I remember the first time I saw the gator at the lake was in the summer of ’65 or ‘66. In those days, they held teen dances at Kaniksu Resort in the boat storage barn above the marina. I was in high school then and a friend of mine and I used to go to all the Spokane area dances – the Clothes Closet Capers, the high school sock hops, and the dances at Sunset West and the Armory. Anybody remember seeing Paul Revere and the Raiders at The Armory for 50 cents.
We probably saw the gator at one of those dances, except the high school sock hops where it wouldn’t have been allowed. It was common knowledge then that the gator was an old fifties dance from the blues juke joints but it had taken some time to arrive in Spokane. At the time, this friend of mine and I were big fans of James Brown, The Temptations, and The Four Tops and we fancied ours elves great dancers. We learned the James Brown Shuffle, the splits, and spin moves but neither of us had had the nerve to gator…or so I thought. So one summer night after our freshman or sophomore year in high school we were at Kaniksu and the band played some hot song. I turned around to find a girl to dance with and when I turned back around (with no dance partner), my pal was doing the James Brown Shuffle, drops into the splits, and starts gatoring.
A few other guys gatored that night and after that it happened at every dance. Johnny Be Good wasn’t the designated gator song then. It was any song that had the right tempo. One night some old guy (probably 25 or 30) came up the stairs smoking a cigar. The guy started gatoring and I can still see that guy doing it with the cigar hanging out of his mouth. I remember thinking, “Okay, this is getting kind of creepy,” because the dance was a “dirty” dance then – sexier than it is now, and I was thinking the guy was too old to be doing the gator in front of a bunch of teenagers.
Before Kaniksu, there used to be teen dances at the old Nordman school and someone may have gatored at one of those dances, but as far as I’m concerned the gator started at Priest Lake that night when my pal started it out with the James Brown Shuffle. His name is Tom Cochran and he is now a respected lawyer in Spokane.
Jim Luby
Posted in 2009
We probably saw the gator at one of those dances, except the high school sock hops where it wouldn’t have been allowed. It was common knowledge then that the gator was an old fifties dance from the blues juke joints but it had taken some time to arrive in Spokane. At the time, this friend of mine and I were big fans of James Brown, The Temptations, and The Four Tops and we fancied ours elves great dancers. We learned the James Brown Shuffle, the splits, and spin moves but neither of us had had the nerve to gator…or so I thought. So one summer night after our freshman or sophomore year in high school we were at Kaniksu and the band played some hot song. I turned around to find a girl to dance with and when I turned back around (with no dance partner), my pal was doing the James Brown Shuffle, drops into the splits, and starts gatoring.
A few other guys gatored that night and after that it happened at every dance. Johnny Be Good wasn’t the designated gator song then. It was any song that had the right tempo. One night some old guy (probably 25 or 30) came up the stairs smoking a cigar. The guy started gatoring and I can still see that guy doing it with the cigar hanging out of his mouth. I remember thinking, “Okay, this is getting kind of creepy,” because the dance was a “dirty” dance then – sexier than it is now, and I was thinking the guy was too old to be doing the gator in front of a bunch of teenagers.
Before Kaniksu, there used to be teen dances at the old Nordman school and someone may have gatored at one of those dances, but as far as I’m concerned the gator started at Priest Lake that night when my pal started it out with the James Brown Shuffle. His name is Tom Cochran and he is now a respected lawyer in Spokane.
Jim Luby
Posted in 2009
