New Mission Theater
2550 Mission Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94110
2550 Mission Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94110
12 people
favorited this theater
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Direct link to Towleroad website and the Bonnie Raitt video.
The awesome that is Bonnie Raitt filmed the video for her song “Right Down the Line” at the New Mission Theatre.
Here is the link for the video and more on this story ( However, please keep in mind those of you whom might be bothered by such things, this link takes you to an “alternative lifestyle” website as Ms Raitt included same sex couples in her video) http://www.towleroad.com/2012/04/raitt.html
An article about the Fotoplayer pipe organ installed in the New Mission Theatre can be seen in this PDF file of a page from the August 12, 1916, issue of The Music Trade Review. There are two small photos of the theater, showing the front and the auditorium. The auditorium photo shows the house before the balcony was added in 1918. American Photo Player Co., makers of the Fotoplayer organ, were based in Berkeley, California.
Looks like the Alamo Drafthouse chain is taking over the New Mission — here is Alamo owner Tim League
http://drafthouse.com/blog/entry/an_alamo_in_san_francisco
An Alamo Roadhouse taking over this space?
http://sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com/2012/02/new_mission_theater_to_become.html
I drove down Mission Street last month when I went to the 49ers-Eagles game. I didn’t realize that all the theaters on this street were so close together. Must have been spectacular in its time.
I’ve posted some recent photos here.
More Debate swirls around the New Mission theatre and a subsquent housing development to build next door.
View link
An earlier Mission Theatre was operating in San Francisco in 1907. Did the New Mission replace it? The earlier Mission was listed in an ad for the architectural firm O'Brien & Werner in the 1907-1908 edition of Henry’s Official Western Theatrical Guide. The Mission was one of five O'Brien & Werner designed houses listed in the ad. The others were the Orpheum, Princess, Valencia Street, and 16th Street theaters.
2009 photo of the New Mission Theatre.
View link
The a nice (but quick) shot of the vertical blade and dilapidated marquee near the beginning of the new movie “La Mission,” now in limited release in theaters.
Photo of the New Mission Theatre.
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There has been very little news about the New Mission for nearly four years; there has not been an update in the SF Neighborhood Theaters Foundation site (http://www.sfneighborhoodtheater.org/) for quite some time and there isn’t much more on the www.friendsof1800.org site either, both of which were actively watching for news and reporting developments up until, oh, about 2005 or so. Apparently City College dropped plans to recycle the site for its uses. There was a proposal to convert the theater into a restaurant/nightclub/performance space that would preserve some of the theater’s architectural features, and there was a report that the condos that were to be built adjacent to the theater were going to be taller than originally proposed. I did find this item from March 10 of this year: View link
Back in the late 1990’s, I attended a meeting about trying to save and (hopefully) restore the New Mission along with a lot of hype about City College possibly taking over the premises for their theatrical programs.
Can someone of authority please fill in the blanks about the future of this venerable theater?
As to the above article from GERMAINE ROGERS on Mar 20, 2007 about his impressive collection of Box Office Reports, etc., saved from the New Mission, Castro, Royal, Alhambra, these theaters (and others) were under the direction of Blumenfeld Enterprises.
As a former Castro doorman I suggest he contact Don Nasser who heads the Castro’s Board of Directors and ask him if he would like part of them for their historical records or to display them in the lobby with “The Castro Past”.
1930 Photo
1982 Photo
1986 Photo
1986 Night Photo
Here is the New Mission in 2009.
New Mission Theater photo
A December 2008 photo is here.
This is the New Mission in October of 2008.
Here is a 2008 photo of the New Mission building.
I see that the other two links expired already. This is another recent photo of the Mission Theater.
Here is another recent photo.
This is a 2007 photo of the New Mission Theater.
Hi…
Im a collector of various movie paper…old one sheets, lobby cards and other incidental items. I am in my mid-30’s but feel like i was born QUITE out of time. I am fascinated with the old movie palaces and have quite a collection of items from these…thought you all would be interested in the following: i have several of the original, bound volumes of daily box reports from the New Mission, Castro, Alhambra, and Royal Theaters…all San Francisco movie palaces. The years I have are all 1929-1939…I have MANY volumes. EVERY single day is represented, with deposit slips and every single report…including film titles, opening marks, ticket sales and deposits, refund slips (if any…including reasons for refunds), and also a listing of the features that competitors were playing for each day. Its very interesting, for instance, to see the bad day that one theater had…then you notice that the competitor was playing ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ or ‘THE VAGABOND’. All marked by hand, signed by the managers…including deposit slips pasted onto the back of each days receipts. I got these from a collector in trade for some other paper…and it’s fascinating. A personal treat was seeing ‘Charlie Chans Chance’ listed in one of the daily reports: it played for 3 days and did pretty well. It’s now a lost film. It gives me chills.
-jermaine
The theater is looking poorly:
http://tinyurl.com/2d88er