The Midway Theatre was on the south side of the street near Kearny. This c.1910 view from the Jack Tillmany collection appears on the Open SF History Project website.
The Midway Amusement Co. isn't in the 1907 directory but appears in the 1908 city directory at 587 Pacific. In 1909, 1910 and 1911 it's listed as 583. In 1912 and 1913 the listing says 585.
A 1913 San Francisco Public Library photo looking east from Kearney with the Midway on the right at 585 Pacific. The photo appears on a Wikipedia page about the "Terrific Street."
Down the block at 555 at this time it's the Moulin Rouge, later the Hippodrome would move there. Over on the left, the north side of the street displays signage for Diana Hall at 580, Spider Kelly's, the Hippodrome at 560 and the Thalia at 514 1/2.
An editorial in the San Francisco Call on July 30, 1913 announced the demise of the Midway as an entertainment venue:
Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the article.Starting in 1914 the city directory listings change to "Midway Cafe" at either 581 or 585. It's still in the 1916 directory but not in the 1920 edition.
Another Midway location on the other side of the street:
In this photo dated 1909 the Midway (with the same sign) was on the north side of the street. Evidently it was a short stay as this location didn't make it into any city directories. Here we're looking west toward Kearny with the Bear, Diana Hall at 520, the Hippodrome at 560, and the Thalia at 580 (a later location for Diana Hall). The San Francisco Public Library photo appears on a "Barbary Coast" page on Found SF.
A look east toward Montgomery in the 1910s gives us a view of the building that once had the Midway sign. It's a photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appearing on the Open SF History Project website.
From the left what was Diana Hall in the earlier photo has become Purcell's (an African-American club) at 520 Pacific. The signage saying "The So Different" still remained. Beyond it's The Kozy (called The Bear in the earlier photo), the Old Golden City bar (with the Midway sign in the earlier photo) and the arched entrance of the Thalia at 514 1/2. See the page on the Thalia for more views of this end of the block.
More information: There was a burlesque house called the Midway Theatre running on Market St. before the 1906 earthquake.
Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.
| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | pre-1906 theatre list | home |
No comments:
Post a Comment