I took the M Line almost daily down West Portal Ave in the late 60’s while I was attending SF State and remember a large Woolworth’s down a block from the Empire. I did find a 1960’s (exact year not specified) photo in the SF Public Library’s photo collection online showing the same building today at 200 West Portal as a Woolworth’s then so it may have been a Woolworth’s from the get go.
Momento (2000) was written and directed by Nolan. Surprisingly good.
Insomnia (2002) Director, with Al Pacino and Robin Williams.
I saw the Dark Knight at the Seattle Cinerama but did not like the film. The theater was fantastic though. If you’re ever in Seattle…
I saw the fascinating, dark, end of the world Interstellar (2014) in a large screen IMAX theater with terrific sound BUT the sound effects muddied the dialogue so much that a lot of it was unintelligible. I watched in again on Blu ray with headphones (preferred, or use the English subtitles) at home and was able to hear most of the dialogue.
The Lamplighters specialize in light opera, mainly Gilbert and Sullivan. Their seasons at the Harding were from 1961 – 1968. They are still going strong in a South of Market venue in 2017 (65th season).
The digging of the 3 level deep Market St subway in the 60’s and early 70’s unfortunately made the removal of all the Market St marquees mandatory. They were in the way of pile drivers initially. Then during reconstruction of the street and sidewalks the City decided on a double row of street trees which also left no room for the marquees. The Fox and Warfield’s marquees were the 2 biggest and best on the street. The Golden Gate’s blade has never been properly restored.
I bookmarked this from SF.Curbed.com and meant to post it a couple of weeks ago on the 95th anniversary of the theatre’s opening. Alex Bevk’s great article on the history of the Castro and it’s evolution into the 21st century also has some photos throughout the years.
I found all of cmyerson’s blurry photos in the UCLA Special Collections S. Charles Lee Papers online and have added much sharper images to this page. Apparently cmyerson has not seen the requests to re upload them. Also added are 1 exterior photo from the 40’s, a conceptual rendering from Lee, and 2 photos of the demolition and an exterior shot I took in late fall of 1976.
Haven’t been in the Kabuki since last summer but clicked on the Food and Drinks tab on the above link and a menu appears and a photo of patrons being served at their seats. Unlike the Alamo New Mission though their doesn’t appear to be a table in front of you to eat at so assuming your lap is the table. There is also a menu at that link.
I don’t know if I would call it “old fashioned” but foreign cinema chains are not new to the US. Cineplex Odeon comes to mind right away. Sounds like Cinemex and Cineopolis are following Alamo’s lead with dine in theaters. AMC also recently started offering dine in meals at some of it’s theaters. Apparently even TV sales are declining as people switch to phones, IPads, computer screens for watching videos and films. I think there will always be a film audience that prefers a theater with a decent size screen and good sound and a diverse number of exhibitors. Currently there are around 100 chains (large and small) in the US.
Why the intense security? Metal detectors, being wanded? Is this something new?
The comment made by orlando…"when the box office experiences problems with today’s ticket selling methods" sounded like the reason for the late start. I have personally experienced this (at a SF movie theater) when people by a ticket online and then have their cell phone barcode scanned and the ticket takers cell phone took inordinately long to do the task.
Hi bigjoe59-
Getting the answers to your 2 questions may not be as simple. There are a lot of links to this theater online but no definitive timeline after 1972 that would provide answers for you. My recollection (and going back 45 years may be hazy) but I seem to remember 1st or 2nd run martial arts films playing in the 70’s, for a period the theater hosted live bands (late 70’s-early 80’s?), then XXX in the 80’s and “live” XXX shows added (90’s?) before closing in 2013.
One way to keep a 108 year old theater continuously open is to think outside the box for new avenues of income and ways to stay afloat. This was in today’s SFChronicle:
Picky picky detail but it’s actually on Taraval between 19th Ave and 20th Ave. 19th St is in the Mission district, miles away. Really nice photo of this theater and also the wider Irving pic you posted. Thanks.
Interesting story in today’s SF Chronicle about a woman on a mission to save the Guild preemptively. The theater is still open w/Landmark running it on a month to month lease but “just in case"…. I believe this is the last or one of the last single screen theaters between San Francisco and San Jose along or just off of El Camino Real, the 50 mile main drag of the Peninsula.
From this morning’s SF Chronicle. The link to the article is below.
“The buyer was a joint venture between Ricci Ventures and Green Point Land Co., both Marin investment groups.
Plans for the building are not yet firm. Project architect John Goldman said the overriding goal is to restore the tower and theater to their original splendor. He said the owners would like to lease it to a theater group and have reached out to San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco, both nearby. Neither institution has expressed interest to date.
Goldman described himself as a longtime Pflueger buff and former board member of the Art Deco Society of California. He said the owners have to figure out a way to make the venture profitable, but that they are committed to rehabbing its historic fabric.
“If anyone is worried about my respecting the building — don’t be,” he said. “I love the building. The owners love the building. And we’re going to do right by the building. My goal is to figure out how to restore it.”
I walked by this building yesterday and have posted a couple of pictures on the photos page. You can see on the facade where the marquee was attached to the brick which looks like it was never repaired after it was removed. Besides it’s nickelodeon and movie theater past it has functioned as a storefront church, a rehearsal hall for the Grateful Dead and now home to the London based Gurdjieff Society.
Chinatown 1944 Photo attributed to Arthur Dong’s documentary “Hollywood Chinese” from Deep Focus Productions.
I took the M Line almost daily down West Portal Ave in the late 60’s while I was attending SF State and remember a large Woolworth’s down a block from the Empire. I did find a 1960’s (exact year not specified) photo in the SF Public Library’s photo collection online showing the same building today at 200 West Portal as a Woolworth’s then so it may have been a Woolworth’s from the get go.
Momento (2000) was written and directed by Nolan. Surprisingly good. Insomnia (2002) Director, with Al Pacino and Robin Williams. I saw the Dark Knight at the Seattle Cinerama but did not like the film. The theater was fantastic though. If you’re ever in Seattle… I saw the fascinating, dark, end of the world Interstellar (2014) in a large screen IMAX theater with terrific sound BUT the sound effects muddied the dialogue so much that a lot of it was unintelligible. I watched in again on Blu ray with headphones (preferred, or use the English subtitles) at home and was able to hear most of the dialogue.
The Lamplighters specialize in light opera, mainly Gilbert and Sullivan. Their seasons at the Harding were from 1961 – 1968. They are still going strong in a South of Market venue in 2017 (65th season).
The digging of the 3 level deep Market St subway in the 60’s and early 70’s unfortunately made the removal of all the Market St marquees mandatory. They were in the way of pile drivers initially. Then during reconstruction of the street and sidewalks the City decided on a double row of street trees which also left no room for the marquees. The Fox and Warfield’s marquees were the 2 biggest and best on the street. The Golden Gate’s blade has never been properly restored.
I bookmarked this from SF.Curbed.com and meant to post it a couple of weeks ago on the 95th anniversary of the theatre’s opening. Alex Bevk’s great article on the history of the Castro and it’s evolution into the 21st century also has some photos throughout the years.
3 new photos added including a 1980 photo of the front of the theatre.
I found all of cmyerson’s blurry photos in the UCLA Special Collections S. Charles Lee Papers online and have added much sharper images to this page. Apparently cmyerson has not seen the requests to re upload them. Also added are 1 exterior photo from the 40’s, a conceptual rendering from Lee, and 2 photos of the demolition and an exterior shot I took in late fall of 1976.
Photo credit to Tom Davis Photography.
Photo taken by Joe Rosenthal, SF Chronicle on March 15, 1948.
Haven’t been in the Kabuki since last summer but clicked on the Food and Drinks tab on the above link and a menu appears and a photo of patrons being served at their seats. Unlike the Alamo New Mission though their doesn’t appear to be a table in front of you to eat at so assuming your lap is the table. There is also a menu at that link.
I don’t know if I would call it “old fashioned” but foreign cinema chains are not new to the US. Cineplex Odeon comes to mind right away. Sounds like Cinemex and Cineopolis are following Alamo’s lead with dine in theaters. AMC also recently started offering dine in meals at some of it’s theaters. Apparently even TV sales are declining as people switch to phones, IPads, computer screens for watching videos and films. I think there will always be a film audience that prefers a theater with a decent size screen and good sound and a diverse number of exhibitors. Currently there are around 100 chains (large and small) in the US.
The name of this theater has changed to AMC Dine In Kabuki 8.
AMC Dine in
Named after the founder Marcus Loew (pronounced low). So “Lows”. Or NYers of a certain age might say, Low-eze.
Why the intense security? Metal detectors, being wanded? Is this something new?
The comment made by orlando…"when the box office experiences problems with today’s ticket selling methods" sounded like the reason for the late start. I have personally experienced this (at a SF movie theater) when people by a ticket online and then have their cell phone barcode scanned and the ticket takers cell phone took inordinately long to do the task.
Hi bigjoe59- Getting the answers to your 2 questions may not be as simple. There are a lot of links to this theater online but no definitive timeline after 1972 that would provide answers for you. My recollection (and going back 45 years may be hazy) but I seem to remember 1st or 2nd run martial arts films playing in the 70’s, for a period the theater hosted live bands (late 70’s-early 80’s?), then XXX in the 80’s and “live” XXX shows added (90’s?) before closing in 2013.
Exterior panel advertisement 1932
Exterior panel advertisement 1932
One way to keep a 108 year old theater continuously open is to think outside the box for new avenues of income and ways to stay afloat. This was in today’s SFChronicle:
Roxie
The ad for the West Coast premier of Towering Inferno at both the Parkside and Alexandria is here:
Towering Inferno Ad
Picky picky detail but it’s actually on Taraval between 19th Ave and 20th Ave. 19th St is in the Mission district, miles away. Really nice photo of this theater and also the wider Irving pic you posted. Thanks.
Really great photos, thanks for posting them.
Interesting story in today’s SF Chronicle about a woman on a mission to save the Guild preemptively. The theater is still open w/Landmark running it on a month to month lease but “just in case"…. I believe this is the last or one of the last single screen theaters between San Francisco and San Jose along or just off of El Camino Real, the 50 mile main drag of the Peninsula.
Guild
From this morning’s SF Chronicle. The link to the article is below.
“The buyer was a joint venture between Ricci Ventures and Green Point Land Co., both Marin investment groups. Plans for the building are not yet firm. Project architect John Goldman said the overriding goal is to restore the tower and theater to their original splendor. He said the owners would like to lease it to a theater group and have reached out to San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco, both nearby. Neither institution has expressed interest to date. Goldman described himself as a longtime Pflueger buff and former board member of the Art Deco Society of California. He said the owners have to figure out a way to make the venture profitable, but that they are committed to rehabbing its historic fabric. “If anyone is worried about my respecting the building — don’t be,” he said. “I love the building. The owners love the building. And we’re going to do right by the building. My goal is to figure out how to restore it.”
El Rey
I walked by this building yesterday and have posted a couple of pictures on the photos page. You can see on the facade where the marquee was attached to the brick which looks like it was never repaired after it was removed. Besides it’s nickelodeon and movie theater past it has functioned as a storefront church, a rehearsal hall for the Grateful Dead and now home to the London based Gurdjieff Society.