'He worked after hours late in to the night just so that his daughter could eventually have her quinciñera there, and she did.' 'One of the most interesting people I spoke to during this whole process was a construction worker who volunteered on the reconstruction,' Buckley says. The roof has since been a work-in-progress to fix, an effort that Buckley says is very personal to some of the construction workers volunteering their time to restore it. In 1991, a large part of the ballroom's roof was blown off in a storm. 8 in the very building that it is about, starting at 6 p.m. 'It was somewhere they could feel at home.'īuckley's El Casino Ballroom Documentary captures the many historical and personal stories behind the iconic gathering place. 'Men would come home from war and go there,' says Daniel Buckley, producer of a documentary on the ballroom.

26th St., has been the site of hundreds of family and community celebrations, especially in the Mexican-American culture. That's been true since 1947, when the South Side community and cultural center opened.

Long-time Tucsonans know that for weddings and quinciñeras, El Casino Ballroom is THE place.