Index

San Francisco

San Francisco is much appreciated by both its inhabitants and visitors. It is one of the few American cities where it is possible to either walk or use the dense public transport network. Between the beach (and its chilly water!), the harbor, a busy downtown, some rather huge parks, and its gay area (the Castro), the most famous in the world, the visitors' only problem is to choose from numerous things to see. San Francisco has many traditional single screen theaters, which are closing down little by little since the opening of two multiplexes located in the centerc. The multiplexes Opened during the summer of '88, the AMC 1000 Van Ness was the first multiplex in town. It was built in an old building that hosted a Cadillac concession. Its lobby is huge, numerous escalators lead to the ten auditoriums. The Sony Metreon opened in June 1999. With its fifteen screens and 3,800 seats, it is the largest theater in the city. It is located in the heart of a new giant glass building, along with an IMAX theater (the largest IMAX scree in the world, 100x80ft [!!!], a beautiful auditorium with 614 seats and stadium-style seating), shops, a food-court, and a large video games arcade room. In the evening, the place is very busy. A parking garage is located next to the building, at the entrance of the Tenderloin, San Francisco's poorest area, but safety doesn't seem to be a problem. The auditoriums are beautiful, modern and comfortable, with stadium-style seatings, and curved screens. They are all equipped with SDDS sound and have the THX label. My only regret was that the screens could have been bigger in the largest auditoriums (no screen is wider than 50ft).

Theater    Seats    Screens Widths (ft) 1 96 32 2 125 32 3 125 34 4 122 34 5 134 32 6 156 36 7 282 38 8 253 38 9 266 38 10 259 38 11 300 47 12 301 47 13 589 47 14 369 50 15 415 33

The monument The Coronet is the theater that should be seen in San Francisco. It was inaugurated in 1949. It is said to be one of George Lucas' favorites (it held the first public screening of Star Wars). Its front is big, but rather sober, and behind it is the large 1,200 seat auditorium. The screen is curved and is about 50ft wide, which is a little small for the back rows. It is equipped with the three digital sound systems (Dolby SRD, DTS and eight-track SDDS).

The rest is much less exciting. It is harder and harder to fill large single-screens theaters, and unlike in multiplexes, it is impossible to switch movies on a weekly or even daily basis. It became public last July that the theater and a nearby parking lot had been bought by the Goldman Institute on Aging for 8.5 million dollars. At the end of the year, the unfortunate cinema will close down and will be torn down. The end of an era for San Francisco moviegoers.

Closed In a couple of years, San Francisco lost some of its largest movie theaters. Most of their building remained, and sometimes let strollers guess their past glory. Photographic visit...

TheAlhambra had been divided into two auditoriums

Near Union Square, the Stage Door, which was a former movie theater hosting the world premiere of Vertigo, then a live theater, became the Regency III (above right); it played movies that have been showed at the Regency I or Northpoint, some of them in 70mm. The Regency III closed down during the 90s, and was replaced by a dancing, the Ruby Skye.    Last one of the list, the Royal has a rather simple front, but its sign gets noticed. Behind the glass doors, the somptuous lobby can still be seen.    Market Street The "not so good" section of San Francisco's main street, in the Tenderloin, has several large movie theaters, most of them closed down; the fronts still are remarkable. The Orpheum has a beautiful front, it is now a live theater hosting major musicals. The Market Street Cinema now plays erotic movies; its bright blue and orange front can't be missed.

The Castro (above and left) is located in the heart of the Castro, San Francisco's gay neighborhood. It was built in 1922, and its auditorium, which has a Wurlitzer organ, can accomodate 1,500 viewers. Its huge front is the most beautiful in the city. It plays art movies and gay movies, and often hosts festivals.

Left, the Bridge; right, the Vogue.

Left, the Balboa (two medium size auditoriums); right, the Cinema 21.

The Metro

The Lumiere is an art theater; it was a single screen theater, in which two tiny tiny auditoriums were added; the original auditorium is by far the most pleasant. Berkeley Berkeley and its famous university are a few minutes away from the city with the BART. The center of this little town is much pleasant and a nice place for pedestrians who can stroll between the shops, the restaurants, and the movie theaters. The California owns the most impressive front in Berkeley; unfortunately, it has been divided into three auditoriums.

The United Artists (7 auditoriums, left) and Shattuck (9 auditoriums, above), are the largest multi-screen theaters in Berkeley.

The Fine Arts Cinema (above left) and UC Theatre (right) are two renowned single-screen art theaters.

Address Book Alexandria - Geary & 18th Alhambra - Polk & Union AMC Kabuki Theatres - Polk & Filmore AMC 1000 - 1000 Van Ness Balboa - 38th & Balboa Bridge - 3010 Geary Castro - Castro & Market Cinema 21 - Chestnut & Steiner Coliseum - Clement & 9th Coronet - Geary & Arguello Four Star - Clement & 23rd Galaxy - Van Ness & Sutter Lumiere - California & Polk Market Street Cinema - Market between 6th & 7th Metro - Union & Webster North Point - Powell & Bay Presidio - Chestnut near Scott Regency 1 - 2 - Van Ness & Sutter Regency 3 - 420 Mason Royal - Polk near California Sony Metreon - 101 4th St Francis - Market between 5th & 6th Strand - Market between 7th & 8th California - 2113 Kittredge - Berkeley Fine Arts Cinema - 2451 Shattuck - Berkeley Shattuck - 2230 Shattuck - Berkeley United Artists - 2274 Shattuck - Berkeley UC Theatre - 2036 University - Berkeley Photographic credits : The picture from the inside of the Ruby Skye comes from their web site. All other pictures: © Silver Screens 2000 Thank you to John Gilmore for all the information that helped me preparing this section. Thank you to Alain and Romain who valiantly came along with me throughout the city looking for movie theaters! Liens : Castro Fine Arts Cinema Market Street Cinema Ruby Skye, the dancing that replaced the Regency III.