St. Francis Theatre & Baronet Theatre
965 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
965 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
6 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox West Coast Theatres, Grauman, Paramount-Publix
Architects: John Galen Howard
Styles: Spanish Renaissance
Previous Names: Empress Theatre, Strand Theatre, St. Francis Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- May 4, 2013 — St. Francis comes down after long battle
- Apr 4, 2011 — A retrospective of the theater "ghosts" that haunt SF neighborhoods
- Sep 23, 2010 — CityPlace project approval spells doom for St. Francis Theatre
- Jul 13, 2010 — New development to demolish theaters
Opened as the Empress Theatre December 4, 1910, this theatre was taken over by Sid Grauman March 25, 1917 and renamed the Strand Theatre. A Robert-Morton 3 manual 16 rank theatre organ was installed. On August 8, 1925 it was renamed again, this time as the St. Francis Theatre. By 1941 it was operated by the Fox West Coast Theatres chain.
On August 1, 1968, the theatre was twinned, and the downstairs screen was christened the St. Francis Theatre, while the upstairs screen was renamed as the Baronet Theatre.
The St. Francis Theatre closed in May, 2001. It stood empty until April/May 2013, when it was demolished to build a shopping mall. The same scheme also led to the demolition of the Pantages Theatre in June 2013.
Contributed by
William Gabel, Floyd Perry Jr.
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 55 comments)
Hello-
a friend of mine told me The Ten Commandments(1956) roadshow run at this theater lasted only 15 weeks. TTC’S roadshow run at the Criterion in Manhattan lasted well over a year. is the length of TTC’s roadshow run at this theater correct?
“The Ten Commandments” first-run roadshow at St. Francis played 12 weeks (2/21-5/15/57).
And here is a related link to a work-in-progress article pertaining to roadshow & large format presentations in San Francisco.
Hello-
to MSC77 many thanks for the info. I am a native New Yorker and am fascinated by how films which opened on roadshow runs in Manhattan fared in San Francisco. I am especially interested in which S.F. theaters were regularly used by the studios for their roadshow engagements. I eagerly look forward to the site that is a work in progress that you were kind enough to send me the link to.
in the meantime a question. as I said in my original post The Ten Commandments roadshow run at the Criterion lasted well over a year. yet in S.F. it only lasted 12 weeks. why? the only reason I can think of is S.F. is a good deal smaller than NYC so I’m guessing anyone in the Bay area who wanted to see it saw it in the first 12 weeks. what’s your take?
Hello-
i read the Nob Hill Adult Theater closed. to which my
question- are there any gay theaters left in San Francisco?
Used to be one on Larken.
Hello-
on page 3 of the photo section is a pic of the marquee decked out for The Greatest Show On Earth. was that for the film’s exclusive 1st run engagement in S.F.?
Hello-
in reference to my 6/20/19 post has anyone been able to figure out why The Ten Commandments roadshow run at this theater only lasted 12 weeks when it lasted for well over a year in other cities such a NYC?
Bigjoe59. Maybe the shorter run was because San Francisco is a much smaller city population-wise.
Hello-
after posting the question I had the same thought you did. but if San Francisco’s much smaller population than LA or NYC was probably the reason for The Ten Commandments roadshow run of only 12 weeks how do you explain other roadshow runs that were much longer? for instance The Sound of Music ran at the United Artist Theater for a year.
Mary Poppins had a good run at the St. Francis.