Archive photo of the day
Rockin’ The Rocker Four in Tokyo, 1952
Stars and Stripes
January 3, 2024
(Ken Patterson/Stars and Stripes)
Tokyo, Japan, September 1952: Service members and their dates enjoy the floor show in the Marine Room — one of two ballrooms at The Rocker Four nightclub in downtown Tokyo.
The Rocker Four Club opened its doors July 4, 1952, during the Korean War and in its 6 years of existence was the biggest — and to many the swingingest — all-ranks-and-NCO club in the world before closing its doors in March 1958.
The Romanesque building, with 58,592 square feet of inside floor space, housed two ballrooms, four bars, several restaurants and snack bars. The biggest and most popular club made so much money in its heyday that free-drink and steak-dinner nights became a regular feature. In this 1952 photo, the Tokyo Cuban Boys band can be seen playing on the large balcony overlooking the ballroom as the showgirls entertain the guests under the giant painted octopus on the ceiling.
Read the 1965 Stars and Stripes article about the club building’s demolition following its closure in 1958, and see additional photos here.