A good venue for HK product and also hosts an Asian film festival each year. Does occasionally show first run product. Also, it is an independently owned theater, a rarity today.
From what I have read in several books(notably “Times Square Red, Times Square Blue” by Samuel Delany and “The Ghastly Ones” by Jimmy McDonough), this was quite notorious in the 1970’s and 1980’s as a “cruise” spot for homosexuals. (What was shown on the screen was hetrosexual porn however.)
The film “Rated X” has a number of inaccuracies in it. And Vancouver(where it was shot) looks nowhere near San Francisco.
The majority of the theaters that the Mitchell Brothers had acquired were former United Artists theaters. List of theaters below:
Ritz Theater(Hayward)was a UA theater.
Mitchell Brothers Santa Ana was the UA Santa Ana
Mitchell Brothers Inglewood was a UA theater
Four Star(Beverly Hills) was the UA Four Star
Mitchell Brothers Long Beach was a UA theater
The Mitchell Brothers Cinema(Berkeley) had been a revival/art house
Larkin Theater was a Walter Reade house that the Mitchells acquired in bankruptcy proceedings. (They had also acquired the Music Hall theater, which they never used. The acquisition of these two theaters was to keep Pussycat away from competing with the O'Farrell.)
The Mitchell Brothers Bijou was previously the Regal theater. Alex DeRenzy (another pornographer) had run that theater for about a year prior to the Mitchells. Before that, it was a “grindhouse” Market Street theater.
The Capri in San Diego was a Mitchell Brothers house.
The “Olga” movies were one of the first series of films called “roughies”, which basically were films that focused on deviate sexual activities such as bondage. (When the first Olga movie called “White Slaves in Chinatown” came out in 1963, many “adults only” movies of the period were either “nudist camp” films or light comedies with nudity in them (ex: The Immoral Mr Teas, Not Tonite Henry, Tonight For Sure)) Audiences for “adults only” fare in the period were clamoring for bolder product. (And this was pre-hardcore porn).
The book “The Ghastly Ones” by Jimmy McDonough has a couple of good chapters dealing with NYC “adults only” movie producers and owners like the Brandts, Chelly Wilson, and Lew Miskin.
During the 1977-1978 period, it was a revival house and called the Vitaphone Burbank(there was also a Vitaphone Saratoga). This wasn’t too successful, unfortunately.
This re-opens today as the Camera 12. Most of the grand opening features are first-run Hollywood product, one of the screens is showing arthouse product.
The Camera One is now closed. The Camera 3 is still open for the time being.
The Sutter was operated by Lowell Pickett and Arlene Elster. It opened in the late 1960’s as a storefront porn theater that showed more “artsy” hardcore product than the loops that was playing the other storefront theaters of the period(such as The Screening Room). Pickett and Elster also hosted the annual San Francisco Erotic Film Festival. (In one of its early years, Don Simpson was one of the judges. This is the same Don Simpson who would later team with Jerry Bruckheimer to produce hits like Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop.)
By the mid-1970’s, Pickett and Elster were tiring of the hardcore product that was proliferating in the sex film industry at the time, so they switched to live sex shows at this theater. (This predated the Mitchell Brothers doing this at the O'Farrell.) The theater would close for good in the early 1980’s.
I do remember now the Galaxy was an eight-screener.
With regards to the Vine Twin(recently remodelled and has a new facade), there has been a rumor that Century theaters is looking at opening a multiplex in downtown Livermore. If indeed that happens, I think that spells doom for the Vine Twin.
This may have been operated by the Enea Brothers when it first opened. (They owned the land where this sat on and also owned and operated a twin screen drive-in that was behind this theater. The shooping center is called Enea Plaza.) It also started its life as a twin-screener.
On the DVD of Eugenie(Blue Underground DVD), on a short documentary, there is a shot of the front end of this theater during the Cinerama and Penthouse days. This would have been from August 1970, when Eugenie played at the Penthouse. You can also see some of the exterior area where the theater posters and ad displays were at.
One problem with IMAX is that it is a “large screen” format and not a “widescreen format”—The aspect ratio of IMAX is 1:37-1(the original standard pre-widescreen was 1:33-1). The only way you could show “widescreen” films on an IMAX screen is by letterboxing. I actually recall seeing Star Wars II-Attack of the Clones that was “especially done for IMAX”—What had been done was the following:
The image was cropped from 2:40-1 to 1:37-1 in order to show it full-frame. The film itself was filmed digitally, but most theaters do not have digital projection systerms, so prints had to be struck. The digital files were not reconfigured for IMAX, instead the film was cropped.
For the IMAX edition, the film was also edited by about 20-25 minutes due to its original length. Slower expository scenes and some of the “romantic” storyline was edited out.
I didn’t realize that the Mitchell Brothers(who made porn films as well as operating theaters) had owned &/or operated theaters outside of California. Anyplace else that they operated theaters at?
This theater operated for a few years from about 1970-1976. It was mostly a second-run double feature house and (at that point) the only English language movie house in San Leandro. (The Del Mar was closed by then and the Bal was showing Spanish language films at that point.) The theater was an independent.
The adress above is for the first Naz Cinema, which is better known as the Center theater. The current adress for the Naz Cinemas is 39160 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont CA 94538.
During Farros' run of this theater, it strictly played “adults only” fare. (Farros was also a distributor of “adults only” exploitation fare and is better known by exploitation film historians as one of the “forty thieves”, along with other stalwarts as Kroger Babb and Louis Sonney. Sonney’s son, Dan Sonney, co-founded the Pussycat theater chain with Dave Friedman, who after starting as a publicist for Paramount, became a distributor for Babb and then a film producer.)
In the mid-late 1960’s, much of the programming at the Presidio was “adults only” films. Russ Meyer films would often play first run here. Some films that played first run here include: Vixen, I Am Curious Yellow, Without a Stitch, and Deep Throat(first Bay Area engagement was in the last week of July, 1972—Behind the Grren Door premiered about a week later at the O'Farrell theater.) DeRenzy’s “documentary” Pornography in Denmark: A New Approach had a successful moveover run here as well.
This was also one of the earliest theaters in San Francisco showing hard porn, starting in the late 1960’s and in some of their SF Chronicle ads, even advertised 35mm hardcore. (At the time they started, many of the other places showing hard porn at that time were theaters made out of converted storefronts and used 16mm projection.) In March 1976, it went to revival house programming.
Theater originally was a single screener.
A good venue for HK product and also hosts an Asian film festival each year. Does occasionally show first run product. Also, it is an independently owned theater, a rarity today.
From what I have read in several books(notably “Times Square Red, Times Square Blue” by Samuel Delany and “The Ghastly Ones” by Jimmy McDonough), this was quite notorious in the 1970’s and 1980’s as a “cruise” spot for homosexuals. (What was shown on the screen was hetrosexual porn however.)
The Geneva was a twin screener in the 1970’s and the operator was Syufy Theaters, now known as Century theaters. It was a 4 screener when it closed.
Was the Capri a UA theater at one time?
The film “Rated X” has a number of inaccuracies in it. And Vancouver(where it was shot) looks nowhere near San Francisco.
The majority of the theaters that the Mitchell Brothers had acquired were former United Artists theaters. List of theaters below:
Ritz Theater(Hayward)was a UA theater.
Mitchell Brothers Santa Ana was the UA Santa Ana
Mitchell Brothers Inglewood was a UA theater
Four Star(Beverly Hills) was the UA Four Star
Mitchell Brothers Long Beach was a UA theater
The Mitchell Brothers Cinema(Berkeley) had been a revival/art house
Larkin Theater was a Walter Reade house that the Mitchells acquired in bankruptcy proceedings. (They had also acquired the Music Hall theater, which they never used. The acquisition of these two theaters was to keep Pussycat away from competing with the O'Farrell.)
The Mitchell Brothers Bijou was previously the Regal theater. Alex DeRenzy (another pornographer) had run that theater for about a year prior to the Mitchells. Before that, it was a “grindhouse” Market Street theater.
The Capri in San Diego was a Mitchell Brothers house.
According to the Camera Cinemas website, this will be closing on July 8.
The “Olga” movies were one of the first series of films called “roughies”, which basically were films that focused on deviate sexual activities such as bondage. (When the first Olga movie called “White Slaves in Chinatown” came out in 1963, many “adults only” movies of the period were either “nudist camp” films or light comedies with nudity in them (ex: The Immoral Mr Teas, Not Tonite Henry, Tonight For Sure)) Audiences for “adults only” fare in the period were clamoring for bolder product. (And this was pre-hardcore porn).
The book “The Ghastly Ones” by Jimmy McDonough has a couple of good chapters dealing with NYC “adults only” movie producers and owners like the Brandts, Chelly Wilson, and Lew Miskin.
In the 1970’s, it went from “adults only” fare to XXX fare.
The Saratoga Burbank operated in 1977-1978.
During the 1977-1978 period, it was a revival house and called the Vitaphone Burbank(there was also a Vitaphone Saratoga). This wasn’t too successful, unfortunately.
This re-opens today as the Camera 12. Most of the grand opening features are first-run Hollywood product, one of the screens is showing arthouse product.
The Camera One is now closed. The Camera 3 is still open for the time being.
The Hub mostly showed grindhouse fare before switching to “adults only” films in the mid-1960’s. It closed in the early 1970’s.
The Sutter was operated by Lowell Pickett and Arlene Elster. It opened in the late 1960’s as a storefront porn theater that showed more “artsy” hardcore product than the loops that was playing the other storefront theaters of the period(such as The Screening Room). Pickett and Elster also hosted the annual San Francisco Erotic Film Festival. (In one of its early years, Don Simpson was one of the judges. This is the same Don Simpson who would later team with Jerry Bruckheimer to produce hits like Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop.)
By the mid-1970’s, Pickett and Elster were tiring of the hardcore product that was proliferating in the sex film industry at the time, so they switched to live sex shows at this theater. (This predated the Mitchell Brothers doing this at the O'Farrell.) The theater would close for good in the early 1980’s.
I do remember now the Galaxy was an eight-screener.
With regards to the Vine Twin(recently remodelled and has a new facade), there has been a rumor that Century theaters is looking at opening a multiplex in downtown Livermore. If indeed that happens, I think that spells doom for the Vine Twin.
The drive-in in question was the San Ramon Auto Movie.
The GCC Dublin place started as a three-screener and ended its days as a five screener(and had become a discount house in its final days.)
The Regal Hacienda 20-plex put these two theaters, as well as Regal’s Galaxy 6 in Pleasanton out of business.
This may have been operated by the Enea Brothers when it first opened. (They owned the land where this sat on and also owned and operated a twin screen drive-in that was behind this theater. The shooping center is called Enea Plaza.) It also started its life as a twin-screener.
On the DVD of Eugenie(Blue Underground DVD), on a short documentary, there is a shot of the front end of this theater during the Cinerama and Penthouse days. This would have been from August 1970, when Eugenie played at the Penthouse. You can also see some of the exterior area where the theater posters and ad displays were at.
One problem with IMAX is that it is a “large screen” format and not a “widescreen format”—The aspect ratio of IMAX is 1:37-1(the original standard pre-widescreen was 1:33-1). The only way you could show “widescreen” films on an IMAX screen is by letterboxing. I actually recall seeing Star Wars II-Attack of the Clones that was “especially done for IMAX”—What had been done was the following:
The image was cropped from 2:40-1 to 1:37-1 in order to show it full-frame. The film itself was filmed digitally, but most theaters do not have digital projection systerms, so prints had to be struck. The digital files were not reconfigured for IMAX, instead the film was cropped.
For the IMAX edition, the film was also edited by about 20-25 minutes due to its original length. Slower expository scenes and some of the “romantic” storyline was edited out.
I didn’t realize that the Mitchell Brothers(who made porn films as well as operating theaters) had owned &/or operated theaters outside of California. Anyplace else that they operated theaters at?
This theater operated for a few years from about 1970-1976. It was mostly a second-run double feature house and (at that point) the only English language movie house in San Leandro. (The Del Mar was closed by then and the Bal was showing Spanish language films at that point.) The theater was an independent.
The adress above is for the first Naz Cinema, which is better known as the Center theater. The current adress for the Naz Cinemas is 39160 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont CA 94538.
During Farros' run of this theater, it strictly played “adults only” fare. (Farros was also a distributor of “adults only” exploitation fare and is better known by exploitation film historians as one of the “forty thieves”, along with other stalwarts as Kroger Babb and Louis Sonney. Sonney’s son, Dan Sonney, co-founded the Pussycat theater chain with Dave Friedman, who after starting as a publicist for Paramount, became a distributor for Babb and then a film producer.)
This has reopened as a ballroom again and occasionally has live concerts!
In the mid-late 1960’s, much of the programming at the Presidio was “adults only” films. Russ Meyer films would often play first run here. Some films that played first run here include: Vixen, I Am Curious Yellow, Without a Stitch, and Deep Throat(first Bay Area engagement was in the last week of July, 1972—Behind the Grren Door premiered about a week later at the O'Farrell theater.) DeRenzy’s “documentary” Pornography in Denmark: A New Approach had a successful moveover run here as well.
This was also one of the earliest theaters in San Francisco showing hard porn, starting in the late 1960’s and in some of their SF Chronicle ads, even advertised 35mm hardcore. (At the time they started, many of the other places showing hard porn at that time were theaters made out of converted storefronts and used 16mm projection.) In March 1976, it went to revival house programming.