In 1914, brothers Thomas and Martin Burke built a two-story entertainment and retail complex at 53-55 Fullerton at a cost of $7500. The two floors of the structure contained nearly 8,000 total square feet, housing a dance hall, nickelodeon theater, and retail space.
Brothers Stanley and Andy Williams, Hill District entertainment entrepreneurs, operated a 14-table pool hall in the basement for the first decade. After a venture into baseball, Andy then returned to the Burke’s basement and operated the four-lane Monarch Bowling lanes in the basement beginning in 1929. Pastimes such as movies, bowling and billiards were popular forms of entertainment during the Great Depression, as they were relatively affordable ways for people to forget about hard times, at least for a little while.
The economic turmoil of the Depression led to a number of changes at the site. Jacob and Sidney Soltz purchased the building during the 1930s, upgraded the theater to show “talkies” (motion pictures with sound), and renamed it the Rhumba
In 1935 the second floor of the building hosted a nightclub called Javo’s Jungle, hailed in the Courier as “the classiest night club in the city” at its opening. The nightclub offered a nightly floor show with actress and singer Cora Green, Martha Price and impersonator Bob Davis. Dewey McDaniels greeted the guests at the door, while “Battle” Keys kept the peace. Tom West and “Hungry Bill” manned the “futuristic” bar and could make any drink requested, no matter how complicated.
The building’s basement was also a entertainment hotspot, though less upscale than the upper floor. The basement held the after hours, or as the Pittsburgh Courier called them “after yawning” clubs. Frequent proprietorship changes brought a rotating list of club names in the spot, including the Ritz and the El Congo. The members-only Bambola social club opened its doors on November 3, 1946, with floor shows starting at 12:30 and 2:30 am. The floor shows featured singers, “shake dancers” (burlesque performers) and jazz bands, both of local and national fame. The club finally became the “Tia Juana” club, advertised in the 1950 Courier as the “hottest spot outside of a blast furnace.”
Declining conditions in the surrounding neighborhood, and rumors of impending urban redevelopment, led to a decline in the Rhumba. A 1952 gas explosion in nearby properties caused some damage to the theater, and it suffered several projector fires. In his memoir Song of the Hill, Dr. Ralph Proctor recalled that “The Rhumba was nice when it first opened, but then deteriorated into a ratty place we avoided.” It was demolished in 1957 as part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Lower Hill Redevelopment Project.
