El Capitan Theatre
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San Francisco, CA
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Uploaded on: October 9, 2026
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The El Capitan was a misfire upon opening on June 29, 1928 as the Embassy was scoring with “talking pictures” and joined by several others soon thereafter. Meanwhile, the “most modern” of theaters, the El Capitan, was then hastily retrofitted for Vitaphone sound-on-disc technology on October 26, 1928 (ad at left). Better late than never.
As the theatre approached its 30th Anniversary, its final ad under independent operation didn’t bother to list the features as nobody was coming anyway (ad from December 1957 at top right) which led to its final ads (bottom right) as its 1961 salvage sale begins just ahead of demolition for a parking lot.
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