Irisher / Frolic Room / All Star Theatre / Chez Paree

139 Mason St.  | map |

In the 1960s and 70s this was the Irisher Club and the Frolic Room. Peter Field has the data:

"The city directories show 139-141 Mason as the Irisher Club in 1963 and perhaps before, and as the Frolic Room from 1964 to at least 1971."

The location is on the west side of the street between Eddy and Ellis.

 

This location is seen as the All Star Theatre in this 1964 photo from the San Francisco Public Library collection. Peter notes:  

 

"The 'All Star' name on the sign fools a lot of people because that’s how it’s listed in the San Francisco Public Library photo collection. It fooled me for years until I finally looked it up in the city directories and learned the All Star appellation was apparently just advertising the ladies. 

 

"By 1982 Earl Kuhn was operating the space as one of his three Frenchy's K & T XXX stores. He eventually was convicted of pandering because his lap dancers were doing more than that and was sentenced to prison. He had a wife and family in the Sunset District."

 

Sometime after 1989 this location became the Chez Paree and the famous 'Leg Sign' was installed. Earlier it had been at 115 Mason St., a venue that later got remodeled and rebranded as the Union Square Sports Bar.

 

Closing: Sometime after 2002. Peter comments: 

 

"This location was the Chez Paree until that block of storefronts was razed for Glide subsidized family housing. A Chronicle article and photo shows it there in 2002."

The end of the line for the 'Leg': The Chez Paree name resurfaced at 220 Jones St., a venue that had been called the Screening Room. But the sign was never installed there. Gary Parks offers a March 2019 report:

"Last weekend, at SF History Days at the Old Mint, I walked up to the Tenderloin Historical Society’s table—staffed by two very knowledgeable and enthusiastic women of late young or early middle age, and all I had to say was, 'So—is anyone trying to figure out what happened to the Leg?' That’s all it took. 

 

"They both lit up with big smiles, and said, yes, and they are on the heels (so to speak) of a rumor that it was broken up into sections, and is stored in the basement of the building that was the last Chez Paree location, 220 Jones -- although it never got installed there.

 

"They both knew the places where it had been displayed previously, its status as a former light-bulb unit, and that those bulbs originally spelled out 'Barbary Coast.' One of their members is trying to get access to the building, to verify the rumor. So—hopefully this quest is continuing on the right foot."

The locations of the 'Leg Sign':

535 Pacific Ave. - Barbary Coast / Little Fox Theatre 

150 Mason St. -   Chez Paree / Pussy Cat / Pink Kat / Spartan Cinema

115 Mason St  -   Robin Hood Burlesque / Chez Paree / Union Square Sports Bar

139 Mason St. -   Irisher / Frolic Room / All Star Theatre / Chez Paree 

220 Jones St.  -   Screening Room / Chez Paree / Power Exchange - 'Leg sign' never installed

 

More information: 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.   

Thanks to Peter M. Field for his research. For a fine history of the neighborhood see his 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." It's available through Amazon. 

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