Verdi Theatre

The Verdi was a single-screen theater.

The "new" small World Theatre mentioned in the main description retained the old Chinese charactered vertical neon sign from the previous World Theatre.
Canvas murals from the theatre's days as the Verdi (presumably, as they had an Italian feel) were salvaged, and much later were offered for sale at Swallowtail, an antique store on Polk St. The price was steep, and the murals were quite large. They depicted neoclassic female nude figures in a romantic setting--foliage, foutains, columns or somesuch (I only saw them once, and this was nearly a decade ago). By the style of the painting, I would guess a Twenties or even Thirties date for them, but they could have been older. They were purely Neoclassic, not at all Art Deco, but the coloration and brush technique of rendering suggested the time period I speak of.

From the SF Public Library website:

http://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAA-9159.jpg

Undated photo:
http://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAA-9022.jpg

As a child, I spent many afternoons at the Verdi. My father was the manager during the 1930s & 1940s. Many a day I had to go into the bathtub at my home after visiting the Verdi in order remove my clothes and look for fleas. During WWII, my job was to take the burned out bulbs and break them in the adjoining alley in order to recover the copper bases for the War effort. Many happy moments were spent at the Verdi.