Regency II
1268 Sutter Street,
San Francisco,
CA
1268 Sutter Street,
San Francisco,
CA
4 people
favorited this theater
Because of the success of the Regency I (qv) Blumenfeld Enterprises took over the space formerly occupied by the Avalon Ballroom, just around the corner, and converted it into a theatre also, naming it Regency II; it opened on December 25, 1969 with “The Activist”.
Although Blumenfeld’s bookers always gave Regency I the pick of the pictures, there were plenty of good films to go around, and Regency II also found itself with long lines waiting to see such popular and critical favorites as “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here”, “Being There”, or Woody Allen’s “Love and Death”.
Once inside (the theatre was upstairs, an escalator took you up; you had to use the stairs to go back down), the ticket buyer was rewarded with better projection, wider screen, more comfortable seats, and a friendlier manager than he or she would have encoutered around the corner at Regency I, but there was still the problem of accesibility for the disabled.
Regency II served filmgoers more than thirty years, finally closing its doors permanently on March 26, 2000.
Contributed by
Jack Tillmany
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
This has reopened as a ballroom again and occasionally has live concerts!
I have been here ummmm 2x’s (Simon Birch, Enemy of The State)…. The Regency did suffer big time w/ the neighboring UA Galaxy and AMC 1000 nearby.
As I remember you go up the escalator and at the top you curve right over to the box office counter area. The decor and auditorium looked nice. The ONLY thing I did not like was the CHAIRS. They constantly moved while I was sitting. Grrrrrr
Regency II—-the once and future Avalon Ballroom!
I saw THE LAST WALTZ concert film there in 1982 as a re release, and in 70MM 6-track Dolby Concert level Stereo.
also went to Regency 3 downtown and saw MISSING with Sissy Spacek, smaller than the others, and not as nice.
Exterior photo here:–
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This theatre had a great curved screen. almost like a D-150 screen.It’s sister theatre the Reg 1 had a smaller screen and like many Blumenfield theatres they just droped masking down to make it cinemascope. I believe they both had 70mm.
1980 Photo
The Regency II had Norelco DP-75 35/70mm projectors. One of the machines is currently owned by a private film collector in Menlo Park, CA. I had the other projector in Santa Clara from 2004 until 2008 when I sold it to another private collector in Los Angeles.
What an easy theatre to miss,Guess the locals had it all to themselves and that ain’t a bad thing!
I saw quite a few films here; I think the last one I saw was “The Last Starfighter.” It was actually quite easy to find, and was during its time part of a little cinema district between Van Ness and Polk, that included the Regency I, the Galaxy, the Royal, and the Lumiere, all within easy walking distance from each other. By the time AMC opened its multiplex on Van Ness, these theaters did not stand a chance. Because it was formerly a ballroom, the was almost no rake to the floor, but it still was a good place to see a film.