Victoria Theatre

There were two theaters that bore the name Princess in San Francisco over the years. The one referred to above is probably the theater called the Ellis (on Ellis) and was demolished in the early 1970’s; its entry here on CT is /theaters/7112/. The other one-time Princess ended its days as the Rita (it had several names) and was demolished in 2009; its entry can be seen here: /theaters/7117/. Both were used as churches after they closed.

This house was listed as the 16th Street Theatre in an ad for architects O'Brien & Werner (Matthew O'Brien and Carl Werner) that appeared in the 1907-1908 edition of Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide. The ad listed five theaters designed by the firm. The other four were the Orpheum, Valencia Street, Mission, and Princess theaters.

“The Laughing Policeman” was no comedy. a gritty cop movie of Dirty Harry style. Haven’t seen it years.In the movie didn’t Mattheau get his young son out of an X-rated theatre was that the Victoria?

Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2g7wsgr

The movie “the laughing policeman” with Walter Mattheau, has a great interior shot of the Victoria. For trivia buffs, in the movie, there is a scene at the Transbay Terminal, showing the Fun Terminal in the background, which was a 24 hour arcade. Parked in front of the Fun Terminal was a 1955 white T Bird Convertible, which belonged to my Aunt Lee Smulling who was a cashier there. She parked in the red zone in front to keep a eye out on it.

1982 Photo

Another photo of the Victoria can be seen here.

Here is another photo taken during the bicycle film festival:
http://tinyurl.com/2t3xgy

This is Victoria at night and here is a close-up view.

My memories of the theatre date back to late ‘81/early '82 period.
A promoter of punk shows at that time, I once used the Victoria as a venue for a concert. I painted the marquee, helping the owner fix a section of flooring that had deteriorated over the years. What I found interesting was that the wood floor had essentially been laid on dirt as I recall. We removed the section and replaced the joists with railroad ties – then plywood – and reinstalled the seats, which were old and not like the current seats that were popular.

At the time, I also ran the projectors for “ The Great Rock and Roll Swindle ” which was showing there for a limited run. Getting back to the sMy memories of the theatre go back to late ‘81/early '82 period.
A promoter of punk shows at that time, I once used the Victoria as a venue for a concert. I painted the marquee, helping the owner, Robert, fix a section of flooring that had deteriorated over the years. What I found interesting was that the wood floor had essentially been laid on dirt as I recall. We removed the section and replaced the joists with railroad ties – then plywood – and reinstalled the seats, which were old and not like the current seats that were popular at the time.

At the time, I also ran the projectors for “The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle“, which was showing there for a limited run.

Getting back to the show that I promoted there, I booked the notorious Black Flag w/ the
Circle Jerks, Code of Honor, which I managed at the time, and several other bands in support. What was unique about the presentation of the bands was the way the groups played in relation to the theatre. Rather than have the band on stage facing the auditorium in the usual manner, the musicians faced the rear wall of the theatre and each group’s drummer who was at the rear of the formation was actually at the front of the stage at the edge of the ‘orchestra pit’. We took the curtains and used them as the backdrop. Respectful of the theater’s history, my concern was to protect the auditorium from the expected rowdy crowd. The patrons entered at the stage door after traveling between the west wall (alley) and the adjoining building. As the concert-goers had the run of the dressing rooms that were located in the basement, the clean up was fairly simple. The title of the show was, naturally, entitled “Backstage at the Victoria”.
Although monetarily I just broke even w/ this interesting production, the show earned
plaudits in Rolling Stone if I’m not mistaken.
It also left w/ me an incredible memory: Policing the ‘backstage’, I would intermittently take a peek out into the auditorium, catching a view of Victorian serenity which was harshly juxtaposed against the violent West Coast underground.

Here are three interior photos:
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New Follies, circa 1960s:
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