This Day in History, 1957: Lights out for Vancouver nightclub legend Sandy De Santis
De Santis ran the Palomar Ballroom, led its house band, and brought Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday to town
By John Mackie
Last updated 13 hours ago
Sandy De Santis was hyped as Vancouver’s “King Of Swing” in the 1930s and ’40s for his popular jazz band.
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But his real claim to fame was that he ran the Palomar, one of Vancouver’s most successful nightclubs, in the 1940s and ’50s.
As a promoter, he brought some of the biggest names in show business to the Palomar, including Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday.
Vancouver was a rough place at the time, and on at least two occasions De Santis was robbed at gunpoint. In 1952, he was shot through the hip by a lone gunman.
“The gunman, who shot first and then spoke his demands, also threatened to shoot two girls,” said a Vancouver Sun story. “He got more than $200 from De Santis and a visiting salesman.”
Being shot may have had long-term consequences — De Santis was in and out of hospital for the rest of his life.
He entered St. Paul’s Hospital for an ulcer operation in Sept., 1957, but didn’t come out, dying at 3 a.m. on Oct. 11, 1957. His marriage certificate would have made him 55, but his death certificate said he was 47.
The Sun’s “saloon columnist” Jack Wasserman regularly featured De Santis in his columns.
“My friend Sandy De Santis went up against the big crap table for the last time — and ‘sevened out,” Wasserman wrote the day De Santis died.
“Before you shake a disapproving finger about the reference to dice when a man has died, remember, as far as Sandy was concerned, all of life was a crap game.
“You won, you lost, but you scraped up whatever you could to cover the action on the next roll, and you never cried.
“Sandy was a gambler and a showman. He was a raconteur of the first order and his funniest stories were always on himself.
“When his luck was high he was a big winner, and when his luck was out, he went for broke. But he never stopped playing.”
Wasserman wasn’t just being nostalgic. The nightclub business was up and down, and the Palomar would boom and bust — on a couple of occasions it closed and relaunched with new ownership.
It was a bottle club, where patrons snuck liquor under the table and the club made money selling mix and food, as well as by charging admission.
Selling hard liquor in clubs was illegal until cocktail lounges were introduced in 1954, and even then the restrictions were so stringent most nightspots didn’t have a liquor licence until the late 1960s.
The police “dry squad” busted De Santis several times for having illicit booze on the premises.
According to a 1937 Sun cartoon “Introducing Sandy De Santis, Vancouver’s Swing King,” he was born in New Jersey, but his marriage certificate said it was New York City.
“He often goes into a dance while directing (his band). Although his poundage is near 200, dancers gawk at his nimble versatility.”
He was a stylish bandleader, favouring double-breasted suits. The band matched his look, and was known as the Palomar Orchestra.
The Palomar Ballroom was opened by Hymie Singer and Charlie Nelson on May 22, 1937 at 713 Burrard St., between Georgia and Alberni. The opening ad declared the art deco space “the most beautiful ballroom on the continent,” which was a bit cheeky, considering the name was nicked off a famous Los Angeles club.
De Santis hired Dal Richards to play clarinet in his band, and when De Santis had a falling out with Singer, he left for a gig in Ottawa and handed the local big-band legend the reins at the Palomar in 1938.
De Santis purchased the club in December 1939 and re-launched it as the Palomar Supper Club.
“For seven lush years, from 1940 on, the club boomed,” Wasserman wrote. “Sandy made it by the bag full and spent it twice as fast.
“When the income tax boys decided they wanted an accounting of the lush years, Sandy just laughed. There was nothing left.”
He brought Joe Philliponi of the Penthouse in as a partner in the early ’50s, even though Philliponi had sued him in 1950 for $2,403.63 in “money loaned and taxi services” by Philliponi’s Diamond cabs.
The Palomar was forced to close in 1955 and a highrise was built in its place.
