Esquire Theatre
936 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
936 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94102
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Showing 1 - 25 of 28 comments
The July 7, 1923 issue of Moving Picture World had this news about the Cameo Theatre:
An item in the August 18th issue of the same journal suggests that the project might have been behind schedule, saying that “William Clutts, general manager of theatres for Universal, is in San Francisco supervising construction work on the new Cameo Theatre.”Demolished in 1972, but not for BART construction. Posting Chronicle clipping in photo section.
This reopened as the Esquire on December 5th, 1940. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
I think Earl Warren was running for governor at that time.
Don’t forget the Warfield Theatre just on the next block on the left side of the picture.
And Win with Warren billboard too.
Here is another 1942 photo from Life showing the Esquire and the neighboring Telenews theaters:
http://tinyurl.com/5ab9j5
Here is a 1942 photo from the new Life collection on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/5d86kn
In Answer to this comment:
Here is a little more info about The Crystal Market on Market street. It was built as a “super” market sometime in the 1920s and was one of the first and largest supermarkets established . Built on a former circus grounds, the store building was 68,000 square feet, with parking for 4,350 cars.
OK, thanks for clarifying.
To Ken mc. Your photos from 2005 were of the entrance to the Crystal Market. It was never a theatre. Beyond the signage was a large indoor market which was the delight of downtown food shoppers. It had a large glass ceiling and went all the way back to Mission St. and beyond the buildings over to 8th St. It was torn down to build a huge hotel complex (Del Webb’s Townhouse) which is now being slated for demolition to build new housing.
According to some sources, Rosebud was Hearst’s pet name for a particular part of Davies’s anatomy. An in-joke for Orson Welles in Citizen Kane.
During the mid 1980s I lived in SF and my landlady, who was 90YOA at the time, said W.R. Hearst chose this location for his sweetheart’s theatre because from his office desk he could watch those giant “rosebud” pink neon letters spell out MARION DAVIES.
Thanks! I’ll need to update my info.
IN the above postcard picture you can also see the vertical of the Warfield Theatre.brucec
Here’s a postcard from 1957 of Market Street, with the Esquire as well as the Telenews, which doesn’t have it’s own listing on Cinema Treasures yet? The Paramount’s marquee can be seen in the far distance. View link
projection lamphouses from that era used carbon arc as a light source.
I can only recall seeing one movie here. And that because some guy was handing out flyers for it on the street.
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant with Ray Milland and Rosie Greer attached that the neck and wearing bib overalls.
The Telenews pictures were interesting as it had a large fire in the 40s or 50s.
I seem to recall that there may have been a 3rd theatre next to this one. Some guy had gained control of that theatre and had found dozens of old westerns in the basement. He turned it into a grind theatre at $1 a head, kept it open 24 hours a day with a lot of winos sleeping in the seats and one day the projector (which had an open gas flame in it instead of a bulb !) caught the film and the theatre on fire !!
George Senda
Concord, Ca
1943:
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1949:
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Here is a photo of the theater/market in the picture above, showing its vertical sign and its location across the street from the Orpheum:
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Here is a puzzle. This store on Market Street was clearly a theater at one time. Any ideas?
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1956:
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Another photo from the SFPL:
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En fuego:
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From the SF Public Library website:
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