Vauxhall Gardens was built in London in 1661. It was a famed center of London night life. Basically, if you are reading a novel set in 1661 - 1850, and the characters go to Vauxhall, they are going on a slightly disreputable drunken midnight picnic in the middle of an anarchic circus.
At first, there were just gardens with covered arcades and walkways, brightly lit at night. Stalls and restaurants served food in the outdoors, and numberless prostitutes roamed the walks. Festive music added to the lively and somewhat squalid scene.
Until 1750, Londoners could only visit Vauxhall conveniently by boat, until the Westminister Bridge was built. You could pick up a boat for a shilling, from Westminister or Whitehall Stairs.
In 1732, Vauxhall Gardens was rebuilt and made a lot classier. There were new buildings, balconies and supper boxes; a Chinese pavilion, orchestra pits, fountains, gravelled walkways, and splendid murals of exotic scenes.
The Grand Walk, thirty feet wide, was lined with tall elm trees, and the South Walk, running in parallel to it, was spanned by several stone arches. Between the Grand and South Walks was an area known as the Grove. On the other side of the Grand Walk was the Hermit's Walk. There were several dimly lit narrow walks with bad reputations. At right angles to these, the Grand Cross Walk hooked everything up.
Masquerades and celebrations were held there frequently.There was a special tower built for shooting off fireworks. Every evening at 9:00, the Cascade was set off: an artificial waterfall whose backdrop was changed every so often. Ballets, trick horse riding, plays, tightrope walking, and dances could be seen in the Rotunda, an auditorium which could hold 2000 people. Balloon ascents were a big attraction. In 1827, a thousand soldiers re-enacted the battle of Waterloo.
In 1859, the Gardens closed.
Samuel Pepys mentioned Vauxhall as "Fox Hall" in his Diary. John Keats wrote a poem called "Sonnet to a Lady Seen For a Few Moments at Vauxhall". Fanny Burney's novel Cecilia has its climactic scene at Vauxhall. And infinite regency romances send their characters there, as well as to Almacks and Hyde Park.