ABSTRACT
For those who attend the taxi-dance hall, even irregularly, it is a distinct social world, with its own ways of acting, talking, and thinking. It has its own vocabulary, its own activities and interests, its own conception of what is significant in life, and—to a certain extent—its own scheme of life. This cultural world pervades many avenues of the habitue's life, and some of its aspects are readily apparent to even a casual visitor at the halls.
I had expected almost anything at this dance hall but even then I was surprised. It was the most speckled crew I'd ever seen: Filipinos, Chinese, Mexicans, Polish immigrants, brawny laborers, and high-school boys. More disturbing was the cynical look which the men directed at the girls and the matter-of-fact way they appropriated the girls at the beginning of each dance. The girls, themselves, were young, highly painted creatures, who talked little—and when they did speak used strange expressions to accentuate their talk. They spoke of “Black and Tans,” “Joe's Place,” “Pinoys,” “nigger lovers,” and used other terms with which I was not familiar. My attempts to get acquainted with several of the girls met with indifference on their part, while at the same time they each seemed very much alive to a few men and several girls in the place. To everyone else they seemed polite, coquettish, but really quite indifferent. I left the place feeling that I had been permitted to witness but not to participate in the real life revolving around the hall. 1
