Market Street Cinema
1077 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94103
1077 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94103
6 people
favorited this theater
Opened as Grauman’s Imperial Theatre on December 22, 1912, this theatre remained under the operation of Grauman’s until it was sold in 1919.
The theatre was first renamed in August of 1929, as the Premiere Theatre, and then, in 1931, it was renamed again, this time as the United Artists Theatre after undergoing a remodel to the plans of architectural firm Walker & Eisen, with architect Clifford A. Balch. In 1967, the theatre was purchased by Loews, which operated it until 1972, when it became the Market Street Cinema.
Regular movies gave way to XXX adult films and in recent years, these were dropped in favor of adult ‘live’ entertainment performances. The Market Street Cinema was closed January 2013. It was demolished in July 2016.
The Market Street Cinema was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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 47 comments)
I am pleased to see so much active dialogue about the fate of this theatre. I live in the neighborhood and have spoken with a local archivist advocate and friend who tells me:
The building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an intrusion. It has historical value, but the integrity of the original architecture has been lost due to alterations; hence intrusion and not landmark status. There is nothing left of its former grandeur."
In other words, it’s already been ruined and there is nothing left to save. I had always thought that that horrible red, white and blue effrontery was covering the original Grauman grandeur facade and would one day be eradicated and restored. I don’t know whether to be relieved or more depressed.
Market St Theaters
In this morning’s SF Chronicle John King details the Mid Market push for more high-rise housing/office and the lack of esthetics of some of them. A few of the addresses sounded familiar. The project for 1066 Market (across the street from the Market St Cinema) will replace a small building and parking lot that was once the long ago demolished Paramount. The empty lot mentioned at 1125 Market is the site of the quake damaged, then demolished Embassy Theater.
I am writing an article on the end of the Market Street Cinema Theater at 1077 Market Street. I am looking for people that have been there for punk bands or any other venues. Please get back to me. Michael
Fifty years ago today “The Sound of Music” premiered at the United Artists Theater. With a reserved-seat run of 93 weeks, do you think it is the long-run record holder for this venue?
Also, on a related note, I would like to mention my new 50th anniversary retrospective for “The Sound of Music” can be read here.
The burlesque/adult movie house here actually ceased its operations in January of 2013.
From the (San Francisco) Examiner October 24, 2015
“The Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a project to demolish the concrete building, constructed in 1912 as the Grauman’s Imperial Theater, and build a 90-foot-tall, eight-story building with about 90 residences and 8,500 square feet of retail space.
“An auditorium takes up about half the building’s footprint, where there is also a vacant theater and three small retail spaces along Market Street. Significant interior and exterior alterations have occurred since the structure was built, preventing the building from qualifying for the California Register of Historical Resources.”
Go by the old United Artists Theatre and say goodbye. Many 70mm roadshow movies played here like Sound Of Music, Patton, The Bilble and L of Arabia. A sad loss to SF another movie theatre about to be torn down.
Demolition of the structure commenced on Thursday, July 7, 2016. The current developer’s goal is to have a new structure finished there by March 2018.
Here is the link to the article (with some pictures) about the beginning of the demo and what will be built on the Market St Cinema site:
UA
Yeah, the timing of this is perfect eyeroll
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2016/07/sf-condo-glut-paragon-polaris-real-estate.html?ana=fbk