The Paramount, Shanghai

Alice has been writing something about her Shanghainese in the last week or so, and she rediscovered this photo from her trip to Shanghai two Christmases ago.

The Paramount was once the most luxurious dance hall in Shanghai, in the heydays of jazz from the late 1930s to mid-1950s. Jimmy King (Jing Huaizu), the first Chinese jazz band leader, also played there.

The Paramount is located in 218 Yuyuan Lu, Jing'an, Shanghai. There is no missing of the massive building. Andrew Field, a historian, made a short film about the building, the place and the time. It is a spectacular art deco building, and it was also among the first buildings in China to be fully air-conditioned in the late 1930s. It is not even possible to imagine the wealth and extravengance in those days: the fancy cars, the men in cigars, the beauties and the music. It was the place to be at that time!