Stage Door Theatre
420 Mason Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
420 Mason Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
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The theatre operated as the Stage Door Theatre and during the 1970-1980’s it was known as the Regency III. Today it is known as the Ruby Skye nightclub.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
The Stage Door was called the Stage Door Canteen during World War II, one of 6 such theatres named after the Stage Door Canteen in New York. Entertainers such as Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen, Burns & Allen, and others performed there for the troops, as San Francisco was a big military town during that war.
In the 1980s it was revived as the San Francisco Experience, a multimedia multiprojection show owned by Bing Grosby Productions.
When it was the Stage Door, I saw Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man! here in June of 1973. When it was Regency III, I saw Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in July of 1986.
From the SF Public Library website:
View link
Never knew it was the Stage Door. I was looking for this one under Regency III. So here it is. Anyway, I lived in SF from 1982 to 2001 and in the early 80s I loved coming to this theatre. I saw Children of a Lesser God , Top Gun and Out of Africa here. It was the only theatre in the union square area at the time (before the metreon was built) and it was convenient and a pretty good theatre I remember (for the time).
I believe (and correct me if Im wrong) that this theatre somehow was damaged or closed for some reason around the 1989 earthquake. that seems to be the time I remember no longer going to this theatre.
Oh now I remember, this theatre reverted to showing live plays because one of the stage theatres around the corner on Geary was damaged during the earthquake and this was used in its place until the other theatre was repaired.
This is a night view of the Ruby Skye nightclub aka Stage Door Theater.
I posted this link before and for some reason it’s not here. It will probably turn up in another theater.
This is a night view of the Ruby Skye nightclub aka Stage Door Theater.
The Ruby Skye is pretty much just a night club now.
Many pics of the interior can be found at
http://www.rubyskye.com
The Ruby Skye is also the home to the monthly gay “T-dance” called Fresh.
I saw a film with Richard Dreyfus called The Big Fix here. It was a terrible film.
The picture with the Shirley MacLaine film was interesting because my parents took me to it and we had dinner at the steak house next door after the movie.
We moved around a lot because my Dad was in the Army for years.
George Senda
Concord, Ca
I can’t believe no one has noted this yet but when it was the Stage Door Theater, it was the spot of the world premiere of Hitchcock’s Vertigo!! on may 9th, 1958. with the director and stars in attendance! Also a lot of the film was shot with a several block radius of the theater (perhaps why it was chosen as the premiere location. I found it while tracking down several of the locations in the film. It appears to be largely intact, although now operating as a rather nauseatingly slick looking night club.
However on the wikipedia page for the club it has some info about it’s history:
building constructed in 1890 by architect August Headman
in the 1940’s became a USO club called the Stage Door
as it started showing films it’s name became the Stage Door Theater
and in the 80’s was named the Regency III ( as the Regency I and II were located several blocks away.