Julio de Unamuno, referenced in the picture above, was the manager of the Star Theater. When the Star closed, he managed the Plaza on East 12th Street.
Good News! According to today’s San Francisco Chronicle, the Parkway will be re-opening as a marijuana dispensary which will include movies and “notoriously stoner friendly” events such as art shows, and concerts. It is said that the theater will reopen on or before January 2020.
The theater is now called “The Crossing” and is a church and has been for several years now. Their website and facebook page have great pictures of the interior.
The Palace is once again a church. The Word Assembly – The Palace holds services there, and has a great facebook page which has pictures and videos of their services at the Palace.
Two of my original photos were deleted and replaced with “color corrected copies” which I do not appreciate. My comments under the photos were also removed, and credit for these photos were given to the new poster. Please correct this from happening again.
This “color corrected copy” is a duplication of my original photo posted, and it overwrote my comments. This is a hallway shot of the Powell that I took, showing the men’s room at the end of the hall. The auditorium wall is on the left, and you can see the drinking fountain.
Saw “The Color Purple” there. The auditorium we were in had a nice size screen and great sound system with the screen having curtains that opened and closed. Lobby had a interesting layout with the pay phones and restrooms upstairs. Only went there a few times. It seemed that no one seemed to miss it after it was demolished.
In the early 80’s an attempt to operate the Music Hall as a upscale gay disco failed miserably. It was still called the Music Hall and lasted for less than a year. We went once and never went back. The seats were removed from the main floor and replaced with a dance floor. The rear upstairs was changed into a bar, small lounge and coat check area. They charged almost $20.00 to get in there (outrageous at the time) but you could buy a six month membership for $100.00. Sound system was terrible.
Chuck Johnson, had a great tv show on KEMO Channel 20 called Soul Beat. His studio was located in the Eastmont Mall. He took over operation of the theater, changing the name to the “Soul Beat Cinemas”.
Bunch of us went in there once to see this X movie called “Angel Above Devil Below” a spoof on the exorcist, where this womans vagina gets possessed and starts yelling things. The whole audience was laughing it was great. What was strange was that during the exorcism scene (furniture flying around the room) the film jammed in the projector, we all watched the film melting away on screen. Everyone hooted and yelled, it was great fun. It was a nice theater inside, except it smelt like stale mothballs.
Yesterday’s 6.0 earthquake in Napa, caused some damage to the Uptown. Photos show it being roped off, with reports from newspapers of damage to the exterior and to the interior. The extent of the damage is unknown, as there was no power in the building for a decent inspection.
@jackiethecoed. Thank you for the great story! My dad Charles “Eddie” Green, sadly passed a few years ago. He would have enjoyed your reply. He used to live at the Roxy Hotel up the street from the theater. One hot summer day, he decided to walk to the El Rey without a shirt, and got arrested for indecent exposure. Yvonne bailed him out.
The Uptown, in my opinion, was San Francisco’s first luxurious dirty movie theater. The center curved section of the marquee had a painted glass overlay that read “movies for mature swinging adults”. Winterland next door was thriving with great rock bands, with the Uptown getting many customers after the concerts. It was said that a undercover check revealed “leud conduct” in the balcony and they raided the place. The operators lost their appeals on obsenity charges and the City shut the Uptown down. I don’t remember if it reopened after that.
Julio de Unamuno, referenced in the picture above, was the manager of the Star Theater. When the Star closed, he managed the Plaza on East 12th Street.
Good News! According to today’s San Francisco Chronicle, the Parkway will be re-opening as a marijuana dispensary which will include movies and “notoriously stoner friendly” events such as art shows, and concerts. It is said that the theater will reopen on or before January 2020.
The theater is now called “The Crossing” and is a church and has been for several years now. Their website and facebook page have great pictures of the interior.
The interior of the theater looks very similar to the Granada in Morgan Hill.
The Palace is once again a church. The Word Assembly – The Palace holds services there, and has a great facebook page which has pictures and videos of their services at the Palace.
Two of my original photos were deleted and replaced with “color corrected copies” which I do not appreciate. My comments under the photos were also removed, and credit for these photos were given to the new poster. Please correct this from happening again.
This “color corrected copy” is a duplication of my original photo posted, removing my comments. This photo I took of the Powell was in 1976.
This “color corrected copy” is a duplication of my original photo posted, and it overwrote my comments. This is a hallway shot of the Powell that I took, showing the men’s room at the end of the hall. The auditorium wall is on the left, and you can see the drinking fountain.
Saw “The Color Purple” there. The auditorium we were in had a nice size screen and great sound system with the screen having curtains that opened and closed. Lobby had a interesting layout with the pay phones and restrooms upstairs. Only went there a few times. It seemed that no one seemed to miss it after it was demolished.
Went there only once and saw the movie Carrie. It was a nice place to see a movie, but the seats were uncomfortable.
I was friends with Piers Freeman, who was a employee there in the 70’s. Saw many a movie there. Miss it very much.
In the early 80’s an attempt to operate the Music Hall as a upscale gay disco failed miserably. It was still called the Music Hall and lasted for less than a year. We went once and never went back. The seats were removed from the main floor and replaced with a dance floor. The rear upstairs was changed into a bar, small lounge and coat check area. They charged almost $20.00 to get in there (outrageous at the time) but you could buy a six month membership for $100.00. Sound system was terrible.
Chuck Johnson, had a great tv show on KEMO Channel 20 called Soul Beat. His studio was located in the Eastmont Mall. He took over operation of the theater, changing the name to the “Soul Beat Cinemas”.
Sadly, the El Camino was demolished in July 2015 to make way for new development.
The design of the rooftop sign was very similar to the Fairfax in Oakland. Curious if it was built by the same company.
Bunch of us went in there once to see this X movie called “Angel Above Devil Below” a spoof on the exorcist, where this womans vagina gets possessed and starts yelling things. The whole audience was laughing it was great. What was strange was that during the exorcism scene (furniture flying around the room) the film jammed in the projector, we all watched the film melting away on screen. Everyone hooted and yelled, it was great fun. It was a nice theater inside, except it smelt like stale mothballs.
Yesterday’s 6.0 earthquake in Napa, caused some damage to the Uptown. Photos show it being roped off, with reports from newspapers of damage to the exterior and to the interior. The extent of the damage is unknown, as there was no power in the building for a decent inspection.
@jackiethecoed. Thank you for the great story! My dad Charles “Eddie” Green, sadly passed a few years ago. He would have enjoyed your reply. He used to live at the Roxy Hotel up the street from the theater. One hot summer day, he decided to walk to the El Rey without a shirt, and got arrested for indecent exposure. Yvonne bailed him out.
Good news! The Palace is being reopened for stage performances. www.palacetheateroakland.com
http://oaklandwiki.org/Dimond_Theater (meant to post the link and not the photo)
Status should be sadly changed to demolished. According to today’s San Francisco Chronicle, the walls were torn down Monday morning.
The Uptown, in my opinion, was San Francisco’s first luxurious dirty movie theater. The center curved section of the marquee had a painted glass overlay that read “movies for mature swinging adults”. Winterland next door was thriving with great rock bands, with the Uptown getting many customers after the concerts. It was said that a undercover check revealed “leud conduct” in the balcony and they raided the place. The operators lost their appeals on obsenity charges and the City shut the Uptown down. I don’t remember if it reopened after that.
I finally found my photo of the interior of the Palm, and posted it. Enjoy!
Just downloaded a photo of the Hayward, taken in august 1976, the day right after the fire.
Added a photo of the Powell that I took, I believe, in 1975. I also found a flyer when the Powell showed all male porn films. It was a great theater.