Destroyed bar celebrated history, hosted packed Latin nights

The bar’s resident DJ said its Latin nights were a “safe haven” to the community.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A fast-moving fire on Monday on Main Street in Salt Lake City caused catastrophic damage to the businesses of London Belle, Whiskey Street, White Horse and Los Tapatios, Tuesday, August 12, 2025.

For five years, Dave Sigala — better known by his fans as “DJ Dirty Dave” — has been hosting his signature Latin nights at the London Belle Supper Club, sending crowds swaying to the songs of Selena or bopping to the latest Bad Bunny.

Five days ago, he unknowingly held his last one.

The place where his speakers stood pumping out his favorite música is now a pile of charred wood beams and singed insulation fallen from the roof. The glass is broken out of all four of the windows where passersby could look in on him and the colorful flashing lights in the club as dancers joined the celebración cultural.

A fast-moving fire that city officials say started at London Belle late Monday and spread to and destroyed three neighboring businesses along Main Street — Whiskey Street, White Horse and the Mexican restaurant Los Tapatios — left the place where Sigala had created what he saw as a “safe haven” for the Latino community in Salt Lake City in rubble.

“For me, it was a home, a place for our Latino community to come out, especially with the things that have been going on today,” Sigala said, referring to increased immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Now, he said, “everyone is mourning” what the London Belle meant to them.

“It’s devastating.” Sigala added. “It’s sad to see it go down the way it did.”

The bar at 321 S. Main St. was created as a place where history and authenticity and identity were all meant to be embraced — not hidden.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Shown in January 2019, Frank Paulraj, co-owner of the then-newly opened London Belle Supper Club, named after Belle London, a famous Utah madam, at 321 S. Main, as it kicked off business for the night.

Owner Frank Paulraj and business partner David Tran opened the club in 2018, the same year state business records show the company was formed. Paulraj told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2019 that the location and the area — with buildings dating back to the 1920s — had somewhat of a “shady past.” And he wanted to lean into it.

They named the bar London Belle after one of Utah’s most infamous madams. Dora B. Topham — known better as Belle London — ran several brothels in the neighborhood in the early 1900s around Regent Street (the midblock road between Main and State streets). At the time, all were government sanctioned.

Its menu included a $16 Brothel Burger. Inside, velvet couches and leather chairs marked a boudoir theme. The waitresses were also referred to as “belles.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The interior of the London Belle Supper Club in 2019.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Catastrophic fire damage inside the London Belle, as seen Tuesday, August 12, 2025.

The Tribune reached out to both Paulraj and Tran on Tuesday, but messages were not immediately returned.

The bar posted on Instagram on Tuesday afternoon.

“Last night we watched as our beautiful London Belle was destroyed,” the post said. “We want to thank everyone for showing us so much love and support, we’re always in awe of how amazing our SLC community is.”

The post said the company hopes “to see you all for another round in the future.”

Dozens of comments followed from heartbroken fans. Many mentioned Sigala’s Latin nights.

“Nooooooo! Omg, voy a extrañar muchos mis jueves latinoooos,” wrote one woman, which translates to her saying she will miss the Latin events on Thursday nights.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bottle on display at the London Belle Supper Club in 2019.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Unbroken bottles of champagne sit on the cement outside the London Belle on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, the day after a fast-moving fire destroyed the business.

Before the fire, the bar popped into the news briefly in October 2018 after the death of University of Utah track athlete Lauren McCluskey, who met the man who later killed her there. Melvin Shawn Rowland had been working as a bouncer for the bar; he later killed himself before police found him.

But most of the bar’s history, Sigala said, was positive and about celebrating people as they came. He’d been the resident DJ and entertainment director there since 2020, tasked with trying to bring in bands and local artists right when the COVID-19 pandemic started.

And the owners, Sigala said, tried as much as they could to keep the bar open during that time to give people a “slice of normalcy” in small gatherings. When the worst of the virus passed and folks were able to get vaccinated, Sigala said, there “were a staple for what it meant to come out of the pandemic.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The exterior of the London Belle Supper Club in 2019.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The entrance to the London Belle on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, after a fast-moving fire destroyed the business.

“London Belle was one of the only clubs that gave us the opportunity to do anything in the night life scene during that time,” he said.

It was around then that Sigala said he thought of the idea for the Latin nights. The event was originally called “Jueves Latino,” or Latin Thursdays, because they were every Thursday night.

The owners, he said, loved it and supported him. And later, they all agreed on calling it “Latin Belle,“ to play off the bar’s name.

Sigala, who is a first-generation Latino born in the United States after his parents immigrated to the country, said it was important for him to stay in touch with his culture and find others who wanted to celebrate it, too.

Paulraj, who is of Indian descent, and Tran, who is Vietnamese, also celebrated their cultures with the menu — bringing bites from around the world to its plates.

Sigala said he appreciated that the owners wanted to support the community and diversity of Utah. His next Latin show was scheduled for Thursday.

“It was a special place for a lot of people,” the DJ said. “Hopefully we can come back stronger than ever.”

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Shown in 2019, the London Belle Supper Club, a Salt Lake City bar named after Belle London, a famous Utah madam, at 321 S. Main.