Los Angeles Theatres: Adams Hall / Picture Theatre / Dreamland / Girlesque

537-547 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA 90013 | map |

Opening: It's unknown when the building was constructed. Sometime before 1906. There were six retail spaces on the ground floor and Adams Hall was on the second floor.

In the 1929 city directory the upstairs was listed as the Dreamland Dance Palace. That Dreamland name moved over to the second floor space above the Burbank Theatre after this building was demolished.

The second floor is indicated as "Dance Hall 2nd" in this detail from page 128 of volume 2 of the 1906 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map that's in the Library of Congress collection. Main St. is on the right, 6th along the bottom. The stairs up to the second floor are indicated at #537 1/2, on the north end of the facade.

It was a busy block. In addition to the Adams Hall/Picture/Girlesque building, theatres on the west side of the block included the Novelty/Gayety at 523 S. Main, the Star at 529, the Optic at 533, the Art at 551 and the Bijou (until 1914) at 553. On the east side of the street were the Rounder at 510 (around in 1910, alive under other names again in the 1930s), the Galway at 514, the Sherman at 518 (running until 1919) and the Burbank at 548.

Looking north along the west side of the 500 block sometime around 1907. The building later housing the Picture Theatre is in the lower center. The little sign in the middle of the parapet wall says "Adams Hall," which was the second floor venue used as a dance hall. The Optic would be built just beyond in 1910. It's a California Historical Society photo on the USC Digital Library website.

The building with "G. A. Theil Wallpaper" sign on the side would later be the home of the Star Theatre. To the right of the Theil building the theatre later to become the Gayety is seen here as the Peoples Theatre. In the upper left note the Alexandria Hotel on the southwest corner of 5th and Spring. The steel going up is for the Security Building on the southeast corner of 5th and Spring.

The Picture Theatre

Opening: Sometime around 1907 in the building's 545 S. Main storefront. The 1907 city directory lists the proprietors as Roberts and Goodrich. There's a listing in the 1908 city directory under "amusements, places of" for E.G. Roberts at this address. It's in the 1909 city directory as the Picture Theatre.

A c.1908 postcard view south toward 6th St. The squat two-story structure on the far right is part of the Adams Hall building. Beyond it's the three-story Howell Hotel Building, later to be home to the Bijou and Art Theatres. The bluish building beyond that is a four-story building on the northwest corner of 6th and Main.

The Burbank Theatre on the left. At 6th there's the Santa Fe Building, dating from 1907, and the Pacific Electric Building beyond. They've survived but the Central Building across on the west side of the street has not. The card is one that appeared on eBay. Brent Dickerson has a smaller version of this with the Main St. Part 2 chapter of his epic "A Visit to Old Los Angeles."

This is the photo the card above was based on. It's a California Historical Society photo on the USC Digital Library website. A few years later the Optic Theatre would appear out beyond the edge of the farme on the far right.

This 1910 photo appears on page 227 of Jan Olsson's 2008 book "Los Angeles Before Hollywood - Journalism and American Film Culture, 1905-1915." It's available from Amazon or as a free pdf from the National Library of Sweden. "A Race Track Tout's Remembrance" was a September release. The photo is from the AMPAS Tom B'hend-Preston Kaufmann Collection.

Seating: 250

Looking north in 1911 from the Pacific Electric Building at 6th & Main. The Adams Hall building that the Picture Theatre was in is the 3rd in from the corner of 6th. The 2nd building is the Howell Hotel Building. At the time of the photo it housed the Bijou Theatre at 553 S. Main. Later it would house the Art Theatre at 551.

The "Vaudeville" vertical on the Rowan & Co. building is for the Optic, a single story building just this side of it. In the distance beyond 5th note one of the early Rosslyn Hotel Buildings. Thanks to Tom Ohmer for spotting the photo when it was posted by the Los Angeles Times. It appeared on the "Framework" section of their website but that's now vanished. They titled it "Congestion on Main St."

In the 1913 city directory the listing is for "Huntoon & Rolfes" and in 1914 "W C Rolfes."

The building the Picture was in is labeled "Hall" at 537 to 547 in this detail from plate 002 of the 1914 Real Estate Survey from Historic Map Works. On the west side of the street note the Optic at 533, the Portola/Star at 529 in the Green Hotel Building, and the Gayety at 523 in the Interlaken Hotel Bldg. The Burbank is on the east side of the street at 548, across from Adams Hall. Also see the 1921 Baist Map.

In the 1919 directory it's listed as "Noyers & Gibbs, props." It's the Picture in the 1915 through 1918 and 1922 and 1923 directories. It's listed in a "Paramount Week" ad that ran in the September 2, 1923 L.A. Times.

Closing: The Picture ran at least into 1926. Ken Roe reports that it was in that year's Film Daily Yearbook. It's not in the 1926, 1927 or 1928 city directories.

The Girlesque Theatre

Opening: Perhaps 1929. At least that's when we start reading about it in the papers. The Girlesque Theatre was in one or more of the building's storefront spaces and appears in various news stories with an address of either 539 or 541 S. Main St. There were police raids beginning in September 1929. 1,200 people were reportedly outside watching the action during the first raid.

The best description of the premises comes from the September 16, 1929 Times story that's reproduced below:

"The show...is a succession of entertainments starting with an exhibition of serpents and living pictures with draped models. The initial admission, the officers said, was a dime, and progressed higher until the final attraction, after passing through a series of corridors and dark halls, was presented at a half-dollar door charge."

The theatre proprietor was Sam Landesman, who lived at the Huntington Hotel nearby. Gene Lathrop was the manager. Arthur Penrose, Minas Simon and Harry G. Seber were also part of the operation.

Seating: Unknown.

A "spectacular door-smashing" raid on the theatre during a matinee was reported by the L.A. Times in this September 16, 1929 story.

A September 21 Times story with Landesman asserting that he "had protection."

An item that appeared in the October 8, 1929 issue of the Times. That Figueroa Playhouse that was running "Bad Babies" with silent film star Jobyna Ralston was later known as the Variety Arts Theatre.

Eight arrested in a November 20 raid on the "tinseled playhouse" -- but the barker, Art Penrose, escaped! Police "confiscated for evidence an arm-load of filmy heavily beaded attire." This story appeared in the Times on November 21, 1929.

More trouble in November: "Five Shows Get Closing Orders." This story appeared in the November 22, 1929 issue of the Times:

The Follies Theatre, 337 S. Main, and the Burbank Theatre, 548 S. Main, were the city's main burlesque houses and had been operating for years. The La Parisienne at 234 S. Main was evidently a club rather than a theatre. It was in the building that had once been home to the Manhattan/Denver/ Theatre. It's unknown what attractions, other than strippers, were featured at World's Museum, 508 S. Main. That was a storefront in the Rennie Hotel building. The other space there, 510 S. Main, was once the Rounder Theatre, later called the Girlesque, the Gaiety and the Paris After Dark Theatre.

A Times story from November 24, 1929.

For charges brought in the September 15 raid Landesman and Simon were given jail terms and appealed. The girls were acquitted. It's a December 4, 1929 story from the Times.

A delay on the trial regarding the charges brought after the November 20 raid. A January 7, 1930 item located by Scott Collette. He included this as a comment on his post surveying Main St. burlesque theatres on the Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook page. He also has the album of photos and ads on Instagram.

They didn't quite get Sam's name right, or the address, in this January 16, 1930 item located by Scott.

A scandal with dancers and proprietors on the lam and rumors of a "fix." Prosecutor Lloyd Nix says: "There will be no fixing in any cases with which my office is connected." Thanks to Scott Collette for locating this article that appeared a week later:

Yes, another article with a bad address. The 523 address they use, however, was a theatre that had on occasion been running burlesque shows. At this time it was called the Moon Theatre, later ending up as the Gayety Theatre.

Jail time for Seber and Lathrop as a result of charges brought after the November 20, 1929 raid. This story appeared in the Times on May 17, 1930.

Probation denied for Harry G. Seber. It's a July 14, 1930 story from the Times.

Closing: November 1929 was the end of the venue as the Girlesque. It closed following the November 20 raid and the issuance of an abatement order. Prosecutor Lloyd Nix: "Shows of this kind have no place in a decent community such as Los Angeles."

A couple of years later another Girlesque Theatre surfaced. This one was at 510 S. Main St., a storefront that had been the Rounder Theatre years before. A touring show called "Girlesque" played the Rosslyn Theatre around 1936. See a photo of their display on that page. The Girlesque word was later used in advertising by the Follies Theatre as well as for a number of clubs.

Scott Collette has some Girlesque items in a post surveying Main St. burlesque theatres on his Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook page. He also has the album on Instagram.

Status: The building has been demolished. The site shows up as a parking lot on insurance maps as early as 1931. It's still a surface lot just south of a monster parking garage that hogs most of the block.

Los Angeles Theatres

Adams Hall / Picture Theatre / Dreamland / Girlesque

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