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Tango Del Rey

1984 → 2008 → Today

A landmarksince 1984.

One building, two names, and a floor that has never really stopped moving. This is how a Pacific Beach landmark became the home of Latin dance in San Diego.
The Spanish-Moorish facade of Tango Del Rey with sculpted arches and relief figures of dancers.
The amber-lit Moorish ballroom of Tango Del Rey at night, arches glowing under a chandelier.
Interior arches and ornate ceiling of the Tango Del Rey ballroom.
19842008Today

The building

Tablao Flamenco

Don Francisco Ballardo raised this Spanish-Moorish landmark in Pacific Beach and opened it as Tablao Flamenco. Horseshoe arches, hand-cast relief work, a domed tower, and two levels of wood dance floors were built for one purpose: to hold music and movement.

The revival

Reopened by Ive Simard

After Ballardo's passing, tango maestro Ive Simard reopened the room in 2008 and gave it a new name: Tango Del Rey. The dance floors filled again, and the room became the home of the Salsa, Bachata, and Latin dance community in San Diego.

The room now

5,000 square feet, five nights a week

Today the room runs as a turn-key event center with full theatrical lighting, a professional sound system, and a cinema-quality digital video system. Weeknights it is a social dance floor. Weekends it becomes a wedding, a quinceañera, a banquet under the arches.

1984The building
The Spanish-Moorish facade of Tango Del Rey with sculpted arches and relief figures of dancers.

Tablao Flamenco

Don Francisco Ballardo raised this Spanish-Moorish landmark in Pacific Beach and opened it as Tablao Flamenco. Horseshoe arches, hand-cast relief work, a domed tower, and two levels of wood dance floors were built for one purpose: to hold music and movement.

2008The revival
The amber-lit Moorish ballroom of Tango Del Rey at night, arches glowing under a chandelier.

Reopened by Ive Simard

After Ballardo's passing, tango maestro Ive Simard reopened the room in 2008 and gave it a new name: Tango Del Rey. The dance floors filled again, and the room became the home of the Salsa, Bachata, and Latin dance community in San Diego.

TodayThe room now
Interior arches and ornate ceiling of the Tango Del Rey ballroom.

5,000 square feet, five nights a week

Today the room runs as a turn-key event center with full theatrical lighting, a professional sound system, and a cinema-quality digital video system. Weeknights it is a social dance floor. Weekends it becomes a wedding, a quinceañera, a banquet under the arches.

The ballroom set for a banquet, round tables dressed in red and gold beneath the arches and spiral columns.
Set for a banquet under the arches

The next chapteris a Thursday night.

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