Preservation Alert: The Castro Theatre
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On December 7th, the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission will review an amendment to the Castro Theatre's landmark status to include the interior of the theatre and include the history of the LGBTQ+ community and its association with the theatre.
The Castro Theatre is an important San Francisco landmark, designed by architect Timothy Pflueger, and one of the last remaining intact neighborhood movie palaces of the 1920s in the Bay Area. The theatre opened in June 1922, designed in an eclectic revivalist style popular in the era and a remodel after a fire in 1937 added some Art Deco light fixtures and neon sign.
The landmark amendment seeks to include both interior and exterior character defining features and to add a second period of significance to include the period from 1976 to 2004. As the cultural, economic, and social hub in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, the theatre has served as a cornerstone for local LGBTQ communities and for queer visitors from around the world.
The theatre has also been the home of many film festivals started in San Francisco, which raised funds for various cultural nonprofit organizations in the city such as the Film Noir Foundation, the Silent Film Festival, the SF International Film Festival, and the Frameline Film Festival.
Another Planet Entertainment (APE), recently took over the operations of the theatre from its longtime owners, the Nasser family. APE plans to renovate and restore the theatre, and part of their plans include the removal of a large number of theatre seating on the ground floor of the auditorium, and replacing seats with tiered levels with removable chairs.
The ADSC believes that the plans to remove the seats will mar the theatre, by removing a character defining feature of the theatre. APE's plans also call for a removal of some of the raking in some sections of the floor. We believe these proposed changes will adversely impact the theatre's historic significance. While many of APE's restoration plans are commendable, the ADSC believes that retaining the movie theatre seating is important to maintain its historic and cultural significance.
We encourage members to attend the December 7th meeting in person or virtually, and speak up or write a letter in advance. Letters can be emailed to Alex Westhoff, alex.westhoff@sfgov.org, re: Case No. 2022-005675COA. Please visit the Historic Preservation Commission website as it gets closer to the date of the meeting for a link to the meeting agenda and a Zoom link. The meeting will be a hybrid one, in person and online.
Some recommended talking points can include:
Recommend the amendment of the landmark status to include the interior, including the theatre seats, aisles, and raked floor. The period of historic significance should be updated to include the history of the LGBQT+ community and its association with the theatre as a cultural cornerstone for the community, and to include the date span from 1976 to 2004.
As San Francisco’s last surviving single screen neighborhood movie palace, all of its character defining features including the seats, aisles and raked floor should be preserved.
The Castro has been a storied venue for a variety of film festivals and live performances for decades, festivals that are key fund raisers for some of the Bay Area's non-profits. Those fund raising efforts will be at risk without the current theatre seating.
Dozens of movie theatres across the U.S. have had renovations and continued to be used for both movies and live performances by retaining the raked flooring and the theatre seats.
While we applaud many of APE's plans to restore many elements of the theatre, including the plaster ceiling, the sgraffito murals on the walls, the original proscenium, and the neon sign and marquee, we believe that the addition of the tiers and removing part of the raking of the floor is unnecessary expense that will mar the historic fabric. The operators already have a perfectly viable live performance venue.
Please also sign the petition started by the Castro Theatre Coalition and visit their website for more information.
There will be a planning department meeting in March 2023 to review APE's application to restore and renovate the theatre and as that meeting gets closer, we will let our members know if there is any need for involvement.