Golden Gate Theatre
1 Taylor Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
1 Taylor Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
12 people
favorited this theater
The RKO Golden Gate Theatre had a ‘sister’ theatre in Los Angeles RKO Hillstreet Theatre.
Built in 1920, the Golden Gate Theatre was a movie theater for over 50 years until it closed in the 1970’s. By the time it was shuttered, the Golden Gate Theatre had already been converted into a two screen theater in the 1960’s, with the balcony theatre known as the Penthouse Theatre. With the twinning it suffered little permanent damage as it was restored to a single auditorium by the Shorenstein Hayes Nederlander group.
When it was finally renovated and reopened in 1979 into a performing arts center, the original detail and look of the theater was restored as well. Although the neighborhood has remained a little seedy, the theater is still very grand, with a marvelous Art Deco vertical sign that is nearly 4 stories high. Today, the Golden Gate Theatre is still a premier venue for travelling broadway shows and a visual journey into San Francisco’s gilded past.
Contributed by
Juan-Miguel Gallegos
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Recent comments (view all 67 comments)
NICE 1956 PHOTO KEN MC.
Should add the Penthouse to the aka list for this theatre. During the theatres Trans-Beacon days of operation as a twin, the balcony was known as the Penthouse.
I recently bought a desk at a thrift store for my daughter, and when we were refinishing it, I found 2 orchestra tickets for the Golden Gate theatre from 1982. As I understand there is a G.G. in L.A. as well? Im not sure if I have the right one or which one they are from, but if anyone has an idea of how i could find information about what show was playing, I would be interested in info.
gomesrox, this is the Golden Gate Theatre you want. The one in East Los Angeles only showed movies. Check with the Public Library or the area newspaper for past listings. Some have converted past to the internet or microfilm.
Hi gomesrox… S.F.’s Golden Gate Theatre once had a twin sister in Los Angeles. I believe it was the Hill Street Theatre?
RKO Hillstreet Theatre in LA
To bad the front of this RKO Golden Gate Theatre is a mess today in 2013. What is left of the great marquee is now painted a ugly brown color. Even the tall blades that say Golden Gate are painted in brown. The neon is not on or working. The front in the 50’s and 60’s was like a huge neon accordion of color ornage, green, yellow and blue. Please, the Shorenstein’s make big bucks in Broadway shows they play here, why can’t they get a good neon company back in and fix the front up with some color and repair the neon. This is one of the worst spots in SF day or night, even with theatre security you take your life in chance.
Happy that this venue is still operating, even as a live theater. I was inside and really enjoyed it, with alot of people around that time of night, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings- you should be fine- not taking your life in “chance” ( never heard that expression before- shrug)
August has Miss Diana Ross in concert here for 2 nights and then in the fall a performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.
Hey HDTV – Do any of the neon lights outside work? Does it light up at all? I’ve been looking to photograph this one for a while, but don’t know it’s worth the two hour drive!
From the street view it looks like they have lighted panels all along the marquee and the neon looks to be in working order on the blades.