History of The Vanity Ballroom

The Vanity Ballroom was a jazz ballroom built in 1929 and advertised itself as "Detroit's most beautiful dance rendezvous." The owners, Edward J. Strata and his partner Edward J. Davis, ran the Vanity Ballroom. Davis owned the Grande Ballroom across town, effectively making the Grande and Vanity ballrooms sister locations. Both buildings were designed by famed architect Charles Agree, the only difference being their Art Deco designs. Both ballrooms hosted shops below the main floor . By 1958, the ballroom closed due to declining interest in jazz . Although the shops below helped keep the ballroom in good shape by using the upstairs space for storage, in 1964 the ballroom opened for one night a week under Strata's ownership. However , by 1971 , due to the Detroit riots of 1967, the area around the Vanity had declined so much that the building was forced to close. The shops below had closed a year earlier for the same reason. Van Mineff Corp. bought the building in 1971 and used it as a smaller-sized rock venue similar to the Grande, but the Vanity didn't host the shows like the Grande did, nor did it ever host any British bands such as Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. However, big rockers such as Ted Nugent and MC5 did play at the Vanity. Smaller attempts to revive the venue happened, and small events took place at the Vanity until 1986. Tours of the building were held until 1995. The Vanity was used as B-Rabbit's venue in the iconic movie 8 Mile in 2002, although the scenery was completely different from the actual Vanity Ballroom. Since then, the Vanity has not seen any action and remains abandoned.