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Overview

This nonedescript, venerable dance hall turned musical venue opened in 1912 as the Majestic Hall and Academy of Dancing. Over its long history, it has been used for many purposes, including a dance hall, reception hall, roller rink, and concert venue.

Building History

The Majestic Hall and Academy of Dancing opened in 1912, its construction commissioned by Emma Gates Butler. Early events staged at the Majestic Hall advertised in local newspapers consisted of benefit balls. The Rough Riders Club of California held a Columbus Day reception and grand ball at the Majestic Hall on 10/11/1912. On 10/26/1912, the local Dolphin Club, (a group for rowing enthusiasts), held a benefit ball at the Majestic Hall, and on 11/02/1912, the San Francisco Waitresses Union held its annual ball there, three of the earliest events publicized in local newspapers. (See "Rough Riders to Give Columbus Day Ball,"San Francisco Call, Volume 112, Number 129, 10/07/1912, p. 14; "Ball for a Good Cause," San Francisco Call, vol. 112, no. 147, 10/25/1912, p. 10; and "More Erectors Sign Agreement," San Francisco Call, vol. 112, no. 77, 08/16/1912, p. 4.) By 1915, Harry M. Hammond, worked as a dance instructor at the hall's Academy of Dancing, and, two years later, was listed as the proprietor of the Majestic Hall, living at 1608 Fillmore Street; (See Crocker-Langley San Francisco California City Directory, 1917, p. 911.) It is unlikely that he owned the building, but operated the dancing school during the 1910s. The Friedlander Family bought the building in 1922, and owned it through the 1940s. In 1928, it became renamed the "Majestic Ballroom," and changed eight years later to the Ambassador Dance Hall, perhaps referencing the well-known Los Angeles hotel and its nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove. The versatile space became used as the Ambassador Roller Skating Rink from 1939 until 1952. A promoter named Charles Jordan Himes periodically held dances at the rink beiginning in 1949. (See Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts, Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era, [San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006,] p. 126.)

One of San Francisco's leading African-American businessmen, Charles Sullivan (d. 08/02/1966 in San Francisco, CA), obtained a lease on the facility in 1954, and renamed it the Fillmore Auditorium. Sullivan had worked his way up from an improverished beginning in AL, making his way to CA by the 1920s. He purchased a small barbecue restaurant, and obtained a liquor license, enabling him to open a group of profitable businesses and nightclubs. He also became a successful hotelier and promoter. Sullivan was shot to death in an industrial section of the city on Bluxome Street, a murder that remains unsolved.

The legendary San Francisco promoter, Bill Graham (né Wolfgang Grajonca, b. 1931, Berlin, Germany- d. 10/25/1991, near Concord, CA), sub-let the building from Sullivan for a benefit performance for the San Francisco Mime Troupe in 12/1965. This was the first of many shows that Graham would host at the Fillmore, making it one of the most celebrated rock music performance spaces of its time. Graham signed a three-year lease on the Fillmore in 03/1966; he continued to produce "dance-concerts" here until 1971. In the 1980s, promoter Paul Rat obtained a lease on the space, and used it as a venue for punk rock acts, under the name, "The Elite Club."

Following his death, Graham's firm, Bill Graham Presents, rehabilitated the building. In 2017, theKortz/Bregan Family owned the building.

Building Notes

The Fillmore became home to psychedelic rock concerts in the 1960s, following three influential multimedia shows put on by Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable show featuring the Velvet Underground on 05/27-29/1966. The complex and frenetic effects devised by Warhol, Paul Morrissey and his lighting director, Danny Williams (d. 1966), popularized the use of stroboscopes, slides and film projections for later rock shows.

Alteration

The Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 damaged the Fillmore Auditorium causing it to close for safety reasons. Bill Graham perished in a helicopter accident near the Concord Pavilion in Vallejo, CA, on 10/25/1991. After his death, his desire for the Fillmore Auditorium to be refurbished was carried out. The venue reopened after seismic upgrading and renovations on 04/27/1994 with an impromptu Smashing Pumpkins concert.

PCAD id: 1757