Los Angeles Theatres: Rounder / Girlesque / Gaiety / Paris After Midnight Theatre

510 S. Main St. | map |

Opened: Sometime around 1910 as the Rounder Theatre. It was in the south storefront in the Rennie Hotel building on the east side of the street just south of 5th. The hotel entrance at the south side of the building used an address of 510 1/2.

Arthur Hyman was running the Rounder in 1911. It was listed as one of his houses in the August 1911 issue of the trade magazine Motography. See the College Theatre page for more on the Hyman circuit. Evidently Arthur didn't stick around.

The Rounder advertised for sale by O.F. Wilson in a 1911 L.A. Times ad.

Another 1911 ad. Many thanks to Ken McIntyre for finding these.

It was a busy block. In addition to the Rounder, theatres on the east side of the block included the Galway at 514 S. Main, 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 1914) at 553.

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

Closing: Maybe 1911 was it for the first time around. There are no listings for the Rounder in the 1909 to 1912 city directories.

A reopening: It was listed as the Girlesque Theatre in the 1932 city directory.

Thanks to Larry Harnish for the research. See "Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout," his 2013 Daily Mirror blog post. He found this item in the September 18, 1933 issue of the Times:

"Jack Keating, 30, and John Melvin Early, 35, had a plan to rob the Girlesque Theater at 510 S. Main St., but when the shooting was over, Keating was dead and Early and two men who helped plan the robbery were in jail. The robbery began shortly after the midnight show, when Keating and Early drew guns and forced Girlesque employees Robert Winslow and his wife, Mildred, to escort them to the theater office, where manager John R. Ward and C.C. Hurst were present.

"Another employee, Edward Sweeney, seeing the Winslows with two strangers, sensed that something was wrong, slipped out of the theater through a side door and found Officers H.W. Tash and S.D. Moore at 5th Street and Main. In the meantime, Ward told the gunmen: 'If this is a holdup, here is all the money I have,' throwing two $5 bills and 11 $1 bills on the floor, The Times said.

"The officers arrived at the theater as Early and Keating were tying up the victims with wire, and the robbers began shooting. The police killed Keating, but were badly wounded by Early, who surrendered when he ran out of bullets."

An image from the Times. Larry adds: "Tash apparently recovered from his wounds and remained with the department. I can find nothing further about his partner, S.D. Moore, or Early."

In the 1934 city directory it's listed as the Gaiety Theatre. There's no listing for 510 S. Main in the 1935 directory. Larry Harnisch notes that by the time of the 1936 city directory the venue had become the Paris After Midnight Theatre.

There had been an earlier Girlesque Theatre in the Adams Hall Building at 537-547 S. Main, subject to police raids in 1929 and 1930. The Rosslyn Theatre ran a show called "Girlesque" sometime around 1936. The "Gaiety Theatre" name surfaced again around 1937, across the street at 523 S. Main. But they spelled it Gayety Theatre.

Status: The building the Rounder/Girlesque/Paris Theatre was in got a major makeover in 2014 but the facade still looks vintage. It's in use as a community services agency using a 508 S. Main address. 510 is no longer in use as an address.

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/Girlesque. 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.

c.1968 - A look north on Main St. toward 5th. The Rennie Hotel Building, former home of the Rounder, is the center of the three buildings on the right. Note the Galway Theatre, 514 S. Main, on the far right. Thanks to L.A. transit historian Sean Ault for sharing the photo from his collection. He comments that "Scream of the Butterfly" (1965) is one of the items on the Galway's marquee.

1973 - Looking south from 5th toward the building the Rounder had been in. Halfway down the block we see the Galway's vertical sign saying "Theatre." Farther down toward 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.

2013 - "Charnock Block/Pershing Hotel and Roma Hotel." The Rennie Hotel, in the center, had been rebranded as the Roma by the time of this shot. 510 is the storefront on the right, next to the door going upstairs. It's a photo by James Sanderson appearing in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

2019 - The building the Rounder/Girlesque was once in. The facade is original but everything behind the facade of both this building and the one to the left was stripped out and a new building constructed behind. The Leonide Hotel building on the right was once home to the Galway Theatre. Photo: Bill Counter

Los Angeles Theatres

Rounder / Girlesque / Gaiety / Paris After Midnight Theatre

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