Galway Theatre

From Google Street View (October 2013), the building is still there, the front has been recently repainted and the four store fronts are “Leonide Hotel”, “Chrysalis”, “{vacant}” and “{Vacant}”

A shot of this theatre appears in the film “Parts: The Clonus Horror.” The film later got the MST3K treatment and Mike and the bots make reference to it.

for Ken McIntyre:

It was an interesting comment about a theatre to be called the Sherman mentioned in the 1915 LA Times article you quote in your 2007 post.

Did it give an address as 514 or 518?

Also: Henry’s Theatrical Guide for 1907-08 lists #514 as the location of the La Petite Theatre #5.

Zimas gives a 1905 date for the building that later housed the Galway at #514.

I remember the Galway; never was inside though. I worked for Walnut Properties/Pussycat Theatres for a long time and serviced the projection equipment at the Optic several times. It seems to me that it was across the street and a few doors away but I can’t remember in which direction. That was back in the ‘70s through the '80s and those memories are getting dim (a stroke didn’t help much either). I always found that old part of town really interesting. A lot more history down there than folks realize.

Here is the theater building in a photo taken yesterday:
http://tinyurl.com/ow2fcr

Here are 1983 and 1986 photos, respectively:
http://tinyurl.com/crvwd6
http://tinyurl.com/ckvcht

I hate reliving my childhood with these shows but I guess I have to for the sake of research….

Vokoban, yes the entire series including the pilot is available on DVD. Don’s arcade is very visble next to the Galway Theartre in the movie. There is a scene when they come out of the theartr and make a call from payphone across the street. Oh, and it did show XXX movies.

In the pilot movie of Starsky & Hutch, they met Huggy Bear inside that theater

I see what you mean. Many of the sites I’ve looked at describe it as a hotel, but it seems to be low-income housing related to rehab, etc.

The Galway appears in the Gary Graver video twice (the second appearance is probably the better of the two), and both are fairly wide shots that show the theater in the center of the ground floor of the Leonide Hotel, not the single story buildings to the south. What is now Rose Rosa at 518 was also showing movies in the 70s, but might have just been an adult store with peep booths. It’s hard to tell from the print of Parts: the Clonus Horror they used on MST3K.

By the way, Ken, the hotel is still there. Chrysalis bought and refurbished it. It has 54 rooms.

Or commmunity center.