Was this a Fox West Coast Theatre at the time of its demolition?My parents saw Martin and Lewis here in person during the 1950’s. The area was on decline during the 1960’s and nothing was built in its place other than a parking lot and some small building on Market. If anyone has a photo of the theatre it would be great if you would post it. It seems like this is the forgotten theatre of San Francisco movie palaces. All the other movie palaces of this size were doing well on Market St. at the time this theatre was demolished. I remember that there was not enough quality theatres downtown at this time that the Fox Parkside became a reserved seat roadshow house that was really out of the way. I saw “The Blue Max” and “Those Magnificient Men in There Flying Machines” in there reserved seat engagemnts at the Fox Parkside. William maybe you could provide more information on this theatre.brucec
Richard what a wonderful site. Its a tribute to both your dad and the Fox that it went out with a bang and not a wimper the way many did during this time.It gave me goosebumps reading about the midnight concert with 4,600 people waiting in line. I guess your dad was the director of the Paramount,Fox Oakland and Grand Lake when I attended these theates as a child. I know that 20th Century-Fox was not in good financial health in the early 1960’s do you think this had something to do with the demise of the theatre at the time? Who owned the Fox at the time it was demolished?The Paramount also a Fox West Coast Theatre in San Francisco was torn down two years later in 1965 was this also related to the situation with the Fox? In all my years of going to the movies the Fox West Coast Theatres were my favorite.Im sure your dad had something to do with this.He was from the old school of exhibition I have heard so much about.brucec
San Francisco had great viable single screen theatres longer than most other cities. It was the arrival of the AMC megaplex that one by one all the great single screen movie theatres started to bite the dust. After the decline of downtown in the 1960’s the Coronet was the undisputed king of the box office in San Francisco. The Coronet continued to be a big excusive run house long after the reserved seat roadshow fims of the 1960’s. I would venture to say the Coronet was one of the most successful single screen theatres in the nation for decades. All the studios and producers wanted there movies booked into the Coronet.Its to bad Regal got there hands on this property.Regal doesn’t even attempt to showcase this theatre in any way knowing they were going to dispose of it when they took over United Artists. The Coronet continued to be the flagship of UA long after the decline of the Egyptian in Hollywood and the Rivoli in NYC.The Coronet was always kept in top shape by United Artists who was notorious for letting there theatres fall apart.The Coronet was built in 1949 when not many theatres were being built. The first movie I saw at the Coronet was the reseved seat roadshow attraction “Funny Girl” in 1968. I saw Star Wars on its first day of release at the Coronet and the lines went on forever. 20th Century Fox had figured the number of people who had seen “Star Wars” at the Coronet matched the entire population of San Francisco, 6 months into its run it was still gossing $80,000 a week.Remember this is the same City which was offered the Fox for $1Million in 1963 and turned it down and then spent over $70 Million years later constructing Davies Symphony Hall. I guess when its all said and done the Castro maybe the last single screen still showing movies in the city.brucec
Beware of theatre mergers or takeovers the first thing to go is the real estate.Regal picked up the UA circuit for peanuts due to its bankruptcy and is selling off UA real estate and disposing of all single screens. UA took much better care of there theatres,if you can believe it, when they were based in San Francisco. Regal is based out of state and could care less about the assets that they purchased here in the city. Regal is the largest circuit in the US and many assets were picked up for bargain prices across the country. Edwards in Southern California also was picked up by Regal but most of there theatres were far superior to most of the UA theatres which is no surpise. Regal had no intention of keeping any of there theatres in San Francisco. Its ironic the newcomers AMC and Loew’s displaced Blummenfiel and United Artists which operated in the city for decades. Outside of the downtown movie palaces the Alexandria and Coronet were one of the best theatres to see a film despite UA. The key exclusive run roadshow theatres of the 1950s and 1960’s were the Orpheum,Golden Gate,United Artists which were downtown and the Coronet and Alexandria located in the Richmond district.I saw many films growing up at the Alexandria when it was a single screen but saw only the “Deer Hunter” after it was triplexed.brucec
The Cinema 21 had the exclusive run of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf”,“Rosemary’s Baby” and the reserved seat roadshow attraction of “Hello Dolly” in the 1960’s. The Orpheum was supposed to run “Hello Dolly” but Market Street was torn up due to the construction of the BART subway so this is why the Cinema 21 ended up with its first and last roadshow attraction. The Cinema 21 also had the six month moveover run of “Star Wars” from the Coronet after a legal dispute between United Artists and 20th Century-Fox.United Artist’s Coronet had one of the most successful “Star Wars” run in the country when UA decided to bump it for “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. The Coronet was still grossing $80,000 a week after 6 months and 20th Century Fox didn’t open another film in a UA house in San Francisco for a number of years.brucec
I lived in San Francisco in the 1970’s and attended all the single screen first run theatres in the area. I loved the marquee but the auditorium wasn’t in great shape. It always looked like very little maintenance was done on the auditorium and they had painted the lobby a purple.It was a nice size theatre but I never sat in the balcony. The last film I saw at the Royal was “Death on the Nile”. The Alhambra down the street on the other hand was and is a beautiful theatre that is now a fitness gym. The building of the AMC Megaplex on Van Ness caused the closing of the Regency 1,Regency 2,Royal and Alhambra theatres. The City of San Francisco was one of the last cities in the US to have multi screen theatres, due to land values,cost,zoning,and lack of parking.brucec
I actually liked all the marquee’s I have seen on this site. The original marquee is the most attractive but I also liked the neon marquee. The 1950’s was the last decade where they constructed beautiful marquees. When they started to use plastic like the fast food joints it was the arrival of the ugly marquees from the 1960’s.A movie palace is not complete unless it has a decent marquee such as the Michigan.brucec
Jim thanks for your detailed explanation surrounding the Warner/Grand. I afraid the City of Milwaukee proceeded with a master plan of building new theatres at the possible expense of putting in jeopardy its historic theatres like the Riverside and the Warner/Grand. Milwaukee is not the only city that has done this.Very few of the new theatres have the beauty of the historical theatres we all love. In New York City the first new theatres to built in decades to house the big musicals was the Minskoff and the Uris(Gershwin). The Minskoff as reviewers repeat over and over is the ugliest theatre on Broadway. The producers prefer the historic St.James,Shubert,Majestic,Imperial,Winter Garden,Broadway,Palace,Lunt-Fontannne and others before booking the Minskoff and Gerswhin. There has been a booking jam the last few years for the large musical houses so even these theatres stay booked on a regular basis. The next new theatre to be built in the 1980’s was the Marquis which was an improvement over the other two but still lacked the beauty of the historic structures. It wasn’t until the restoration of the New Amsterdam and the new reconstructed (Lyric/Apollo) Ford Center did Broadway have two more desirable theatres to house the big musicals.Even the non-profit Roundabout and Manhattan Theatre Club chose two historic theatres to restore the American Airlines (Selwyn) and the Biltmore to house there productions.I find in most cases people enjoy the restored theatre over the new.brucec
The City of San Francisco could have saved the Fox for a million dollars back in the early 1960’s and this was one of the greatest movie palaces ever built. It was torn down in 1963 and would have been a great asset to the City. In the 1970’s the City was forced to build a new Symphony Hall that cost over $70 Million and then had to spend more money to correct the sound problems. In retrospect this was a very bad economic move that cost taxpayers a good deal of money.I look at the Music Center in LA which did nothing to help the historic downtown. It was like a fortress people would drive in from the suburbs into the parking structure and into the theatre.The money it cost to build the Music Center could have restored every major movie palace on Broadway and turned the area around.Instead every major department store closed and one by one every theatre slowly closed except the Orpheum. Its only due to lack of investment interest on Broadway that all these theatres are still there so LA got lucky.I applaud St Louis and Pittsburg for restoring/renovationg the St Louis and Loew’s Penn instead of building new Symphony Halls that nobody would love. Im not saying never build a new theatre but when you have historical structures already standing and could be converted for Symphony,Opera,Concerts and Dance then every avenue should be explored for doing so. Many cities regret today what they tore down yesterday.New York City regrets that Pennsylvania Train Station is no longer with us and its going to cost them millions of dollars to convert the old Post Office to replace the old station.Most major cities across the United States have restored at least two of there downtown movie palaces.brucec
Thats why the city of Milwaukee needs a master plan. Speaking of Detroit, who’s downtown had one of the worse declines in the country, managed to save the Fox,State,Capitol(Opera House),Music Hall,Gem and Orchestra Hall.These theatres along with the stadiums built downtown has contributed to the revival of Downtown Detroit. I also understand that one can’t save every Downtown movie palace but when your down to your last two such as Milwaukee well I think the City should take notice. Philidelphia is another city down to there last movie palace the Boyd and if it hadn’t been for local protests the Boyd would already be gone. The Mayor of Chicago made a decision to help restore the Oriental and Palace instead of building new theatres. In New York City the historic legit theatres are the most desirable and the new theatres with the exception of the Marquis and Ford Center are not. The City of Boston in a master plan realized the need to restore three theatres to help revive a area of the theatre downtown district, the BF Keith Opera House,Paramount and the Modern. The Opera House has been restored,but the Paramount and Modern will be saved but not restored until sometime in the future.I will take your advice Jim and write a letter to Milwaukee but it is people who live there and in City government that have to have a plan.It might have to be joint effort between the public and the private sector. I don’t think Disney will ride to the rescue. Maybe the mayor and others in City government should take a trip to Cleveland and see how to revive a downtown that was in really bad shape.Mayors from all over the US have gone to Cleveland to see how to revive a downtown. Playhouse Square is at the top of the list.brucec
Restoration of the Warner could be done in stages. The restoration of just the theatre wouldn’t cost $50 Million. If you want to rebuild the stage then the price goes up. If you want to restore the office buidling the price goes up. If you want to build a parking structure the price goes up. If parking is needed let the City of Milwaukee fund the parking structure. Maybe the office building could be turned into Condos which is a trend happening across the US.How many Art Deco structures are left in the state of Wisconsin? The restoration of the Orpheum in Downtown LA was done for $4 Million. I heard the Warner is in pretty good shape. If the Loew’s Jersey can be restored on a shoestring budget and hours of work from volunteers maybe a local volunteer effort could help the Warner. I think when people say its going to cost an inflated some of money I think this scares many people who might be interested in restoring the theatre.Playhouse Square in Cleveland was restored over a period of 30 years. The Fox Oakland a 3500 seat house is being restored slowly over a period years as the funds become available and the demand for a second theatre slowly develop in a city of 400,000 people. The City knows they must save and restore this theatre as part of the master plan for Downtown.I can tell a lot about a city who restores there landmarks and theatres and those who don’t. One theatre downtown does not constitute a theatre district.brucec
I think the City of Milwaukee should come up with a master plan for both the Riverside and the Warner. They need to look at the long term and the rebirth of the downtown cores which is happening across this country. Any downtown movie palace that has survived into the 21st Century deserves to be saved because there are so few left and brings a lot of joy and memories to both the public and the city they are in. Movie Palaces have helped revitalize many a downtown in this country. Its neighbor Minneapolis is in the process of restoring there fourth downtown theatre the Academy(Shubert),the other three Orpheum,State and Pantages.brucec
This would also be a perfect house to show classic films when the theatre is not being used for stage. This is Nederlanders second string broadway house after the Pantages. The Fox-Wilshire has a small capacity for the large broadway shows. I think the Nederlanders should move there operation to the larger Pacific Warner in Hollywood which would be down the street from the Pantages.The Wilshire could be used for concerts,classic films and major studio film premeires. The Wilshire is the last movie palace left in Beverly Hills. Maybe the Academy of Arts and Sciences could use this house along with the Samuel Goldywn down the street.brucec
Why can’t each large town or city at least restore one movie palace like the Byrd for movies? Its seating capacity is perfect not to large for todays economics. The AFI helps restore film, well it would be great is something was created and funded to help restore some of these theatres for movies and not just Performing Art Centers.brucec
The restoration of the Pacific doesn’t have to cost $40 Million. The Pacific is in very good shape and not on its last leg like the New Amsterdam in New York was before Disney spent $30 Million to restore it and turn it into a state of the art broadway house. I think it would take between $8-12Million to restore the theatre and turn it into a single screen. To turn the Pacific into a broadway house would be between $20-30Million. I would love to see the origianl name Warner back on the theatre. I would even settle for Pacific Warner. I even think the Nederlanders could make better use of the Pacific than the Wilshire in Beverly Hills for broadway shows. I have always felt that Hollywood and Downtown should be the legit districts. The Fox-Wilshire would make a great house for movie premieres like the old days.brucec
I talked to the foreman of the Egyptian renovation when it was in progress and I was dismayed his lack of knowledge about the theatre. I walked through the theatre with a hard hat and was shocked to see what they were doing. Of all the movie palaces on Hollywood Blvd the Egyptian should have been the easier restoration. The interior was the least ornate but had a simple beauty even with the Giant Curved Screen. The projectionist who worked the Egyptian said it best,the theatre looked better even when UA lost interestin the theatre.There have been many theatres restored around the world in a lot worse shape than the Egyptian. When the City of LA gives Millions of dollars toward an historic renovation maybe there needs to be better guidelines. The current auditoium is not beautiful it is bland at best. When UA redid the current Festival in Westwood and called it the Egyptian few years ago it looked a lot better and more Egyptian than the current Egyptian in Hollywood.What a dissapointment when someone takes a tour of the famous Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. American Cinemateque puts on an excellent show and draws an intelligent crowd from all over LA to the Egyptian for people who love film and for this I applaud them. American Cinemateque should take note of our comments. I think they have a success on there hands but it would have been more successful if the theatre had been a little more magical,like the Castro in San Francisco.brucec
Warren the M-G-M Book states the following from 1959:
MGM-Loew’s,last of the holdouts against the government’s anti-trust action finally divided itself in March into two unconnected companies:Loew’s Theatres and Metro-Goldywn-Mayer.Six months later the latter announced its profit,$7,698,951,the highest since 1951’s total for the old company.I know Loew’s-MGM was the last major studio to comply with the consent decree due to the complicated relationship of Loew’s-MGM.brucec
Vincent I also care so now there are four people on the planet.I enjoy the postings from Warren,Vito and yourself. I wish there was a time machine and we could go back to this era of movie palace we all love.I think in our postings we are helping keep this part of our history alive. I at least attended the San Francisco Fox as a child but I wish I could have attended the Roxy I probably wouldn’t want to leave. I love Radio City but the Roxy was the Cathedral of motion pictures.brucec
I attended the last day Auctions by the Bay showed movies in this beautiful auditorium. I saw the last double bill of “North By Northwest” and “Out of the Past.” It was my first time attending and I guess my last. I think the name and the location prevented it from being more successful besides cheap DVD rentals of the classics.brucec
Correction on Market St. The City of San Francisco is to blame for letting the theatre district portion of Market Street decline so badly and its still a mess today. The Golden Gate has to post security in front of the theatre on show nights because the area is so bad. Both Oakland and San Jose have worked on improving there main street where San Francisco has done nothing to improve Market between the old JC Penney Dept store and the Orpheum. Its a disgrace for a city that is ranked one of the worlds top tourist destinations.The Warfield never deteriorated its the best preserved downtown movie palace the city has. The Warfield was completely renovated/restored in 1969 by National General with the intention of making the Warfield a reseved seat roadshow house. By 1971 the era of the roadshow was over. I remember when Mike Thomas took over the Warfield and it was in beautiful condition. I saw live in person films tributes to Mae West,Lana Turner,Sophia Loren and Joan Fontaine in the late 1970’s at the Warfield. The Warfield was in great condition when it became a concert venue.Who would brave this part of Market Street to see a movie today its scary enough to attend a broadway show at the Golden Gate.brucec
Nice photos of the Goodman. The Goodman help revive the North Loop bringing people into the Loop at night. My only complaint is that I wish more of the Harris and Selywyn interior could have been duplicated inside the Goodman like the Ford Center did in New York City for the Lyric and Apollo theatres.I think very little effort was put into saving any of the interior.brucec
The Oriental seated 3200 before the recent restoration/renovation.The Oriental now seats 2200 which is 1000 seats less.During the renovation the lobby was expanded into the back of the auditorium. The stage was also expanded by knocking down a building behind the backstage wall. The Oriental was a quality restoration/renovation making the theatre work for the legitimate broadway stage. It was a blessing that the theatre survived do to lack of investment in the North Loop for many years. The Loop is one of the most improved downtown districts in the United States. It is fortunate that the Loop retained two of its large downtown department stores Marshall Fields and Carson’s and Sears which left the loop in the 1970’s and returned in the 21st Century.The loop now boasts three restored movie palaces the Chicago,Oriental and Palace. The loop is the finest example of a traditional large downtown in the United States.brucec
Was this a Fox West Coast Theatre at the time of its demolition?My parents saw Martin and Lewis here in person during the 1950’s. The area was on decline during the 1960’s and nothing was built in its place other than a parking lot and some small building on Market. If anyone has a photo of the theatre it would be great if you would post it. It seems like this is the forgotten theatre of San Francisco movie palaces. All the other movie palaces of this size were doing well on Market St. at the time this theatre was demolished. I remember that there was not enough quality theatres downtown at this time that the Fox Parkside became a reserved seat roadshow house that was really out of the way. I saw “The Blue Max” and “Those Magnificient Men in There Flying Machines” in there reserved seat engagemnts at the Fox Parkside. William maybe you could provide more information on this theatre.brucec
Richard what a wonderful site. Its a tribute to both your dad and the Fox that it went out with a bang and not a wimper the way many did during this time.It gave me goosebumps reading about the midnight concert with 4,600 people waiting in line. I guess your dad was the director of the Paramount,Fox Oakland and Grand Lake when I attended these theates as a child. I know that 20th Century-Fox was not in good financial health in the early 1960’s do you think this had something to do with the demise of the theatre at the time? Who owned the Fox at the time it was demolished?The Paramount also a Fox West Coast Theatre in San Francisco was torn down two years later in 1965 was this also related to the situation with the Fox? In all my years of going to the movies the Fox West Coast Theatres were my favorite.Im sure your dad had something to do with this.He was from the old school of exhibition I have heard so much about.brucec
San Francisco had great viable single screen theatres longer than most other cities. It was the arrival of the AMC megaplex that one by one all the great single screen movie theatres started to bite the dust. After the decline of downtown in the 1960’s the Coronet was the undisputed king of the box office in San Francisco. The Coronet continued to be a big excusive run house long after the reserved seat roadshow fims of the 1960’s. I would venture to say the Coronet was one of the most successful single screen theatres in the nation for decades. All the studios and producers wanted there movies booked into the Coronet.Its to bad Regal got there hands on this property.Regal doesn’t even attempt to showcase this theatre in any way knowing they were going to dispose of it when they took over United Artists. The Coronet continued to be the flagship of UA long after the decline of the Egyptian in Hollywood and the Rivoli in NYC.The Coronet was always kept in top shape by United Artists who was notorious for letting there theatres fall apart.The Coronet was built in 1949 when not many theatres were being built. The first movie I saw at the Coronet was the reseved seat roadshow attraction “Funny Girl” in 1968. I saw Star Wars on its first day of release at the Coronet and the lines went on forever. 20th Century Fox had figured the number of people who had seen “Star Wars” at the Coronet matched the entire population of San Francisco, 6 months into its run it was still gossing $80,000 a week.Remember this is the same City which was offered the Fox for $1Million in 1963 and turned it down and then spent over $70 Million years later constructing Davies Symphony Hall. I guess when its all said and done the Castro maybe the last single screen still showing movies in the city.brucec
Beware of theatre mergers or takeovers the first thing to go is the real estate.Regal picked up the UA circuit for peanuts due to its bankruptcy and is selling off UA real estate and disposing of all single screens. UA took much better care of there theatres,if you can believe it, when they were based in San Francisco. Regal is based out of state and could care less about the assets that they purchased here in the city. Regal is the largest circuit in the US and many assets were picked up for bargain prices across the country. Edwards in Southern California also was picked up by Regal but most of there theatres were far superior to most of the UA theatres which is no surpise. Regal had no intention of keeping any of there theatres in San Francisco. Its ironic the newcomers AMC and Loew’s displaced Blummenfiel and United Artists which operated in the city for decades. Outside of the downtown movie palaces the Alexandria and Coronet were one of the best theatres to see a film despite UA. The key exclusive run roadshow theatres of the 1950s and 1960’s were the Orpheum,Golden Gate,United Artists which were downtown and the Coronet and Alexandria located in the Richmond district.I saw many films growing up at the Alexandria when it was a single screen but saw only the “Deer Hunter” after it was triplexed.brucec
The Cinema 21 had the exclusive run of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf”,“Rosemary’s Baby” and the reserved seat roadshow attraction of “Hello Dolly” in the 1960’s. The Orpheum was supposed to run “Hello Dolly” but Market Street was torn up due to the construction of the BART subway so this is why the Cinema 21 ended up with its first and last roadshow attraction. The Cinema 21 also had the six month moveover run of “Star Wars” from the Coronet after a legal dispute between United Artists and 20th Century-Fox.United Artist’s Coronet had one of the most successful “Star Wars” run in the country when UA decided to bump it for “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind. The Coronet was still grossing $80,000 a week after 6 months and 20th Century Fox didn’t open another film in a UA house in San Francisco for a number of years.brucec
I lived in San Francisco in the 1970’s and attended all the single screen first run theatres in the area. I loved the marquee but the auditorium wasn’t in great shape. It always looked like very little maintenance was done on the auditorium and they had painted the lobby a purple.It was a nice size theatre but I never sat in the balcony. The last film I saw at the Royal was “Death on the Nile”. The Alhambra down the street on the other hand was and is a beautiful theatre that is now a fitness gym. The building of the AMC Megaplex on Van Ness caused the closing of the Regency 1,Regency 2,Royal and Alhambra theatres. The City of San Francisco was one of the last cities in the US to have multi screen theatres, due to land values,cost,zoning,and lack of parking.brucec
I actually liked all the marquee’s I have seen on this site. The original marquee is the most attractive but I also liked the neon marquee. The 1950’s was the last decade where they constructed beautiful marquees. When they started to use plastic like the fast food joints it was the arrival of the ugly marquees from the 1960’s.A movie palace is not complete unless it has a decent marquee such as the Michigan.brucec
Jim thanks for your detailed explanation surrounding the Warner/Grand. I afraid the City of Milwaukee proceeded with a master plan of building new theatres at the possible expense of putting in jeopardy its historic theatres like the Riverside and the Warner/Grand. Milwaukee is not the only city that has done this.Very few of the new theatres have the beauty of the historical theatres we all love. In New York City the first new theatres to built in decades to house the big musicals was the Minskoff and the Uris(Gershwin). The Minskoff as reviewers repeat over and over is the ugliest theatre on Broadway. The producers prefer the historic St.James,Shubert,Majestic,Imperial,Winter Garden,Broadway,Palace,Lunt-Fontannne and others before booking the Minskoff and Gerswhin. There has been a booking jam the last few years for the large musical houses so even these theatres stay booked on a regular basis. The next new theatre to be built in the 1980’s was the Marquis which was an improvement over the other two but still lacked the beauty of the historic structures. It wasn’t until the restoration of the New Amsterdam and the new reconstructed (Lyric/Apollo) Ford Center did Broadway have two more desirable theatres to house the big musicals.Even the non-profit Roundabout and Manhattan Theatre Club chose two historic theatres to restore the American Airlines (Selwyn) and the Biltmore to house there productions.I find in most cases people enjoy the restored theatre over the new.brucec
The City of San Francisco could have saved the Fox for a million dollars back in the early 1960’s and this was one of the greatest movie palaces ever built. It was torn down in 1963 and would have been a great asset to the City. In the 1970’s the City was forced to build a new Symphony Hall that cost over $70 Million and then had to spend more money to correct the sound problems. In retrospect this was a very bad economic move that cost taxpayers a good deal of money.I look at the Music Center in LA which did nothing to help the historic downtown. It was like a fortress people would drive in from the suburbs into the parking structure and into the theatre.The money it cost to build the Music Center could have restored every major movie palace on Broadway and turned the area around.Instead every major department store closed and one by one every theatre slowly closed except the Orpheum. Its only due to lack of investment interest on Broadway that all these theatres are still there so LA got lucky.I applaud St Louis and Pittsburg for restoring/renovationg the St Louis and Loew’s Penn instead of building new Symphony Halls that nobody would love. Im not saying never build a new theatre but when you have historical structures already standing and could be converted for Symphony,Opera,Concerts and Dance then every avenue should be explored for doing so. Many cities regret today what they tore down yesterday.New York City regrets that Pennsylvania Train Station is no longer with us and its going to cost them millions of dollars to convert the old Post Office to replace the old station.Most major cities across the United States have restored at least two of there downtown movie palaces.brucec
Thats why the city of Milwaukee needs a master plan. Speaking of Detroit, who’s downtown had one of the worse declines in the country, managed to save the Fox,State,Capitol(Opera House),Music Hall,Gem and Orchestra Hall.These theatres along with the stadiums built downtown has contributed to the revival of Downtown Detroit. I also understand that one can’t save every Downtown movie palace but when your down to your last two such as Milwaukee well I think the City should take notice. Philidelphia is another city down to there last movie palace the Boyd and if it hadn’t been for local protests the Boyd would already be gone. The Mayor of Chicago made a decision to help restore the Oriental and Palace instead of building new theatres. In New York City the historic legit theatres are the most desirable and the new theatres with the exception of the Marquis and Ford Center are not. The City of Boston in a master plan realized the need to restore three theatres to help revive a area of the theatre downtown district, the BF Keith Opera House,Paramount and the Modern. The Opera House has been restored,but the Paramount and Modern will be saved but not restored until sometime in the future.I will take your advice Jim and write a letter to Milwaukee but it is people who live there and in City government that have to have a plan.It might have to be joint effort between the public and the private sector. I don’t think Disney will ride to the rescue. Maybe the mayor and others in City government should take a trip to Cleveland and see how to revive a downtown that was in really bad shape.Mayors from all over the US have gone to Cleveland to see how to revive a downtown. Playhouse Square is at the top of the list.brucec
Restoration of the Warner could be done in stages. The restoration of just the theatre wouldn’t cost $50 Million. If you want to rebuild the stage then the price goes up. If you want to restore the office buidling the price goes up. If you want to build a parking structure the price goes up. If parking is needed let the City of Milwaukee fund the parking structure. Maybe the office building could be turned into Condos which is a trend happening across the US.How many Art Deco structures are left in the state of Wisconsin? The restoration of the Orpheum in Downtown LA was done for $4 Million. I heard the Warner is in pretty good shape. If the Loew’s Jersey can be restored on a shoestring budget and hours of work from volunteers maybe a local volunteer effort could help the Warner. I think when people say its going to cost an inflated some of money I think this scares many people who might be interested in restoring the theatre.Playhouse Square in Cleveland was restored over a period of 30 years. The Fox Oakland a 3500 seat house is being restored slowly over a period years as the funds become available and the demand for a second theatre slowly develop in a city of 400,000 people. The City knows they must save and restore this theatre as part of the master plan for Downtown.I can tell a lot about a city who restores there landmarks and theatres and those who don’t. One theatre downtown does not constitute a theatre district.brucec
I think the City of Milwaukee should come up with a master plan for both the Riverside and the Warner. They need to look at the long term and the rebirth of the downtown cores which is happening across this country. Any downtown movie palace that has survived into the 21st Century deserves to be saved because there are so few left and brings a lot of joy and memories to both the public and the city they are in. Movie Palaces have helped revitalize many a downtown in this country. Its neighbor Minneapolis is in the process of restoring there fourth downtown theatre the Academy(Shubert),the other three Orpheum,State and Pantages.brucec
This would also be a perfect house to show classic films when the theatre is not being used for stage. This is Nederlanders second string broadway house after the Pantages. The Fox-Wilshire has a small capacity for the large broadway shows. I think the Nederlanders should move there operation to the larger Pacific Warner in Hollywood which would be down the street from the Pantages.The Wilshire could be used for concerts,classic films and major studio film premeires. The Wilshire is the last movie palace left in Beverly Hills. Maybe the Academy of Arts and Sciences could use this house along with the Samuel Goldywn down the street.brucec
Why can’t each large town or city at least restore one movie palace like the Byrd for movies? Its seating capacity is perfect not to large for todays economics. The AFI helps restore film, well it would be great is something was created and funded to help restore some of these theatres for movies and not just Performing Art Centers.brucec
The restoration of the Pacific doesn’t have to cost $40 Million. The Pacific is in very good shape and not on its last leg like the New Amsterdam in New York was before Disney spent $30 Million to restore it and turn it into a state of the art broadway house. I think it would take between $8-12Million to restore the theatre and turn it into a single screen. To turn the Pacific into a broadway house would be between $20-30Million. I would love to see the origianl name Warner back on the theatre. I would even settle for Pacific Warner. I even think the Nederlanders could make better use of the Pacific than the Wilshire in Beverly Hills for broadway shows. I have always felt that Hollywood and Downtown should be the legit districts. The Fox-Wilshire would make a great house for movie premieres like the old days.brucec
I talked to the foreman of the Egyptian renovation when it was in progress and I was dismayed his lack of knowledge about the theatre. I walked through the theatre with a hard hat and was shocked to see what they were doing. Of all the movie palaces on Hollywood Blvd the Egyptian should have been the easier restoration. The interior was the least ornate but had a simple beauty even with the Giant Curved Screen. The projectionist who worked the Egyptian said it best,the theatre looked better even when UA lost interestin the theatre.There have been many theatres restored around the world in a lot worse shape than the Egyptian. When the City of LA gives Millions of dollars toward an historic renovation maybe there needs to be better guidelines. The current auditoium is not beautiful it is bland at best. When UA redid the current Festival in Westwood and called it the Egyptian few years ago it looked a lot better and more Egyptian than the current Egyptian in Hollywood.What a dissapointment when someone takes a tour of the famous Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. American Cinemateque puts on an excellent show and draws an intelligent crowd from all over LA to the Egyptian for people who love film and for this I applaud them. American Cinemateque should take note of our comments. I think they have a success on there hands but it would have been more successful if the theatre had been a little more magical,like the Castro in San Francisco.brucec
John here is my e-mail .I really appreciate sending the list to me from 1963-1980.It tells me a lot about an exlusive run theatre.brucec
Warren the M-G-M Book states the following from 1959:
MGM-Loew’s,last of the holdouts against the government’s anti-trust action finally divided itself in March into two unconnected companies:Loew’s Theatres and Metro-Goldywn-Mayer.Six months later the latter announced its profit,$7,698,951,the highest since 1951’s total for the old company.I know Loew’s-MGM was the last major studio to comply with the consent decree due to the complicated relationship of Loew’s-MGM.brucec
I would love a listing of movies that played the State Lake from 1956 thru 1972.brucec
Vincent I also care so now there are four people on the planet.I enjoy the postings from Warren,Vito and yourself. I wish there was a time machine and we could go back to this era of movie palace we all love.I think in our postings we are helping keep this part of our history alive. I at least attended the San Francisco Fox as a child but I wish I could have attended the Roxy I probably wouldn’t want to leave. I love Radio City but the Roxy was the Cathedral of motion pictures.brucec
I attended the last day Auctions by the Bay showed movies in this beautiful auditorium. I saw the last double bill of “North By Northwest” and “Out of the Past.” It was my first time attending and I guess my last. I think the name and the location prevented it from being more successful besides cheap DVD rentals of the classics.brucec
Correction on Market St. The City of San Francisco is to blame for letting the theatre district portion of Market Street decline so badly and its still a mess today. The Golden Gate has to post security in front of the theatre on show nights because the area is so bad. Both Oakland and San Jose have worked on improving there main street where San Francisco has done nothing to improve Market between the old JC Penney Dept store and the Orpheum. Its a disgrace for a city that is ranked one of the worlds top tourist destinations.The Warfield never deteriorated its the best preserved downtown movie palace the city has. The Warfield was completely renovated/restored in 1969 by National General with the intention of making the Warfield a reseved seat roadshow house. By 1971 the era of the roadshow was over. I remember when Mike Thomas took over the Warfield and it was in beautiful condition. I saw live in person films tributes to Mae West,Lana Turner,Sophia Loren and Joan Fontaine in the late 1970’s at the Warfield. The Warfield was in great condition when it became a concert venue.Who would brave this part of Market Street to see a movie today its scary enough to attend a broadway show at the Golden Gate.brucec
Nice photos of the Goodman. The Goodman help revive the North Loop bringing people into the Loop at night. My only complaint is that I wish more of the Harris and Selywyn interior could have been duplicated inside the Goodman like the Ford Center did in New York City for the Lyric and Apollo theatres.I think very little effort was put into saving any of the interior.brucec
The Oriental seated 3200 before the recent restoration/renovation.The Oriental now seats 2200 which is 1000 seats less.During the renovation the lobby was expanded into the back of the auditorium. The stage was also expanded by knocking down a building behind the backstage wall. The Oriental was a quality restoration/renovation making the theatre work for the legitimate broadway stage. It was a blessing that the theatre survived do to lack of investment in the North Loop for many years. The Loop is one of the most improved downtown districts in the United States. It is fortunate that the Loop retained two of its large downtown department stores Marshall Fields and Carson’s and Sears which left the loop in the 1970’s and returned in the 21st Century.The loop now boasts three restored movie palaces the Chicago,Oriental and Palace. The loop is the finest example of a traditional large downtown in the United States.brucec
The Orpheum hosted the Hollywood premiere of Tom Cruise new film “Collateral”.It was the first quality premiere held downtown in decades.brucec