Uptown has been home to some of the most important rock music venues in the country, but its role in the history of New Zealand jazz is just as influential. And it was always for the people. 

The jazz age was when Uptown’s musical life really began. The Orange Coronation Hall on Newton Road was opened in 1923 by the Protestant Orange Society – and was soon let out for some distinctly un-Protestant activities. Newspaper ads in 1927 hailed it as the venue for the “The Rhythmic Melodies of the Famous Boston Dance Orchestra” (they were from Auckland) and promised “beautiful, fascinating” lighting effects, balloons and streamers.

Around the same time, the hall at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Khyber Pass Road began its life as St Sep’s, which, like The Orange, would remain an important venue for decades to come. The Orange was home to Ted Croad’s jazz band for decades and later gave the Bill Sevisi and other Polynesian musical pioneers a place to create something new. House bands at St Sep’s included that of a young Benny Levin, who would go on to manage generations of local artists, and tour with the likes of Rod Stewart and Lou Reed.

They had one key thing in common: people came to dance.

“The popular music scene in Auckland pre-1960s was almost totally entwined with dancing,” says New Zealand jazz historian Dr Aleisha Ward. “So many of the places where live music was performed were dance venues and dancing was the main activity, rather than listening. And there were a lot of these venues! Pretty much every church and community hall hosted dances, often six or seven nights a week.” 

During World War II, Uptown was a destination for young service people, including Americans stationed here, largely because it offered a more affordable night out than the upscale venues in the central city.

“With the tram system, all of these venues were easily accessible by public transport, or frequently within walking distance of each other,” says Aleisha. “So if one venue was packed out – which happened frequently at The Orange, with queues forming up the hill and around onto Symonds Street an hour before doors opened – you could simply wander along to the next venue and dance, or hop on the tram to other venues, or even other suburbs.”

Even a couple of decades later, a night out as described by Tom Williams in Playdate magazine in 1969 testified to the enduring buzz of The Orange and the places around it.

“There is Auckland’s colour and excitement here,” he wrote, “a Saturday night out which is very urban (perhaps it is the Newton Road area), the people Aucklanders, and the atmosphere relaxed but energetic – not big-city push nor small-town community, but Auckland’s own meeting-place atmosphere, quite exhilarating.”



As musical fashions changed, the halls went quiet, although The Orange hosted dances into the early 1980s. The building remains on Newton Road as an events space, standing as a symbol of some remarkable times in Uptown.