HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
1914 Romanesque Revival dance hall — originally Ringler's Cotillion Hall — with a celebrated mechanical 'floating' ball-bearing dance floor and a century of reported jazz-age dancer apparitions.
1332 W Burnside St, Portland, OR 97209
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Concert ticket prices vary by act, typically $25-$60; venue capacity 1,500 standing or 850 seated.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Third-floor ballroom; elevator access. The 'floating' dance floor on ball bearings is the building's signature feature.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1914 · Romanesque Revival Architecture · National Register of Historic Places · Mechanical 'Floating' Ball-Bearing Dance Floor · Portland Historic Landmark
The Crystal Ballroom was constructed between 1913 and 1914 and opened in early 1914 as Ringler's Cotillion Hall, named for its proprietor Montrose Ringler. Portland architect Robert F. Tegan designed the building in the Romanesque Revival style at 1332 W Burnside Street. The signature feature — and the building's lasting claim to fame — is the third-floor 'floating' dance floor, a mechanical assembly set on rocking ball-bearings that flexes and bounces in response to the weight and motion of dancers above. The mechanism remains operational today and is one of only a handful of such floors still in use in the United States.
The building hosted formal cotillions and dance revivals through the 1910s, 1920s, and Depression years. After the formal dance era waned, the venue transitioned through the 1960s into hosting pop, rock, folk, blues, and jazz acts. The Crystal hosted notable performances across the second half of the twentieth century but suffered periods of decline and closure.
The building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on March 9, 1979, and was designated a Portland Historic Landmark. In 1997 McMenamins completed a restoration of the property, restoring the ballroom and reopening it as a concert venue. McMenamins later constructed the adjacent Crystal Hotel — a 51-room boutique hotel — with each room named for songs or performances from the Crystal Ballroom's catalog.
The modern Crystal Ballroom features high ceilings, a balcony, chandeliers, murals, and arched windows and accommodates up to 1,500 standing concert-goers or 850 seated attendees on its third floor. The smaller Lola's Room — on a lower floor — hosts intimate shows. The building remains in active use under McMenamins ownership.
Sources
Per Ghost City Tours and Portland Ghosts, the Crystal Ballroom's reported paranormal activity centers on apparitions of dancers in period attire — typically described in 1920s clothing, with women's dresses, beaded details, and bobbed hairstyles. One cleaning-staff account widely circulated by Portland Ghosts describes a couple seen dancing on the empty floor after closing, vanishing when approached.
Ghost City Tours circulates a detailed narrative attributing the haunting to a specific named dancer said to have died on the dance floor during a 1926 marathon competition. That account includes a partner's name, competition duration, prize amount, and date. HauntBound's verification found no corroboration: the Wikipedia article on the Crystal Ballroom does not mention the event or any named decedent; no Oregon Historical Society source, Multnomah County coroner record, or contemporaneous Oregonian reference to the individual was located. The name-and-story package bears the hallmarks of fabricated specificity (named individuals + precise dates + dollar prize + reconstructed dialogue, all single-source). Both names have been stripped from this entry.
Other recurring reports include the sound of leather soles gliding across the empty dance floor late at night, disembodied conversational voices, and the impression of the ballroom being 'full of people' on otherwise vacant evenings. Local attributions frame the activity as a residual echo of the venue's many decades as Portland's preeminent dance hall — performers, dancers, and couples whose collective experience of the space, in the lore, has imprinted on the building itself.
Notable Entities
Experience the third-floor ballroom and its famous 'floating' mechanical dance floor — set on rocking ball-bearings that move when the crowd dances. The ballroom hosts rock, indie, and electronic concerts; the floor itself is the building's most distinctive feature.
The adjacent McMenamins Crystal Hotel and Ringler's Pub offer food and drink in the same building complex.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Portland, OR
The Hollywood Theatre opened July 17, 1926 as a 1,500-seat vaudeville-and-silent-film palace designed by Bennes & Herzog in Spanish Colonial Revival (exterior) and Roman classical (interior) styles. The surrounding Hollywood District takes its name from the theater. Listed on the National Register in 1983, it has operated as a nonprofit cinema by Film Action Oregon since 1997.
Portland, OR
The Apostolic Faith Church built the structure at 8 NW Sixth Avenue in 1922 with a 200-seat downstairs chapel and a 1,150-capacity upstairs meeting hall, constructed entirely with donated labor. The building was converted by Larry Hurwitz to the Starry Night nightclub in 1982; after Hurwitz's involvement in the 1990 murder of promoter Tim Moreau, the venue was sold and renamed Roseland Theater in 1991, with a $2.5 million renovation completed by 1997 expanding capacity to 1,400.
Joliet, IL
The Rialto Square Theatre opened May 24, 1926, designed by Chicago firm Rapp & Rapp for the six Rubens brothers. Its Neo-Baroque interior — modeled in part on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — earned it a place on the American Institute of Architects's '150 Great Places in Illinois' and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.