American Theatre

1226 Fillmore Street,
San Francisco, CA

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The American opened on December 31, 1909 as part of the block square Chutes Amusement Park, the fourth and last of the Chutes enterprises that were once amusement playgrounds in San Francisco from the late 19th through the early 20th century.

Within a few years, the rest of the attractions that made up the park faded into history, but the original theater structure remained, and re-opened on September 4, 1915 as the Lyric Theatre; it was renamed the American around 1925 (no relation to the American Theatre on Market Street, which, by that time, had gone through its own series of name changes, and is now best remembered as the Embassy).

As the American, it served the Fillmore Street neighborhood as a low-priced, last run film theater for about thirty years, finally closing in the mid-1950’s. It was torn down soon afterwards as part of the neighborhood revelopment project.

Contributed by Tillmany