Golden Gate Theatre
1 Taylor Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
1 Taylor Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
15 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 67 comments
took some pics last weekend, my fave is the descending/ascending windows balconies…did not see any neon but the spamalot run had not started yet and the theater was “dark"
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While ordering tickets online the other day to the upcoming “Monty Python’s Spamalot” at the Golden Gate, I noticed that SHN has a dusk view of the Golden Gate on their site, and it looks like the letters on the Golden Gate vertical signs are lit. This may be just a photoshop job. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether neon has indeed (rightfully) returned to the letters on the Golden Gate’s verticals? I will likely not be by the theatre until we see that show in May, and I’m itching to know if it was just a bit of photoshop wizardry fulfilling my wishful thinking, or if indeed this refurbishment has very recently been done. I do know that plans are underway to refurbish the whole office block portion of the Golden Gate. I hope the signs can be part of that. I would not complain at all if the letters “SHN” were placed in the blank spaces at the top where “RKO” was once written.
:–)
There’s no bums in front of it!
Simon, thanks for your comments. Had I had the opportunity to have actually seen the Roxy, Capitol, Brooklyn Fox, Center, Paramount, Rivoli, Proctor’s 58th Street, the list goes on and on, I would probably still be crying as well for what we have lost in New York.
Alas, my appreciation for movie palaces came later in my life when I realized, too late, how special they were and that they will never be built like this again. As it is, my appreciation for the old theaters grew back in my disco days when many of New York’s best discos were in old theaters. The Saint (Loews Commodore), Palladium (Academy of Music), Studio 54 (Gallo Opera House), Xenon (Miller Theater), Club USA (The Forum). These were all beautiful theaters and I was able to appreciate the architecture from a different perspective than as a moviegoer.
It’s too bad that, ultimately, only Studio 54 was able to survive long enough to be saved. It has since reverted back to the legitmate stage and I have seen many productions there.
The pain of what was lost in New York is tempered somewhat by what we have been able to save and what can potentially be saved. We still have Radio City, The Beacon, 4 out the 5 Loews Wonder Theaters (Paradise, 175th Street, Valencia, Jersey), St. George, Beacon, Apollo, New Amsterdam, Hollywood, Ziegfeld and the Paris. In addition, there are about 2 dozen landmarked Broadway houses many of which have played films in their past. Waiting in the wings?….The Loews Kings, The Brooklyn Paramount, The Liberty and others.
No other city still has this kind of inventory (except arguably Los Angeles). That is why it is so shameful when other cities don’t protect what little they have left. Philadelphia is struggling to protect its lone remaining palace, The Boyd. Most cities, have just one or two restored palaces.
In San Francisco, it’s not just the Golden Gate that needs protection. There are other theaters in the neighborhood but the surrounding neighborhood is just awful. Others have said that SF is hesitant to address the homeless issue because of its liberal values and I think that’s nonsense. Very few cities are more liberal than New York, and this city has cleaned up Times Square and, by law, provides shelter to the homeless which is why it is not very noticeable here. The theaters have to be able to attract clientele and it is difficult for them to do so with such aggressive panhandling and open drug use on the streets. It’s a shame. I feel that if New york could do it (and it was really bad here), any city could do it!
Simon, thanks for your comments. Had I had the opportunity to have actually seen the Roxy, Capitol, Brooklyn Fox, Center, Paramount, Rivoli, Proctor’s 58th Street, the list goes on and on, I would probably still be crying as well for what we have lost in New York.
Alas, my appreciation for movie palaces came later in my life when I realized, too late, how special they were and that they will never be built like this again. As it is, my appreciation for the old theaters grew back in my disco days when many of New York’s best discos were in old theaters. The Saint (Loews Commodore), Palladium (Academy of Music), Studio 54 (Gallo Opera House), Xenon (Miller Theater), Club USA (The Forum). These were all beautiful theaters and I was able to appreciate the architecture from a different perspective than as a moviegoer.
It’s too bad that, ultimately, only Studio 54 was able to survive long enough to be saved. It has since reverted back to the legitmate stage and I have seen many productions there.
The pain of what was lost in New York is tempered somewhat by what we have been able to save and what can potentially be saved. We still have Radio City, The Beacon, 4 out the 5 Loews Wonder Theaters (Paradise, 175th Street, Valencia, Jersey), St. George, Beacon, Apollo, New Amsterdam, Hollywood, Ziegfeld and the Paris. In addition, there are about 2 dozen landmarked Broadway houses many of which have played films in their past. Waiting in the wings?….The Loews Kings, The Brooklyn Paramount, The Liberty and others.
No other city still has this kind of inventory (except arguably Los Angeles). That is why it is so shameful when other cities don’t protect what little they have left. Philadelphia is struggling to protect its lone remaining palace, The Boyd. Most cities, have just one or two restored palaces.
In San Francisco, it’s not just the Golden Gate that needs protection. There are other theaters in the neighborhood but the surrounding neighborhood is just awful. Others have said that SF is hesitant to address the homeless issue because of its liberal values and I think that’s nonsense. Very few cities are more liberal than New York, and this city has cleaned up Times Square and, by law, provides shelter to the homeless which is why it is not very noticeable here. The theaters have to be able to attract clientele and it is difficult for them to do so with such aggressive panhandling and open drug use on the streets. It’s a shame. I feel that if New york could do it (and it was really bad here), any city could do it!
LuisV… San Francisco WAS known as “The City That Knows How”… it has just about let everything go to hell in a hand basket and we’ll worry about tomorrow another day!
My wife is a native and was once proud to have supported many of the beautiful cinemas and theaters; skipping school numerous times, with punishment, just to be IN the 5,000 + seat FOX… to SEE its cavernous magnificence, HEAR the organ, STAIR at the gold leaf or WATCH the glorious curtains in motion floodlit in assorted colors!
She cries today, 45 years later, watching the video and senseless destruction of what was GIVEN to San Francisco by William Fox, thanks to the crooked leadership of Mayor George Christopher. Damn him to hell, too!
Many of the comments above are very critical of the area immediately surrounding this theater. My personal experiences over a four year period was that the area had actually gotten worse and not better. It’s been over a year since I was last in San Francisco and was wondering if anything has gotten better. San Francisco’s handling of the disgusting neighborhood has been shameful especially considering the city’s reliance on tourism.
Lots of photos from the THSA 2008 Conclave here:
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Here are links to their photos of the Gonden Gate Theater:
View link – outer lobby
View link – inner lobby
View link – inner lobby
View link – outer lobby
View link – auditorium – from stage
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View link – balcony
View link – inner lobby
View link – stairs to balcony
View link – proscenium
View link – balcony from stage
View link – balcony from stage
View link – stage rigging
I went to the Golden Gate with the Royal Shakespeare Company to play ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ back in the mid 90s for 2 weeks. The area is disgusting and a shame on San Francisco for letting a central area of its city be like this. We had an armed bus taking us to and from the theatre every performance. The theatre is in dire need of renovation inside and out. It could be a real jewel like the Curran. If they are taking $3 for rennovations and your not seeing any work dont pay it!
The details on the outside of the Golden Gate look more Renaissance-Baroque than anything else to me. The interior is similar to the original interior of Lansburgh’s Hillstreet Theatre in Los Angeles, which had an predominantly Gothic style in both its auditorium and other areas, until it got a remodel in the late 1940s.
But Lansburgh did put these Gothic elements into a highly classicized framework, which made the auditoriums look almost like Renaissance designs with Gothic detailing. The Golden Gate’s auditorium seems to me to have a strong Venetian Gothic influence, though, while the Hillstreet has overall more eccentric features that are hard to pin down as any particular sort of Gothic. I think Albert may have been on the pipe when he designed the Hillstreet.
It’s often difficult to classify movie theatres according to standard styles as they are usually defined by architecture critics, because so many palace architects mixed together various elements of various styles from different periods or different cultures, and sometimes added novel and unprecedented stylistic flourishes of their own invention. Plus it’s not uncommon for the interior style of a theatre and the exterior style of its building to differ, even when they were designed by the same architect.
Because of their eclecticism, and their frequently fantastical stylistic elements, I don’t think we’ll ever get a truly precise nomenclature for describing movie theatre architecture. Way too many theatres were sui generis.
Wow, that was quick! Thanks, William, for confirming my thoughts. The term “art deco” does cover a wide variety of styles and eras, but this is definitely not one of them! : )
I also guess it’s the vertical sign and the old marquee that was more Art Deco than the theatre.
I say it was more Gothic in design than Art Deco.
Question: Why does everyone keep saying this is an “art deco” house? Looking at the website and the virtual tour this seems to be a classical Lansburgh house. What do you all think makes it “deco”? Just curious – it is such a subjective thing!
The opening description to this theater states that “the neighborhood has remained a little seedy”. A Little Seedy?!! This area is disgusting and San Francisco should be ashamed of itself for doing nothing to stem the tide of decay around the Golden Gate Theater. I was there just a couple of weeks ago and was amazed at the concentration of homeless people. On one corner (one block from the theater) there must have been around 40 homeless people loitering. Even worse, the homeless in San Francisco are also aggressive in panhandling. I also saw a man injecting heroin on the street and another snorting some other substance.
The Golden Gate was dark while I was there and I’m not surprised.
I live in New York and there are quite a few people here to wax poetic over the “Old Seedy Times Square” and mourn its passing into Disneyland East. I have to admit that I, on ocassion, was one of those people until I visited San Francisco 4 years ago and found myself walking around the Tenderloin (Golden Gate Theater) district. I saw hookers, drug dealers, homeless, porno theaters, etc. and I realized very quickly that I did not miss the old Times Square at all! I really like feeling safe and secure when I’m walking around and when everyone feels secure, new businesses open, people move in, tourists arrive and the city thrives. Now I totally embrace the New Times Square.
Now back to visit SF after 4 years and I actually think it’s gotten worse! Few, if any, cities have the attributes that San Francisco has in its favor yet I can’t remember being is a city area that I felt more unsafe and disgusted. (No, I have not been to Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles which is probably the worst in the country). What is wrong with the SF city government that allows this to go on? New York’s problems were just as bad (or worse when you look just at the old 42nd Street). Yet almost all of the grime has been swept away in less than 10 years. If New York can do it, why not San Francisco?
Like Bruce says It is a sad thing about the front of The RKO Golden Gate. The Shorensteins have so much money, they can’t even put some in the fix up of the front of the RKO Golden Gate. When they took over they got rid of the nice neon marquee and painted everying brown out front. Can’t they buy some blue,green and golden red paint and redue the signs. The part of the block It is on is one of worst parts of downtown SF. If you park in the area your car will get broken into. Most people take Bart and rush in the door. I remember at one time SF had this as a second Super 70mm Cinerama Theatre. They did the worst job, they put the big Cinerama curved screen back on the stage. So they had flat curtains and it opened to a small size poor mans Cinerama show. The up stairs balcony had road show 70mm but the keystone was so bad I got my money back.
Photo of the corner tower here:–
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I recently took a walk on Market Street from the Orpheum down to the closed St Francis theatre. I found it seedy,dangerous and disgusting. Boston,Cleveland and Chicago have cleaned up there theatre districts in recent years with a lot of success. I was ashamed of San Francisco’s old theatre district. I will never attend another event at the Golden Gate until the city gets its act together.The city has allowed a very seedy element to take over this area and I was nervous walking between the homeless,drug dealers and dangerous appearing individuals. I blame City Hall and its a black eye for the City. The Golden Gate has to have a lot of security when they have a show in this area. The city has allowed this part of Market Street to look this way for decades. I don’t know of another major American City that has allowed there main street to stay this way for so long without trying to clean it up and make it safer. It looks worse than the last time I was down there a couple of years ago.bruce
One of the last movies to play here was the original Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds.
I saw Battle of the Bulge there too.
George Senda
Concord Ca
I understand that the Golden Gate was the last theatre in the Bay Area to have vaudeville shows. Supposedly they did these between the movies well into the late 1950s. Can anyone confirm this, or point me to the last theatre that did do vaudeville?
1930:
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1944 war bond rally at the Golden Gate:
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Interior, 1922:
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Undated photo:
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This theater must have been a fun place to hang around…
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From the SF Public Library website:
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You may remember this film as a Howard Hughes production filmed in Utah, near the atomic testing area. Most of the principals died of cancer years later, including Wayne and Hayward, Agnes Moorehead and director Dick Powell.