Galway Theatre
514 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
514 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
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sorry, wrong link…here’s the right one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vokoban/2889597687/
Here’s a screenshot of the movie:
View link
The Galway is there. Keep watching.
No….I put both because its listed at both addresses at different times. I don’t see it in the video. I see the El Rey at the one minute 20 seconds. It’s not the one that says christ is the answer after that, is it?
You have the Galway at 514 and 518. Hedging your bets?
Take a look at that map I made for the Main street thing….I think I outlined the hotel…maybe its wrong:
View link
The 514 building was a hotel but is now used for homeless services.
Maybe they rerouted the entrance in the 50’s to the other building to make the front into retail or something.
I recall that the Galway was seen on this Gary Graver film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S84EsNch9VM
Interesting…
(Nov. 3, 1967 LA Times)
A petition for a writ of mandate which would have forced the Police Commission to issue a permit for operation of the Galway Theater, 514 S. Main St., was denied by Superior Judge Benjamin Landis. Max B. Gardens, the theater operator, complained that when the commission in 1964 refused him a new license it violated his constitutional rights of free press and free speech. The commission contended that the type of films shown had led to many morals arrests.
I think it was just the 518 space. It was a pretty small grind house as I saw it on some old TV shows.
Here is a photo taken yesteday. The new Nickel Diner can be seen to the far right:
http://tinyurl.com/3eg6cm
I should have said it was the Rose Rosa store, not the handbag store, which is 520. Still retail, though. It was 103 degrees downtown today, so my brain is still fried. Thanks.
Here is the store at 518. I posted this photo last year, but at that time I wasn’t sure which building was the Galway.
http://tinyurl.com/2etpqq
The Galway at 518 is a handbag store. Function should be changed to retail. Contrary to my earlier opinion, this would have been big enough for the adult house. I have also seen photos of the building now.
I had lunch in the diner at 524 S. Main today. The owner didn’t know why the LA Times reporter said the space had been used as an opera house. In the seventies this was an arcade with pinball machines and booths in the back for adult films. I took a few photos. There is a slogan over the front door that I remembered from a Starsky and Hutch episode, circa 1976.
Here is an LA Times article about a diner that is opening at 524 S. Main. The article states that tbe building formerly housed an opera house and a burlesque theater. Anyone know about an opera house at this location?
http://tinyurl.com/4wgts4
Yes, he was.
Thanks Don…I might have to watch that just for the scene. I read that Dick Sargeant is in that movie…wasn’t that Darren from Bewitched?
I was just watching the movie The Clonus Horror, aka Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979), and when the clone escapes from the compound he ends up in downtown LA. There’s a long tracking shot of him walking down the sidewalk, and he passes the Galway Theater. The marquee advertising XXX porn very clearly gives the address as 514 Main St. Next door at 516 is Don’s Arcade. Next to that appears to be another adult theater, but the name/number aren’t visible.
On the other side at 512 is Eagle Loan Office, next to that is Jerry’s Cafe/cocktails, and then the entrance to the hotel.
Some nice interior and exterior shots of the Galway in the pilot episode of Starsky and Hutch. The place with the yellow marquee was called Book Nook. It was a storefront adult theater.
I saw the Galway in an episode of Baretta last night. There was another theater a few doors south that had a yellow marquee. Both theaters were showing adult films. I counted at least six pawn shops between Fifth and Sixth.
Actually, looking at those pictures, amazingly, all the buildings on that block on the East side of Main are still there, with the exception of the Burbank Theater.
The other side of the street, well, not so much. Everything torn down except the Rosslyn Hotel, and a 5 story parking garage built.
Here are some los angeles street address directory listings for the Galway. All of these dates list it at 514 S. Main. That would be a lot of typos. Maybe the entrance was at 518 and then moved later to 514.
[1956,1962,1968]
The Galway was showing adult films in 1977, per the LA Times, at 514 S. Main. My guess would be that the theater was a storefront in the larger building seen in the above photos.
Here are the July 2007 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/23dfcd
http://tinyurl.com/2etpqq
http://tinyurl.com/ysx9xk
http://tinyurl.com/ystetl