Pagoda Theatre
1741 Powell Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94133
1741 Powell Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94133
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The Pagoda Palace was briefly operated by Renaissance Rialto in 1986 as a repertory theater.
The Pagoda opened on 10 April 1909 as the Washington Square Theatre, and operated as such until 1930 when it was renamed the Milano. It was extensively remodelled in the moderne style in the late 1930’s and reopened as the Palace on 5 November 1937. It was renamed Pagoda on 5 August 1974 offering a policy of Chinese films. Its last days as a film operation were in December 1994.
This theatre dates back to the post-1906 quake rebuilding of San Francisco, although it was later completely redone in Art Deco style, and remained so until its closing. When the intent was for the theatre to become retail space, the lovely Art Deco interior was completely gutted save for the balcony structure. Later, when local opposition stopped the locating of a chain store in the building, a later effort was undertaken to reuse the structure as a live theatre space. The only thing remaining of aesthetic/historical note is the 30s or 40s era sign tower.