Venue: Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California)
Town: Los Angeles, US

The Aragon Ballroom on Lick Pier in the Ocean Park district of Santa Monica, California was a social-dance venue opened under the Aragon name in March 1942 by dance promoter Harry Schooler (1918-2008). The ballroom and the pier, named Lick Pier, were erected in 1922. The pier was situated at the foot of Navy Street adjoining the south side of the Pickering Pier. Lick Pier was, in 1922, almost entirely in Venice. It was 800 feet long and 225 feet wide. At the opening of Lick Pier and the Bon Ton Ballroom on Easter weekend 1922, the ballroom was 22,000 square feet, and the pier featured a Zip roller coaster, a Dodge'em, Caterpillar rides, and Captive Aeroplane rides. Development, costing $250,000, commenced in 1921 and was financed by Charles Jacob Lick (1882-1971), Austin Aloysius McFadden (1875-1960), and George William Leihy (1865-1940). Schooler, whose Swing Shift Dances had originally been held at the nearby Casino Gardens, signed a 10-year lease in 1942 for the old Ocean Park venue, which was said to have 1,500 electric lights and 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) of floor space, from owner Charles Lick. Schooler renamed it the Aragon, then spent some $50,000 to refurbish it. In August 1943, 25-year-old Harry Schooler was earning $55 per week as a toolmaker at Douglas Aircraft Co. in Santa Monica during the graveyard shift, a job which he later claimed he retained to protect himself from the wartime draft. His Swing Shift Dances had originally been held at the nearby Casino Gardens until he signed a 10-year lease in 1942 for the old Ocean Park venue, which was said to have 1,500 electric lights and 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) of floor space, from owner Charles Lick. Schooler renamed it the Aragon, then spent some $50,000 to refurbish it. But the balance of his reported $250,000 per year gross income came from his several roles as dance hall impresario, bandleader and promoter, which by August 1943 included seven nights a week at the Aragon Ballroom, Friday and Sat