Santa Monica, CA
The history of how the “3rd Street Swingers” came into existence, its operational beginnings and subsequent episodes is an interesting and intriguing one. For the most part, much of what took place in the early stages occurred by happenstance and in a spontaneous manner.
This story began when one of our favorite and most popular contemporary swing bands, Indigo Swing played a half hour promotional indoor concert in the coffee shop of Borders Books & Music store located on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, on a Sunday late-afternoon, at 3:00pm, August 30th, 1998. There were a good number of us swing dancers, dressed in our casual vintage style clothes, along with the general public, and with the euphoric hope of possibly engaging in some dancing. Fortunately, some of us had the opportunity to dance on the small floor area of the coffee shop, while others were out on the adjacent, outdoor sidewalk eatery area of the establishment.
Once the brief promotional concert concluded, about a dozen of us and more, were still immersed in a fun and excited mood to continue dancing. One Hepcat named, Andy Yoon, inquired if anyone had a boom box in their possession, because that was all that was lacking, for the swing CD's were already at hand. Well luck would have it, one CoolCat was able to bring a portable stereo boom box to the venue, and his name is, Joseph C. (Co-Founder). Hence, we were able continue our swing dancing in the middle of the Outdoor Walkway of 3rd Street Promenade, adjacent to the Borders Books & Music. We danced for awhile, until we were unexpectedly asked to stop by the local onsite police. He stated to us that we needed a performance permit from the City of Santa Monica in order to dance there legally.
Thanks to the inspired notion and insistence of one cute HepKitten, her name, Tammy B. (Co-Founder), the idea of organizing an on-going regular outdoor swing dance venue on the promenade was born. Obviously, all of us agreed whole-heartily that this was definitely a great idea to pursue. On the spur of the moment, we decided to elect and vote unnanimously to make Joseph and Tammy the leaders of this new organization. They both took on the responsibility in obtaining a list of names and phone numbers from all the HepCats and HepKittens who were still present. Then sometime later they made inquiries to make arrangements for the official submittal of a performance permit to the city. In the meantime, this brand new organization needed a name for itself, Joseph came up with the original idea to name us, “3rd Street Swingers”, and everyone gladly agreed!
Thanks to their efforts, less than one month later, on September 27, 1998, a beautiful, sunny, and clear Sunday afternoon at 3:00-5:00pm, we had our first legitimate and legal outdoor swing dance event on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade! It was just simply and exceptionally fun, enjoyable, happy, and memorable first day occasion for everyone involved!
A short period after this landmark opening day of dancing, another SwingMeister, yours truly, Joshua C. (informational manager), was elected by my dear good friend, and dance partner, Tammy Booth, to be the third member of the committee of this organization. This happened after I had voluntarily assisted her for a time, where I was given the full responsibility in the creation, development, and maintenance of the database to keep track and record all existing and new participant's information. Initially, I was somewhat reluctant to take the offered position, but after some reflection and ruminating, I finally decided that it was just too intriguing and challenging for me to recant out of hand, so I gladly accepted it with open arms, and I have not regretted it at all ever since!
During the first two or three months or so, several people brought their own swing CD's and the music was played on various boom boxes that were either owned by the dancers, or newly purchased by the organization, while the music was being DJ'd by several different spinmeisters. Unfortunately, none of the large boom boxes were quite sufficient to meet the needs of most of the dancers and the audience in terms of power, volume, and sonic quality for the noisy outdoor public venue. Well, with the personal initiative of one friendly SwingCat, and the fourth elected staff member, Kia H. (sound manager), this particular situation was corrected over a short period of time. He brought his own, old large bookshelf speakers and creatively custom built and installed a car stereo amplifier, two-channel mixer, and two portable CD players inside a large handy toolbox, all powered by a two 12Vdc sealed battery. Needless to say, everyone was very pleased and happy with the new custom sound system, as well as all the new music compilation CD-R's he had arranged and created.
Again with Kia's initiative and lead, with Joseph's and Joshua's assistance, we did some research for a time, and the organization purchased in September of 1999 a brand new pair of studio type speakers, which also included portable tripod stands. With the new superior speaker system now mounted approximately 6 feet plus above ground level, the music, and its higher sound quality can now be heard in all of its full richness, subtle ambience, more distinctly, and completely unhindered by the bodies of all the dancers, viewing audience, and passers by. This frankly put a big smile on everyone's faces, especially us dancers!
Over the course of time since our beginning, "3rd St. Swingers" has had several committee staff changes. Tammy Booth as one of the original founders, was a driving force and an inspiration to the group. She had organized the production of our first set of "3rd St. Swingers" bowling shirts imprinted with our logo. However, her tenure with our organization came to a unexpected close. For her one true, new found love had transferred to Seattle, Washingtion, due to his company's relocation there. So with Tammy deciding to follow her heart, she joined her fiancee there in early Feb. of 1999. With a small party of her friends, we had bid her farewell over an evening of delicious food and good drinks, and wished the young couple a true and everlasting happiness and love in their future together.
Fortunately, another SwingKitten, Sharlene C. was gracious enough and very happy to step in to fill Tammy's saddle shoes. Her excellent organizational skills and experience helped us get involved in some really special fun events, like the Shim Sham classes, 1999 New Year's Eve Swing Party, and the staffing for the now famous Satin Ballroom event. Sharlene served in this capacity until October of 1999, her resignation from her post was due to a shift in her work responsibilities and the pursuit of other personal interests. We were very pleased and grateful to Sharlene and her contributions to this organization, and we wished her well in her endeavors. In November of 1999, we had elected and rolled out the red welcoming mat to another HepKitten, Monica A. (event & program manager) as our newest staff member! For she is one intelligent, charming, and friendly gal who is definitely, "Hep to the Jive!"
So there you have it, our retrospective of how and when the “3rd Street Swingers” officially came into being and some of its earlier operational beginnings and ensuing episodes. Since that first inaugural opening day, the “3rd Street Swingers” list of participants has steadily grown from the initial 20 or more, to well over 500 plus dancers, and it is still growing!..."WOW!! Who Would've Ever Thought!"
Many of the faithful, devoted dancers, and newcomers simply can't get enough of the good fun, enjoyment, camaraderie, and the untiring pleasure of dancing to the wonderful vintage and comtemporary swing music with their circle of friends, acquaintances, and outside visitors. We feel so very fortunate and grateful to have the continued opportunity of partaking in this unique event on a bi-weekly basis in such a beautiful, fabulous outdoor location, in a casual setting, and always under the watchful eyes of an appreciative and interested audience...."Aren't We All So Lucky To Have This?"....
In a closing sentiment, the "3rd St. Swingers" organization and its' participants would like to say, "We All, Honorably and Respectfully Pay Tribute as the Catalyst to Our Existence Today to one of Our Favorite, Incredibly Talented, and Exceedingly Popular Contemporary Swing Band, Indigo Swing with Johnny Boyd!"
"WE, OF 3RD STREET SWINGERS, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH, AND GIVE A BIG HAPPY TOAST TO YOU...INDIGO SWING!!!"
P.S. It should be noted that "Indigo Swing" band had changed their name and publicly introduced themselves as "Indigo" since the beginning of Jan. of 2000. This was attributable to a decision made by the lead singer, Johnny Boyd in early Nov. of 1999, to leave the band at the end of the year to pursue other personal goals and to explore new challenges. This prompted the remaining band members to audition and find his new replacement, which they eventually found with a female vocalist named, Nicole Vigil.
8-23-2002
The Team of Individuals who now comprise the Managerial Staff of the "3rd St. Swingers", since September 2000, are the following: Darcy B., Neil F., Jack M., and Jeff B.! With these individuals on staff, and with their contributions and efforts, individually and as team, we expect to see some exciting and interesting acitvities, events planned, but our primary goal is to always to do our very best to keep the events SIMPLY FUN, for EVERYONE!!!