World Theatre
644 Broadway,
San Francisco,
CA
94133
644 Broadway,
San Francisco,
CA
94133
2 people
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The World boasting “ Sensational Chinese Pictures” 6pm Daily and 1pm Saturday and Sunday is featured in a wonderful documentary about movie going in Chinatown in San Francisco entitled “ A Moment in Time”.
Check out airings on a PBS Station in your region.
Here is a 1969 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y58p3nu
Undated Photo
1982 Photo
1983 Photo
The more recent World is now home to a restaurant, church and dentist, among others.
My boyfriend at the time took me to the World in 1966, we just left the Uptown Theatre ( next to winterland ) which was “the home of movies for swinging adults” to see a chinese movie called “The Lighter Shade of Pale” a chinese acid trip loaded with joints the size of cigars. When you stepped inside, it had a lobby that had statues of naked goddesses, the inside was full of chinese people smoking. The auditorium looked like something out of Roman bathhouse, all gold and beautiful statues recessed in the walls. It smelt horrible in there like stale urine.
From the SF Public Library:
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I think you’re right- from what I can tell looking at the entries, there appear to be three theaters here ultimately called “World”– theCalifornia (1909)/Liberty (1911)/Allies (~1918)/Crescent (~1922)/Liberty (1926)/World (~1949-1953), the Palace/Royal Palace/Royal/Verdi/World(1954-1982), and the 1983-1990s World, this entry. The comments and description from this should probably be moved to the Palace entry, the California needs an address, and this entry should probably be clarified that it refers to the World in the office building
One thing that must be inquired—-is this supposedly the listing for the “later” World Theatre? If so, then some of the above comments actually pertain not to this theater but to the original World Theatre, listed in Cinema Treasures as the VERDI (possibly to avoid confusion with this World), and which was torn down to make way for the mixed-use office building of which this theater was/is a part, and, as noted by Tillmany in the Verdi listing, the World listed here operated for another fifteen years before itself closing. Moreover, this World was known ONLY as the World, never by any other name.
The World theater is listed under the following names:
Palace Theater 1909
Royal Palace Theater 1909-1911
Verdi Theater 1913-1953
World Theater 1954-1982
There is a 40’s photo of the Verdi Theater here:
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There is a 60’s photo of the World Theater here:
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Here is a photo of the World from April 1957, from the Charles Cushman collection.
Murals from this theatre’s days as the Verdi were offered for sale (they were painted on canvas) at a San Francisco antique store called Swallowtail not far from the Alhambra Theatre on Polk St., several years ago. I haven’t been by recently to see if they are still there. The murals depicted Italianate style figurative scenes.
The 1957 Film Daily Year Book gives an address of 644 Broadway for the Verdi Theatre, and a seating capacity of 1,056.
I’m interested in starting up a theatre showing asian films, any idea who the former owners were? Maybe we can get together to do something for the society.
This was previously known as the Verdi Theatre which showed Italian-language films during the pre-WWII era. If anyone has more information on the theatre during those years, please post. Reference is made to this theatre in postings on the Pagoda Theatre, q.v.
The San Francisco Public Library has this theatre listed with an address of 648 Broadway, that would make it across the street from the listing above. Which is correct?
A theater in Chinatown, showed Chinese films in its later years.