Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94114
429 Castro Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94114
76 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 192 comments
I visited this beautiful theatre yesterday for the Natalie Wood film festival. GYPSY was in 35mm scope, and the projectionist did an outstanding, making sure every reel was in sharp focus. But the second feature, LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, was on DVD and was a little out of focus throughout. I know DVD projectors can be focused, because I have operated them. Why then, did he take extra care on GYPSY, but for LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER he just turned the projector on and didn’t fine-tune the focus?
Screen masking is used when widescreen films are shown to achieve a screen size with the appropriate ratio; the Castro can show just about any film format, including 70mm films (except, of course, for three-panel Cinerama). I saw “Lawrence of Arabia there some years ago; it looked magnificent. They will soon be showing a 70mm print of “Vertigo”.
The screen looks very square and small and not capable of showing movies in scope.
A few 2011 photo can be seen here, here and here.
I met Keith Arnold, the Castro’s new programmer and general manager, by chance in front of the theater just an hour ago. He tells me the internet rumor that the theater will not be showing film after Dec 31 was spread by a disgruntled former employee and is totally false. This has also been confirmed on The Castro’s Facebook page.
Hi Chuck,
I would love to see those pictures of the Hartford, CT Cinerama/Colonial theatre that you have.
Thanks!
Roland
http://cineramahistory.com
KTVU-2 news last night reported that the Castro Theater will now be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays starting in April. This is due to the decline of available product to play in the theater (“revival film product) and a drop in attendence. The report did state that the Castro is still "in the black”. The same report also mentioned that the Red Vic Theater is having similar problems.
Last week, my wife and I visited this neighborhood and passed by the Castro. While it was closed at the time, we really enjoyed viewing the terrific facade – and the tiles in the outer lobby were wonderful. This is something that you really have to view in the flesh.
Will, That is a great picture of the beautiful interior. Thanks!
I’ve posted information and photos from a recent visit here.
Here is the ticket booth taken in 2009:
http://tinyurl.com/y7hoeww
Thats a great photo from the 40s…the Castro is my favourite theatre on the West Coast…but its a long way from Brighton U.K :)
This is a larger version of the photo at the top of the page:
http://tinyurl.com/y8z5oa9
It was nice to see on the Castro website that they have returned somewhat to the kind of programming that was typical of the 1980s; the screens even look like their brochures of that period.
I went to the Castro this week to see a double feature of Goodbye Mr.Chips, and Wuthering Heights. About halfway through Wuthering Heights, some people in the audience began laughing at the film in a mocking way.While waiting for the second feature, I formulated the following theory. At some point the people who were laughing had made an emotional connection with the film, but regarded themselves as too tragically hip to have that happen. So as a defense mechanism they mock.This happens fairly often at the Castro. It is especially bad during the annual Film Noir festival. You almost feel people are going to the movies to make fun of them. Comments anyone?
The Castro in 1997:
View link
Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cwf5do
Same here, Justin, although I’d admittedly love to see the inside of the Castro Theatre some day.
I saw the theater while watching the movie “Milk”. Very classy theater, even though I haven’t been inside it.
I love it!! Thanks, Lost Memory.
Aha! Okay. Thanks for the info.
Thanks, Lost Memory. It looks like the Castro Theatre was just cleaned and renovated? Was it?
My nostalgia burns brightly.
If the Castro Theatre wasn’t on the opposite side of the country for me, I’D go, also!
Petula Clark performing at the Castro Theatre? Oooh…how exciting! I remember Petula Clark. I was a big fan of hers in the mid to late 1960’s, when I was a teenager, and when Petula Clark was in vogue and popular.
Yeah……love that great-looking marquee. Thanks for the photo, Lost Memory.