Metro Theater

2055 Union Street,
San Francisco, CA 94123

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Metro Theatre

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The Metro Theater opened as the Metropolitan Theater on April 23, 1924 with “The Fighting Coward”, a second-run attraction. It was built by Samuel H. Levin, and, from the beginning, was a key link in his San Francisco Theatres Inc. chain, which originally consisted of the Alexandria, Coliseum, Metro, Harding, Balboa and Vogue (in 1949, the Coronet was added to the group.)

In 1941, the Metropolitan Theater was extensively remodelled, both inside and out, and it re-opened on June 7, 1941, its name now shortened to Metro Theater.

In the mid-1950’s the Metro Theater was home to the just emerging San Francisco Film Festival, and eventually upgraded to a first run venue, with bookings usually carefully chosen so as to maintain its image as one of quality and prestige, and far better maintained than most of its siblings elsewhere in San Francisco.

The Metro Theater continued to operate as a single screen theater until its closure in October 2006. In June 2009, the developer extended a commitment to preserve some of the historic features inside, including a series of murals by interior designer Anthony Heinsbergen, Ioinic columns, grilles and urns on the stage.

Contributed by Tillmany, Ian Grundy

Recent comments (view all 65 comments)

KPetrin
KPetrin on February 26, 2009 at 12:05 pm

Save the Metro! See the Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRaM9ODJ-tU

kpdennis
kpdennis on April 25, 2009 at 3:50 pm

The Metro in slightly better days – from spring 1996:
View link

lostmemory
lostmemory on April 26, 2009 at 9:57 pm

1926 Photo

1980 Photo

1989 Photo

lostmemory
lostmemory on August 9, 2009 at 11:31 am

This a June 29, 2009 article about the Metro Theater.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on March 30, 2010 at 11:44 am

Here is a March 2010 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ygms9l6

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on June 13, 2010 at 2:28 pm

Very nice maybe someone can open it back up.

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on April 6, 2011 at 6:39 pm

2009 photo of the Metro Theatre.
View link

SkotFromTheRio
SkotFromTheRio on February 20, 2012 at 12:30 pm

I managed the UA Metro around 1990. Of all the theatres I ran for UA in San Francisco, it was my favorite. Such a beautiful building, mostly unchanged from it’s opening state. Huge Lalique-style murals on the walls. a Todd-AO projector with 70mm capability and very decent sound. Among the movies that screened there during my tenure: • MEMPHIS BELLE in 70mm • BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES in 70mm • NOTHING BUT TROUBLE with Chevy Chase (total bomb. averaged 8 admissions per day. got a lot of gum scraped off the seats that fortnight) • PARIS IS BURNING (a documentary about transvestite “balls” in New York. The SF Chronicle reviewer said up front that it had no business playing at the Metro, and should have opened at the Castro. With seven shows a day and sellouts every night, I totally cleaned up.) • PRESUMED INNOCENT

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 7, 2012 at 11:25 pm

Here is a quote from the Landmark Designation Report for the Metro Theatre, regarding the involvement of architect Otto A. Deichmann in the 1941 remodeling of the house, and his professional relationship with Timothy Pflueger:

“While architect Timothy L. Pflueger (1892-1946) has long been associated with the 1941 renovation of the Metro Theatre, his involvement is less clear than that of architect Otto A. Deichmann (1890-1964). A city permit, dated 1941, for interior work and plumbing lists the name of the architect as Otto Deichmann, 321 Bush Street. Historical consultants involved with the 1998 renovation of the theatre believe that Deichmann worked with Timothy Pflueger during the renovation. Research has not confirmed that Deichmann worked in the offices of Pflueger’s firm, Miller and Pflueger, but the two men were associates and overlapped on important projects, most notably the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939-1940, where Deichmann designed the Shasta-Cascade Building. The well-known mural by Diego Rivera, Pan American Unity, now located at the main campus of City College of San Francisco, was commissioned for the Golden Gate International Exposition. The mural depicts both Pflueger and Deichmann. Pflueger, friend and patron of Rivera, collaborated with him on the mural.”
Click this link to download a PDF file of the Landmark Designation Report. It has a fairly extensive history of the theater.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on April 10, 2012 at 12:01 am

An article about the proposed plans for the conversion of the Metro Theater into a gym. View link

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