Stonestown Twin
501 Buckingham Way,
San Francisco,
CA
94132
501 Buckingham Way,
San Francisco,
CA
94132
5 people
favorited this theater
Located in the Stonestown Shopping Mall, this originally was a single screen, opening in November 1970. It was twinned in late-1973, by simply placing a giant wall down the center of it. They never re-positioned the seats, so some of them face the wall!
Contributed by
Eric
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
Wow, drove by Saturday and saw the new sign all lit up very bright. I bet the mall paid for it. LOL.
Last time I went last year I looked up at the ceiling. It was full of cobwebs. Watch out a spider may come down on your popcorn. The surround speakers are never up full. I was told by a cranky manager that if they turned them up they will be heard in the next theatre. I will pass on this UA dump.
This theatre shows only arthouse films. They very often have understated soundtracks. Sometimes patrons mistaken this subtleness as the sound system and/or surrounds “not working”. Want loud blaring sound….go to a hollywood film.
“Watch out a spider may come down on your popcorn” – how ridiculous!
On another note, as of 8/17/07 this is now the last UA theatre in San Francisco. Their once great presence is over.
Thank God they have left most of San Francisco. The UA circuit in the last few years in SF ran their theatres in not the best ways. You can go to the same art movie in San Jose and hear the surrounds from time to time. The UA Stonestown is a chop up house. It’s days are numbered. I think when the lease runs out with the Stonestown people they are out of San Francisco. Once a great circuit in the 50’s they got money hungrey in the 60’s and 70’s and did the big cut job on their big houses. I am surprised they did’t go for a 4 plex at the UA Stonestown. The manager told me many years ago they keep the surrounds low because you can hear them in the next theatre. Many people just stay home and they can turn up or down their Dolby Digital sound system the way they want as the UA Stonestown sits empty. Good place to go for Halloween look for the dust on top of the surround speakers and cobwebs up high. They are real! The UA/Regal Stonestown now books any thing that they can get not just art films.
no they still operate the Vogue! They will dump this one as soon the high rent lease is up with the Mall. I believe that is 2010.
John***Check out the SF Cron today they have the Vogue listed under new management. Opening Aug 24 2007. No UA/REGAL logo. Do you know what is going on?
The SF Theatre Foundation just bought the Vogue and will operate it as Peerless Entertainment. Maybe they can save this theatre too…
I know for a fact the sound systems here are neglected and not maintained or calibrated. They had DTS sound installed in the past and since they are reduced to showing the worst art house fare they can get, most of these films probably do not come with DTS disks to play. Therefore, you’re probably hearing backup analog sound off of the film.
Yeah, I’d really like to see another operator take this theatre over. Reposition the seats, re-align the isles to the sides, not down the center, and get rid of the advertising. Some nice blue or red screen lights (like at the Lumiere) would be nice.
Eric******Thanks for the info on the Vogue. Iam glad it is still open. The UA/Regal Stonestown will take to much $$ to fix up, Regal won’t spend the money. They are almost out of San Francisco.
Contradicting claims above (and at CinemaTour and other web sites) that the U.A. Stonestown opened in 1971, Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 23, 1970, announced that United Artists had recently opened its Stonestown Cinema with the inaugural attraction “The Owl and the Pussycat.”
Also, in the earliest references it’s always called the UA Stonestown Cinema, not UA Stonestown Theater. Starting in 1974 it is called the UA Stonestown Twin, as it was until recently. For some reason, the Regal Cinemas web site now lists it merely as the Stonestown Twin, and the Fandango page to which Regal links for show times lists it with the oddly redundant name UA Stonestown Twin 2.
Didn’t change the Seats,sounds like a nightmare to watch a movie,Money must have been the reason.