Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: San Francisco's Fox Theatre?

This is topic San Francisco's Fox Theatre? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 10-04-2013, 01:46 PM:

While many of you attend Show West every year, I used to attend the Professional Photographers of America convention annually and most of the time it was in the mid west or the east coast. Only my way home, I used to always stop in San Francisco to see movies in many of the cities fine theatres, The theatres I have been to based on my memory include the Alexandria, Coronet, Warfield, Warner, Regency 1&2., Northpoint, Royal, Alhambra, Presidio, Kabuki, and a newer multiplex right next to where the Regency Theatres were,

The only fine theatre I have not been to was the Fox because it was long gone before my first trip to the city, I have heard it was a fantastic house very much like the other grand old movie palaces that are now gone with the exception of a few like our Hawaii Theatre here in Honolulu that is now serving as a performance arts centre. How large was the Fox? Was it used for world premieres a lot and was it a road show house with 70mm? I heard it was on Market Street like the Warner and the Warfield. What proximity was it to those two thestres? What was the reasoning for it shutting down?

-Claude

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 10-04-2013, 02:00 PM:

A good place to start would be the Cinema Treasures page on the Fox Theatre.

As it turns out, the theatre still has an active webpage.

You may be also interested in Jack Tillmany's excellent Theatres of San Francisco which I have and highly recommend. Very few great cities have taken it on the chin like San Francisco, as far as losing their single screen, movie palace history goes. How I wish I could have visited some of them.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-04-2013, 03:02 PM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjFSKTvGBHE
the closing of the SF fox

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 10-04-2013, 06:49 PM:

The majority of the answers are in the links mentioned.

The reason it closed is it was making no money due to its enormity and SF was in a wave of greedy and short sighted development. These were the same people who wanted to turn the bay into a l00 yard wide trench, just enough for ships to come and go.

Sadly, this icon was replaced by a very ordinary 10 story or so Fox Plaza apartments. You had to be here to appreciate the greed.

It took a bunch of Berkeley university wives to start a save the bay movement with spectacular outcomes.

These days they would be thought of as commies trying to wreck developers rights to pillage the bay.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program in progress...

Posted by Sean Weitzel (Member # 244) on 10-04-2013, 11:22 PM:

A piece about the Fox and the subsequent closing SF my grandmother recorded one day back in the early 90's http://www.lffltd.dreamhosters.com/fox

The projectionist interviewed, Dick Bartel, has a roll of b/w negative from newsreel cameras showing the wrecking ball taking out the building. It's quite sad.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 11-02-2013, 12:31 PM:

The Fox Theatre was just a 35mm 4-Track Mag Stereo house, no 70MM. The longest runs were 9 weeks with "The Robe" and "The King and I". And a few films that ran 5 week runs "The Egyptian", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Carousel" & "Anastasia" and a hand full with 4 weeks. This house changed shows every week or so.