What's Your Hubbard Ballroom Memory?

Some may remember the “Dome” room at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center as the old skating rink. These days, with a gorgeous hardwood floor to walk on rather than ice, it goes by the name of the Hubbard Ballroom. For many, it holds memories of weddings, birthday parties, and various other events. I remember it as the place where I purchased my first electric guitar.

I could hear the muted sounds of excited voices amidst squalls of distorted guitar from behind the large wooden doors to the ballroom. My father and I walked through what seemed like the gateway to paradise, and I could barely believe my eyes. This gigantic room was filled with more guitars than I’d ever seen in my entire life. I was fourteen years old, and had been looking forward to this day ever since my dad told me that he had gotten us tickets to a guitar show at Dearborn’s Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. I didn’t know it yet, but this is where I would buy my first electric guitar.

My dad had been a guitarist all of his life. When I was a child, he’d taught me the basics on my toy acoustic guitar and introduced me to the music of The Beatles. From the day that I saw John Lennon playing a Rickenbacker electric guitar, with its giant pick guard and slanted headstock, it became my dream instrument.

Fast forward a few years to the day of the guitar show, and my dad and I barely knew where to start. We settled on looking at a vintage Gibson Explorer at the booth closest to the door. Just as I was about to plug it in, something caught my eye from all the way across the room. Among the vast forest of guitar necks, one stuck out to me. Its slanted headstock seemed to glow in the early afternoon light that was radiating through the ballroom’s massive windows.

My dad and I continued from table to table, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of this faraway guitar. As we perused our way through booths filled with Fenders, Silvertones, and Gretschs, I kept glancing toward that slanted headstock.

We had been through nearly every table in the room, when, finally, the guitar of my dreams was right before my eyes. It was a gorgeous fireglow Rickenbacker 330. I plugged it in and instantly plucked out the opening riff to the Fab Four’s “Ticket To Ride.” The jangling chords reverberated throughout the Hubbard Ballroom, as, somewhere inside of me, I realized that I couldn’t leave without this guitar.

I had been saving up for an electric guitar for years, and had just enough to make this Rickenbacker mine. The owner shined every inch of it with a cloth, and put it in a black case. Just a few minutes later, I walked out into the lobby of the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, proudly carrying my new prized possession.

Almost a decade later, that guitar has traveled around the country with me as my main instrument. It is still my go to piece in the recording studio and live in concert.

I’ve returned to the Hubbard Ballroom many times since, and while it can be rented out for just about any occasion- birthday parties, weddings, banquets, corporate events- I will never forget the day that I purchased my first guitar there.

Jonathan Mazzei

Ford Community & Performing Arts Center

15801 Michigan Ave

Dearborn MI 48126

For rental information, call 313-943-2350
or visit us online at
www.dearbornfordcenter.com/about-us/rentals