 3, and free after 11pm.
For a cheap night out, I’ll take it.

Monday Night
Finding parking to go swing dancing at Memories: $ 0.
Paying to get in: $ 3.
Felt thirsty and decided you needed some water and you go the the bar: $ 1.
Turn around and see a beautiful lady/​handsome gentlemen (or friend) and you buy them a drink: $ 1 – 5.
Asking them to dance and you both walk towards the dance floor: Priceless.
There is some things money can buy at Memories. But on the dance floor, there is swing dancing.
A nice cheap place to go swing dancing. The place is not the best place in facility wise, however the bartender, and the DJs are friendly and between them and a couple of friends you bring, the place can provide hours of fun for people at a cheap price.

Had our wedding in the ballroom and it’s beautiful. The décor in the ballroom is awesome with its gold and burgundy hues and exposed brick throughout, the venue looks very vintage. The manager, John, is super nice and professional. He is all about good customer service, which a lot of places lack that now a days. If you prefer an intimate wedding or a private party, I really recommend this place. They have a smaller downstairs bar area that can be rented out too. It’s a good deal especially if you are on a budget. Sundays have half-​price deals, they have deals on linens and food. Check out the website, it’ll give you more info. However, i definitely recommend you go down and visit the venue in person you will be pleasantly surprised. After that you will be sold. I do recommend this place if you like the vintage inspired alternative type of venue.

This is my favorite place to dance. They currently have two (awesome) chicks who rotate DJ duties and try to play a variety of swingable music.
I HIGHLY recommend the lessons by Essex & Lee on monday nights. They offer 3 levels of month-​long classes so you can really build your dance vocabulary. Their classes were my gateway drug! New classes start the 1^st Monday of every month.

Let me tell you something–
I have a serious passion for Swing. In high school, I was the president of Swing Club. Now, I teach Lindy Hop to whoever wants to learn. Let me tell you– The atmosphere and energy at Memories is AWESOME! $ 3 for Mondays and usually $ 10 for Fridays will get you into the best kind of club there is! SWING Club! Particularly for lindy-​Hoppers, this place is really swingin’ and I’d definitely reccomend coming to visit! The skill level of the regulars is typically very high, and it’s a pretty close-​knit group that’ll remember your name and ask you to dance, even if you tell them a million times that you have no idea what you’re doing!
You can wear anything you want, but you might look silly in a tuxedo. You can dance whatever you want– sometimes they’ll have solo Charleston battles, and Dance-​offs where the REALLY skilled dancers like to show off. So far, I’ve been in one of those and it went pretty well!
Honestly, if you’re interested in Swing, or if you’re a professional, this place is worth your time– no ifs, ands, or buts!

As far as swing dancing places go, this place is just OK, I’m a bigger fan of slower music. I thought the dj’ing was good, but I like groovy music that you can play with. The DJ changed the music throughout the night, but mostly revolved around faster beats.
The bar is good with nice bartending people and decent drinks. They seem to like to push the hot dogs, and while I haven’t tried them, I’m guessing they are good. For 1 dollar, they’ll give you a water cup and a marker to write your name on it. The entry fee for dancing is $ 3.00 on Monday which is a good price to keep me coming back. I enjoy Monday nights but I haven’t been on Friday nights, I hear the dancing level varies from night to night.

What kind of memories did I have from this place, lets see:
–it’s a swing dancing place (1^st one i’ve ever been to)
–the super basic steps to swing dance is slow slow quick quick. how that actually looks like real swing dancing is still a mystery
–a lonely ex-​marine cramming into a little booth with my friends and I and telling his life story in 10 min which caused us to leave the place and come back later.
-$ 2 shots of tequila
–watchin some guy slide on his heels across the dance floor that was tight
So I went there on a friday, which is more of a beginner night I was told. If you get there pretty early you can take a super basic lesson in swing which is sorta helpful if you don’t have a clue about swing. Not a bad place to check out some swing dancing or to get your first experience.

This place is great, very nostalgic. My wife and I, along with some friends signed up for Swing dance lessons. Essex & Lee are great dancers and instructors. The rooms are well decorated for the era, many people were at the club in 40’s attire. I can’t wait til next weeks class.