CineArts at Hyatt

1307 Bayshore Highway,
Burlingame, CA 94010

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Additional Info

Architects: Robert M. Blunk, Vincent G. Raney

Styles: Streamline Moderne

Previous Names: Hyatt Music Theatre, Hyatt Cinema Theater

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News About This Theater

Hyatt Theatre 2012

The Hyatt Music Theatre was built a live theatre venue. It became the Hyatt Cinema Theatre on March 29, 1966. It was an “Ultramodern” theater shaped like a big spiked salad bowl with a marquee out front. It screened the roadshow versions of movies in the mid-1960’s. It later became a triplex and was closed in 2008.

Contributed by Donald John Long

Recent comments (view all 26 comments)

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 1, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Here is an architectural rendering of the Hyatt Music Theatre. The theater was designed by architects Vincent G. Raney and Robert M. Blunk.

Raney, of course, was a well-known Northern California theater architect who designed dozens of movie theaters. Robert Blunk was a Burlingame architect who, as far as I’ve been able to discover, designed only one other house, the Hillbarn Theatre at Foster City, California, (1966) which, like the Hyatt, was a stage venue.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 11, 2015 at 4:55 pm

March 29th, 1966 grand opening ad in photo section.

stevenj
stevenj on July 12, 2015 at 9:46 am

The (single screen) Hyatt Cinema never showed Cinerama films. I saw a production of South Pacific (with Mary Martin) there when it was a theater in the round in the mid 60’s. After it became a single screen theater in ‘67 or '68 I saw Doctor Zhivago there on it’s very impressive large curved screen. After it was twinned I never went back.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 19, 2015 at 9:37 am

December 15th, 1972 grand opening ad as a twin in photo section.

1KBrad
1KBrad on October 12, 2015 at 7:54 pm

I started working at the Hyatt Cinema in 1973 as a doorman. I was the manager from 1976-1977.

By the time I started working there, it was already a two-screen theater. As I recall, 720-seats in the large cinema and 189-seats in the small theater, which we called, “The Abortion.”

It was not well done. There was little sound isolation in the small theater and it was an odd, two-tiered seating configuration.

The large cinema was a delight. It was a very large, curved screen and was set-up for 70mm, 6-channel magnetic sound (although it was never used while I was there) and I don’t think all of the five speakers behind the screen were operational. As I recall, number 2 never worked.

I did borrow a print of Funny Lady from the Burlingame Drive-In one night as it had a 4-channel magnetic soundtrack. We had a crew party and turned the volume up after hours. It sounded pretty darn good (even if the movie was not all that).

A lot of memories there. Sorry to see it in the shape it is now.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on August 22, 2016 at 3:38 am

The Hyatt may not be with us much longer. A May 5 article in the San Mateo Daily Journal this year reported that plans are afoot to redevelop the property with an office complex and restaurant. The nearby Burlingame Drive-In site is expected to be redeveloped as well, with an even larger office project.

stevenj
stevenj on July 29, 2017 at 1:06 pm

An April 2017 Google map street view shows the theater building still there and just a few weeks ago I drove down the Bayshore Freeway and it is still standing.

Coate
Coate on July 31, 2017 at 3:10 pm

EmpressDR: It’s highly doubtful you saw “The Empire Strikes Back” at the Hyatt in May 1980 since it is very well documented that “Empire” opened during that timeframe exclusively at the Northpoint in San Francisco (plus one theater in Santa Clara County and one in Marin County). Everyone else in the Bay Area had to wait at least a month before the movie’s release broadened.

1966gt350h
1966gt350h on January 11, 2022 at 1:30 am

My Father and Grandfather took me to see Grand Prix in 1966, I was only 4 ½. I don’t remember much of the movie, but I do remember the theater being so big. I didn’t know until many years later watching the movie for a second time that James Gardener was driving a 1966 Shelby GT350H with a 4 speed.There is 2 or 3 scenes with the car in the movie. Here’s the funny thing, the night I saw that movie with my dad and grandfather I was driving in a 1966 GT350H with a 4 speed (out of a 1001 made only 85 are 4 speeds). I still own the car today and live approximately a mile from the movie theater.

MSC77
MSC77 on December 2, 2023 at 3:36 pm

This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in San Mateo County: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1966-Present”.

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