Galway Theatre

514 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 | map |

Opening: The Galway Theatre didn't open until the mid-1950s. It occupied a storefront in the Leonide Hotel building, a structure that dates from 1905. It's on the east side of the street a bit south of 5th. This view of the theatre is from the 1979 film "The Clonus Horror."

It was a busy block. In addition to the Galway, theatres on the east side of the block included the Rounder at 510 S. Main (around in 1910), the Sherman at 518 (running until 1919) and the Burbank at 548. On the west side of the street were the Gayety at 523, the Star at 529, the Optic at 533, the Picture at 545 (until 1926), the Art at 551 and the Bijou (until around 1914) at 553.

Seating:  350 

This detail from plate 002 of the 1914 Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works showing the building the Rounder Theatre was in, the Rennie Hotel Building, at 508-510 S. Main. The Leonide Hotel building, later home to the Galway, is seen at 512 to 516. The Sherman Theatre was once just to the south at 518. The Burbank Theatre is seen down near 6th.

In the early years of the Leonide Hotel building the 514 address was home to a grocer and a clothing store. In the 30s it was a newsstand. In the 40s the location became a bar called The Gayway, advertising "2 Bands - Dancing - Service Men Welcome."

A souvenir of The Gayway. Thanks to Dan Fitchie for posting it as a comment on the Facebook page Bizarre Los Angeles. Dan says his parents were there in 1943.

The bar was turned into a theatre around 1954.  It's listed as the Galway in the May 1956 telephone company's criss cross directory. They had to make a new "L" but otherwise repurposed the bar's letters for signage. 

 

 

A May 1959 legal notice appearing in the Hollywood Citizen-News about two of the operators of the Galway getting a loan. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a comment to a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

 

The Galway was running soft core porno by the mid-1960s. In the 60s and 70s the theatre continued to be operated by brothers Max Gardens and Samuel B. Gardenswartz. They were joined by Jack P. Gardenswartz. Before he got into the theatre business, Max had quite a reputation as a championship bowler.  Russ Richards notes: 

 

"According to my mom (Max's daughter), Max had his last named shortened from Gardenswartz to Gardens because it didn't fit on the bowling marquee signs when he was bowling competitively. He eventually was inducted into the Southern California Bowling Hall of Fame."

 

A 1967 item about the theatre's licensing difficulties. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a thread on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page. 

Closing: The theatre was operating into the late 1980s. 

Status: The building is still there, in use as a community services agency called Chrysalis with offices downstairs and housing upstairs.

More exterior views: 

c.1935 - A look south from 5th along the east side of the 500 block. The second building down had been the home of the Rounder Theatre at 510 S. Main. The third building would later house the Galway. Way down the block the squat facade of the Burbank Theatre is visible just this side of the Santa Fe Building at 6th and Main. It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo.

 

1939 - Looking north toward 5th St. At the time of the photo the Galway's space in the Leonide Hotel building was a newsstand. The Regent Theatre can be seen down in the 400 block. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection. 

 

1939 - A detail from the Dick Whittington photo. The Nickel Diner is now in part of the building seen as a Woolworth's.

1948 - The location as the Gayway bar. "2 Bands - Dancing -Service Men Welcome." It's a photo from the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. Thanks to Craig Owens, curator of the Facebook page Bizarre Los Angeles, for finding the photo in the collection. His post recounts an L.A. Times story from December 7, 1948 about a shooting at the bar. 

The Library also has a 1965 photo of the Gay Way taken by William Reagh -- but it's at some other unidentified location.

c.1962 - A bit of Main St. color as we look south from 5th in a photo from Sean Ault's collection. He comments: "This shot could not have been later than 03-31-63 as that's when those buses were gone!"

The Galway vertical is in the middle of that fine array of signage on the left. That "Famous" vertical is not for a theatre but for an Army-Navy surplus store. The next theatre down the block was the Burbank, not visible here. The building over on the west side of the street used to be the home of the Star Theatre.

 

c.1963 - Looking north with the Galway on the far left. The Biggs restaurant seen just behind the bus is now the location of the Nickel Diner. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. He notes: "This would probably have been 1963 by the details I see on the bus."

 

c.1965 - A fine look north toward 5th. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for finding this one on eBay. Down near the end of the block beyond Harold's Loans there's a Karl's Shoes. In the photo below they've removed their sign and left the location. Sorry, can't make out that title on the Galway's readerboard.

c.1967 - Another view north with the Galway on the far right. Thanks to L.A. transit historian Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. He comments: "This shot of bus 2857 would place around 1966-67 as the new RTD/Greyhound Station opened in 1967 and the bus is servicing a temporary terminal on Main (just to the left of the photographer) as the Station was under construction."

c.1967 - A detail from Sean's photo. He comments that "Scream of the Butterfly" (1965) is one of the items on the Galway's marquee.

c.1967 - A detail from a photo by Robert Luthardt that's in the holdings of UCLA Special Collections. He was a noted production designer and art director. The Online Archive of California finding aid for Luthardt's papers suggests looking in box 41, folders 3 and 4 for his photos of the 500 block of Main. Thanks to Kim Cooper and Richard Schave for featuring many of Luthardt's Skid Row photos on a post on the blog associated with their site Esotouric. "Suburbia Confidential," one of the films at the Galway, was out in 1966.

1971 - Footage shot by Robert Frank shows Mick Jagger at the Galway as well as other Main Street locations. Frank later compiled a number of his images for the cover of the 1972 album "Exile on Main Street." It was edited in 2009 to the track "Rocks Off." Videodrumz has the footage on YouTube: "Rocks Off."

 

1973 - Looking south from 5th. Halfway down the block we see the Galway's vertical sign saying "Theatre." The second building in from 5th once housed the Rounder Theatre. Closer to 6th we get a glimpse of the Burbank Theatre with its vertical reading "Burlesk." It's a photo by Victor Plukas in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Also see a 1972 view south by Plukas that's in the collection.

 

 

1974 - Another view south from 5th. The Galway is somewhat lost in the gloom half way down the block but we do get a glimpse of the Burbank this side of the Santa Fe Building. Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting this on eBay, one of a group of Main St. and Broadway views taken early in the year.  

 

 

1974 - A closer look toward the Galway. Well, we've got a bus in front of it but the theatre's vertical sign can be seen just to the right of the streetlight. It's another Sean Ault spotted on eBay.

 

1974 - The Galway is in the center of this fine view. On the far right it's Nero's Nook Theatre, a porno arcade in a building on the site of the much earlier Sherman Theatre. This photo located by Sean Ault is by the same photographer as the previous two. 

 

1974 - Well, the Galway is lost in the gloom on the far left in this shot from the same batch looking a bit farther south on the block. Thanks, Sean! 

1983 - A view that had appeared on the now-vanished American Classic Images website. 

1983 - The theatre at night. It's another fine photo that had been in the American Classic Images collection.

1983 - A boxoffice detail from American Classic Images.

1986 - Another photo appearing on the American Classic Images website. Thanks!

2010 - The Galway used to be in the second storefront from the right in the beige Leonide building. Photo: Bill Counter

2019 - Another look at the 1905 vintage building. Photo: Bill Counter  

 

The Galway in the Movies:

We get a lovely panorama of the east side of the 500 block of Main St. in "Illegal" (Warner Bros., 1955). L.A. District Attorney Edward G. Robinson is in a hurry to get to a hospital to hear a confession from a dying man. It turns out he's sent the wrong guy to the electric chair. He resigns his position, becomes a defense attorney, and gets involved in a tricky situation with a local mobster.

Near the left is a view of the distinctive lettering of the Galway. Over toward the right it's the Burbank Theatre, 548 S. Main, here with its vertical saying "New Follies." And on the far right it's the Santa Fe building at 6th and Main and, if you want to stay at the Hotel Cecil, they have a room for you for $1.75. Lewis Allen directed the cast which also includes Nina Foch, Hugh Marlowe, Albert Dekker, Ellen Corby and Jayne Mansfield, making her screen debut. We also get some other nice Los Angeles location shots for chases and, of course, for going into court buildings.  

In "Too Soon To Love" (Universal-International, 1960) we get Jennifer West and Richard Evans on Main Street. They're looking for an abortionist. Note the very bottom edge of the illuminated "Galway" letters just above the "open all night" banner.

Another shot from "Too Soon Too Love." See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for several views of the Banner Theatre from the film.

 

A look south across the entrance to the Galway in "Maidens of Fetish Street" (Cameo Pictures, 1966).  The film is also known as "Girls on F Street." A big thanks to Nathan Marsak for including screenshots from the film in his Noirish Los Angeles post #29000.  See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for views of the Burbank, the Follies, and the Art Theatre from the film. 

45 minutes into Jules Dassin's "Uptight" (Paramount, 1968) we see Julian Mayfield going for a walk by the Galway. The story about Black revolutionaries, and a betrayal, is set in Cleveland. The film also features Raymond St. Jacques, Ruby Dee, Frank Silvera, Roscoe Lee Browne and Janet MacLachlan. Dassin, Mayfield and Dee share the screenplay credit. Boris Kaufman was the cinematographer. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for two additional Galway shots plus two showing the signage of the Burbank Theatre.  

 

We spend some time on Main St. in "Change of Habit" (Universal, 1969). In this promotional still appearing on IMDb we're looking south toward 6th. That "Theatre" vertical we see is for the Galway. The film, directed by William A. Graham, stars Mary Tyler Moore, Elvis Presley, Barbara McNair, Jane Elliott and Ed Asner. The cinematography was by Russell Metty. Thanks to Sean Ault for spotting the theatre in the film. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for an image offering a better view of the signage for the Burbank Theatre.

We see the Galway several times in the pilot episode for "Starsky and Hutch" (Spelling-Goldberg, 1975). We also get quite a tour of other downtown Los Angeles locations as well. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for two night shots at the Galway, two interior views, and a look at the Regent Theatre. 

The Galway is seen near the beginning of the porno film "Hot Lunch" (1978) according to Cinema Treasures contributor Arnoldmovie. 

A nice view of the Galway from "The Clonus Horror" (Group 1, 1979) is at the top of the page. It's a tale in which politicians are looking for an eternal hold on power via cloning. Main Street is, of course, the place to go if you've escaped from the experiment and are trying to hide from evil scientists. Thanks to Don Solosan for spotting the theatre in the film. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for a couple shots of the former location of the Sherman Theatre in the next building to the south.

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Galway for lots of discussion about the mysteries of this theatre.

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