Robin Hood Burlesque / Chez Paree / Union Square Sports Bar

 115 Mason St. | map |

The venue as the Robin Hood Burlesque in 1958. In this view by the Morton-Waters Co. we're looking south toward Eddy St. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the photo on the Open SF History Project website. Jack notes that you can get a double burger for 42 cents next door while you admire the neon at the Cow Girl Roundup across the street.

Peter Field notes that 115 Mason appears as the Robin Hood in the city directories from 1951 through 1969. 

It became the Chez Paree around 1969 and got the famous 'Leg Sign' installed. Earlier the sign had been at 150 Mason, a venue that became the Pussy Cat Theatre in December 1968. Later 150 Mason was known as the Pink Kat and the Spartan Theatre. 

 

115 Mason after the 'Leg' arrived. This undated view of the sign is in the San Francisco Public Library collection. The Library gives an erroneous address of 170 Mason for this one. 

 

 

The leg was seen in Stuart Rosenberg's 1973 film "The Laughing Policeman" starring Walter Matthau. Note the "Robin Hood" signage visible on the side of the building. 

 

Thanks to Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of the organization San Francisco Neon for the screenshot. This image was used during a 2021 San Francisco Public Library presentation about neon in the movies they did with Jim Van Buskirk. Van Buskirk and Will Shank wrote the 2006 book "Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lovers Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations." It's available on Amazon. 

 

 

An undated photo of the building by DHL65 on Flickr. Note the holes in the sign for the earlier installation of incandescent bulbs when it said "Barbary Coast."

Recollections of the Chez Paree from Marcus: 

"I was familiar with the 115 Mason St. Chez Paree during the mid 1970's and remember some of the people there. The owners were Keiko and Meyer who also owned another club in the city at North Beach. The Chez was an old school burlesque format where some of the girls wore stage costumes (some elaborate, most not) and did not completely strip during their dances - a topless strip club. The girls were usually early to mid 20's but some had been on the burlesque circuit around the US and had costumes from that. They had anonymous stage names when working (Peaches, Brandy, Goldie, Ruby Delicious, etc.). 

"The manager was Barbara and the seamstress was Jeanie. The Chez was NOT a lap dance or pick-up bar when under Keiko's ownership - she kept the bar straight and legal. The customers watched the dancers and bought them drinks. Most of the women I knew there went on to have straight careers. A couple of them published books including a successful series of children's books, one became a financial adviser for a national investment firm, another was a social worker who had some success getting homeless people off the streets at a time when they numbered in the hundreds not thousands." 

 

Thanks, Marcus! 

 

 

Looking north from Turk St. toward the Chez Paree in the 19990s. Thanks to Ray Morse for sharing his photo on the San Francisco Bay Area Street Photography Facebook page. The red brick building on the left is the Ambassador Hotel at Mason and Eddy. 

 

 

A detail from Ray's photo. 

115 Mason in its pre-rehab period after the 'Leg' had been taken down. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection that he dates as 2004.  

Status: The little building at 115 Mason St. still survives. The marquee we see in the photos is still there. The location is now called the Union Square Sports Bar.  

 

The 'Leg' moves on: Perhaps the 'Leg' left this location around 1989. The saga continues at 139 Mason St., a venue that had been the Tropic Room before becoming the Chez Paree. 

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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