Diana Hall

580 Pacific Ave. | map |

The 580 Pacific chronology:
Thalia  c.1909
Diana Hall c.1913 - ?
-- the building survives

Diana Hall locations:
520 Pacific, later a bar called Purcell's / So Different
580 Pacific, it was the Thalia before Diana Hall got the location
555 Pacific as the Diana in the early 30s, a space at other times called Red Mill/Moulin Rouge and the Hippodrome. The Hip was also across the street at 560 during two periods.

Thalia locations:
580 Pacific c.1909, then it became Diana Hall
514 1/2 Pacific c.1913 - 20s

A c.1909 view west toward Kearny. Here we get Thalia signage on what would later be the Diana Hall building at 580 Pacific. The Thalia would move to 514 1/2 sometime before 1913. It looks like the Thalia sign was actually hung on Spider Kelly building -- the one at 580 is somewhat squat.  And on the right of the Hippodrome is the first Diana Hall location at 520, later to become a bar called Purcell's.

The Hippodrome we see here was the first location of the theatre. They would move across the street to a building at 555 Pacific sometime before 1925, and then reopen here at 560 at the end of Prohibition. The San Francisco Public Library photo appears on a "Barbary Coast" page on Found SF.

Looking east from Kearny c.1913. The Diana Hall building we see in the foreground on the left at 580 Pacific was the earlier location of the Thalia. Here we see it has moved way down the street on the left to 514 1/2 Pacific. 

On the left beyond Diana Hall and Spider Kelly we get the bottom half of the Hippodrome's sign at 560 Pacific. The windmill on the right is at 555 Pacific, here the called Red Mill / Moulin Rouge. After a spell as the Hippodrome in the 20s 555 would be called the Diana in the mid 30s. Got all that?  The San Francisco Public Library photo appears on a Wikipedia page about the "Terrific Street." 

 

Times are tough. It's a San Francisco Public Library photo that they date as 1934 although it's probably the late 20s.  

A similar view from the San Francisco Public Library collection. No chair or car this time.

Looking east toward the Hippodrome in the early 30s after it had reopened. It's a photo from the Emiliano Echeverria / Randolph Brandt collection appearing on the Open SF History Project website. In the foreground it's a bit of the Diana Hall building at 580 Pacific, the Lindy Hotel at 576 and Spider Kelly at 574. Also see a 1933 view of Spider Kelly in the collection taken when they were getting ready to reopen after prohibition ended.

Looking east in the 1950s. The squat white building is what used to be Diana Hall at 580. Beyond it's the Carousel in the Lindy Hotel/Spider Kelly building at 576/574 and a restaurant called Lucca in the old Hippodrome building at 560. It's a photo from a private collector on the Open SF History Project website.    

Jack Tillmany comments: "From about 1960-1980, The Brighton Express Restaurant in the old Diana Hall location was the place to go. Used to go there a lot in my Gateway Cinema days, especially when entertaining out-of-town visitors."

Status: Amazingly, the building survives. As does the building Spider Kelly was in on the right. It's a 2017 view from Google Maps.  We're looking west toward Kearny St.  

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