I was looking through my collection of photographs tonight, and I came across this one, which I had put into a special pile with a Post-It note stuck to the top with a big question mark on it.
Yes, friends, that is the high-tech system I use when I'm organizing the Lauderdale Collection of Photography.
I had put this particular 8x10 photo in my "mystery" pile because I wasn't sure where this was. And so I turn to my half-dozen readers to see if they think it was the old Rainbow Lake Skating Rink — also called, in some of their marketing materials, as the Rainbow Rollerdome.
And that's a good name for it, because this facility shown here clearly has a domed — or at least a nicely arched — ceiling. Domed or arched, it has the general shape of the big skating rinks that opened throughout America in the 1940s and 1950s when roller-skating was the hottest thing on (little) wheels, such as Skateland on Summer. And if you look very, very closely, you can see that these rows of tables are set up on a hardwood floor — obviously the kind of floor found in skating rinks.
I don't know what this event was, but I'm going to assume it was some sort of Cotton Carnival society function, and Sphinx was the name of one of the "Mystic Krewes."
But what troubles me (and, oh boy, that is a long list) is this: If this is (or was) the Rainbow Lake Skating Rink, then where is the big sign that gave directions for "All Skate" and "Doubles" and so forth? Those signs, often adorned with light bulbs or even neon, often dangled from the ceiling above the center of the rink, where all skaters could see them. Or they were at least mounted high on a wall. Here, there's nothing like that, and I doubt they would have removed such a bulky thing for just one dinner event.
So, I don't know what to make of the picture. But I will say this: If the Lauderdales had been invited to more "society" functions in those days, perhaps I'd have a better recollection of where some of these white-tablecloth fancy dinners took place.
