Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-03-29
SAN pERNARDlNo. March 20.

best posted MeNlcans In this region
say there has not been fair speei-
men Of the old time fandango danced
in this locality In nearly u year. and
1t is many months since fandango mu-
sic Of any description was heard In
San Bernardino county. This is sad
condition for the old Californians, the
men and women who crossed the plains
or rounded the horn In coming TO the
Golden State In the fortles and iifties,
to contemplate. but there Is no help
for them. The Yankees and Fasteners
have poured by the tens Of thousands
into this seml-uoplcal land, and the
habits and customs OF the Argonauts
and pioneers OF Southern California
have been vanishing gradually at the
presence OF the new order OF anairs'
Los Angeles has grown In a decade
from a sleepy Mexican pueblo into
prosperous, beautiful American city.
Mexican and half breed proprietorship
of the broad acres has almost entirely
disappeared In some 2caliues. The
gresslve Americans, grown poorer and
poorer, and the famous. black eyed,
olive compleNloned, graceful and vi
vaclous senoritas of song and story
IN this seml-tropic cline have fast
been retiring from public view.
The fandango has gone forever from
this region. The pale faces and blue
eyes from the north, the police force,
Yankee inventions and Eastern moral
ity and spirit are all inimical TO reign
under which the dance fourished. In
the sixties and seventies. when the
Mexlcans. Spanish and half breeds
made money very fast. those were
the days when the owners of southern
California had thorough contempt
for frugallty and industry of their
Northern neighbours when ranch houses
were kept open to friends for weeks
at a time. when wine was drank ike
water, and a large part of the young
people sang. danced and thumped the
guitar or mandolin through half the
year Money came down the coast
from the San Francisco and Central
California gold mines by the sloop
load. What need was there for the
work and economy of the New Eng
lauder2 Those were the days when
the dulcet tones of fandangO music
were hummed and twanged by every
one, and when whole towns would turn
out to a dance. You will find in the
big dictionaries that the word fandan-
go Is described as a peculiar kind Of
dance in threp-iour time, supposed
10 be OF Moorish origin. This Is a
true definition, hut It does not define
the fandango OF The Pacific coast, Here
Il means a big dance, to which every
body Is welcome and at which every
body Is expected to drink and make
fool of himself generally. In the olden
days It meant n gsneral, confused
mlngllng of men and women, revol-
Vers, gaming tables. boots and spurs,
soft, melodlous music, in curious con-
trast to the Surroundings, and liquor,
first, last and all the time.
Those who make up the American ele-
ment Of California do not, even at this
day, understand the difference between
n bale and a fandango. A grand
bale is like any ordinary grand ball,
and is ATTENDED only by respectable
guests, each Of whom receives per-
sOnal Invitation. These balls We're very
scarce in the early times for the rea-
son that the right sort of guests were
difficult TO obtain Faudangoes We're
well patronZed by the Spanish dons
and persons Of select society. who
attended them clandestinply, because
they thought It was n very fine thing
to 20 to entertainments that were not
respectable. II Is from the same mo-
tive that society people today attend
French masquerade balls. The word
fandango came to be employed in con-
uectlon with these dances from the
fact that the best young woman dane
er of the crowd was called upon during
the evening TO perform a genuine fam
dango to the music Of the clapping OF
thousands of horny hands. shrill whis-
Ting, wild shouting ana the occasional
desultory popping Of a pistol. The
real fandanEO Is occasionally danced
MT these entertainments today, among
the Spanish in san Diego and Santa
Ana, but ii is not considered indispen-
sable to what the Californian knows
ns the fandango. In the years after
the civil war. when the Spanish ranch
men an over southern California got
immense profit from the sale Of their
hesves. hides, tallow horses and wines,
the quaint old pueblo of Los Angeles
was filed with adventurous from all
over the globe, and whenever a fan
dango tool place they went, as a mat
ter Of course.
Everybody dressed extravagantly.
Senoritas, who at other times dressed
as though they had barely enough
money to live on. wore elaborate silks
and satins, and We're otherwise decor
atcd in q costly manner. The men also
spend a good deal OF money on their
clothes. The usual swell Mexican cos
tune consists Of trousers OF black
velvet, laced on the outer seams from
the hips down, little, juggling bell but
tons being interspersed at intervals of
about an inch. The Jacket was of
black or blue, braided with gold. There
was red, flaming sash around the
waist, patent leather shoes, the usual
red Nicuna hat, revolvers incased In
patent leather scabbards, and perhaps
there were silver spurs. In fact. fine
dressing seemed 20 be the only thing
that the curious crowd had in common.
The dancers represented every age.
every degree OF society and wealth, and
every nationality except the hinase.
The fandango was held In long. low
adobe house fronting the plaza, in what
Is now known as Sonoratown OF Los
Angeles. 1t had one grand room for
the dance. thanked by two other rooms
which made up the front Of the house.
Two large wings extended to the rear
containing rooms usually used as dress
ing rooms and private wine rooms
There was a twenty-foot wall In the
rear. which formed un interior court
square, with wide verandas on the three
sides, paved outside ana inside with
I brick tiles There We're also tile floors
In the reception rooms. The sala. or
dancing room. was provided with an
extra strong pine floor 10 withstand the
strain a fnndango subjected # to. The
adobe walls were whitewashed. There
were very few windows. They were
small and high. and supplied with iron
gratings. making the building look
/ from the outside Ike a jail.
The writer remembers distinctly the
first fandango ne attended In the adobe
house. u was twenty-five years ago
From The descriptions Of the AFFAIR he
had heard carelessly let drop by vari-
Gus persons In the town. he concluded
TO carry two more than the usual num-
Der OF revolvers, and "a wear In an