The Embassy was a unique movie going experience. The Ten-O-Win wheel was rolled out at intermission and a tuxedoed Dan McClean would call out the numbers and colors that the two arrows (each spun in a different direction) landed on. If you had the lucky ticket you would call out and an usher or usherette would come running to you hollering out “Balcony” (if the winner was seated in the balcony) “Pay $5”, or whatever the prize amount was, then peal off the ones to you. Does this sound like the 1950’s? This was still going on well into the 1980’s. By then it was not uncommon to see streetpeople sleeping it off in the front side orchestra where their snoring would not bother most of the audience. There was usually a double bill and the fare tended towards Charles Bronson pix, Peckinpaw, westerns, action films etc and occasionally something like “Nashville”. The feeling there was that it was a family operation – I remember seeing the same employees for over 15 years in the 70’s and 80’s. From the etched glass in the tunnels upstairs leading to the balcony, to the chain that dragged across the stage floor every time the curtains opened and closed (it had come loose from the left curtain’s bottom hem – I guess to weigh it down), to the free popcorn they gave away on Christmas eve, to the peeling paint over the proscenium and that colorful marquee the Embassy was unique on Market St.
Thanks to Eric Hooper for his “last look” photos. The Coronet is next on UA/Regal’s demolition list for the Richmond. It’s sad that there are so few single screen theatres left in SF. TV/Video/DVD/Home theatre have all shortened the lives of our larger theatres as well as corporate neglect. As`nice as it was to sit in the downstairs Alexandria, the sound was “digital-mushy” and the upstairs theatre’s sound systems never sounded like they’d been upgraded past the 70’s. The only thing that will keep these large thatres open is crowds ($$$$$$) or owners who want to keep them open-or-creative programming (like the Castro).
Saw “The Sand Pebbles”, “Myra Breckinridge” and “The Exorcist” in the upstairs theatre which was called The Penthouse, in the late 60’s. An escalator had been installed from the lobby to the mezzanine. The downstairs theatre showed Cinerama films – “2001” played there for a couple of years. The last time I remember going into the downstairs theatre for a film was a double bill – “Zacharia” a rock western, was being shown on a conventional wide screen, and a sneak preview of “The Andromeda Strain” (with Hollywood bigwigs in the audience), was shown on the Cinerama screen.
I saw the last showing of “Wag the Dog” on the closing night of the Alhambra. After the film ended they turned on the houselight. Unfortunately it looked as though the restoration that had been done for the “Roger Rabbit” reopening had already begun to age. During the restoration (back to a single screen theatre) part of the orginal proscenium was revealed behind another renovation and the results can be seen in the above photo. On foggy damp nights its minarets glowed beautifully. For “Roger Rabbit” a new sound system was installed – the theatre had great accoustics.
In the late 1970’s a friend of mine and I snuck inside the empty Fox. The open side front door down near the stage provided the only light inside the cavernous auditorium. All the seats had been removed but the two big gold Buddahs that flank the stage were still standing guard and it looked like homeless people were using the stage to camp on. And now with the marquee restored it looks like the Fox will be coming back to life.
The Carlos usually showed 2nd run films after the 1st run engagements had finished in San Francisco. It also featured “kiddie matinees” on Saturday afternoons in the 50’s and 60’s. At one of those kiddie shows in the 50’s the projectionist mistakenly played the trailer for “And God Created Women” instead of the “kiddie film” for the following week. The full house of mainly kids and their mothers shreiked at the sight of all that Bardot flesh!!! Longest running film in the theatre’s history was “Goldfinger” which ran for over 2 months.
Run by Mel Novikov in the 60’s thru mid 80’s, this was a neighborhood art house and one of the Surf Theatre Group (which also included the Castro, Bridge, Clay and Lumiere). By the mid 80’s, it was one of the last of the “independant” theatres in SF and after closing became a childrens day care center. It was located just a couple of blocks from Ocean Beach.
The Embassy was a unique movie going experience. The Ten-O-Win wheel was rolled out at intermission and a tuxedoed Dan McClean would call out the numbers and colors that the two arrows (each spun in a different direction) landed on. If you had the lucky ticket you would call out and an usher or usherette would come running to you hollering out “Balcony” (if the winner was seated in the balcony) “Pay $5”, or whatever the prize amount was, then peal off the ones to you. Does this sound like the 1950’s? This was still going on well into the 1980’s. By then it was not uncommon to see streetpeople sleeping it off in the front side orchestra where their snoring would not bother most of the audience. There was usually a double bill and the fare tended towards Charles Bronson pix, Peckinpaw, westerns, action films etc and occasionally something like “Nashville”. The feeling there was that it was a family operation – I remember seeing the same employees for over 15 years in the 70’s and 80’s. From the etched glass in the tunnels upstairs leading to the balcony, to the chain that dragged across the stage floor every time the curtains opened and closed (it had come loose from the left curtain’s bottom hem – I guess to weigh it down), to the free popcorn they gave away on Christmas eve, to the peeling paint over the proscenium and that colorful marquee the Embassy was unique on Market St.
Thanks to Eric Hooper for his “last look” photos. The Coronet is next on UA/Regal’s demolition list for the Richmond. It’s sad that there are so few single screen theatres left in SF. TV/Video/DVD/Home theatre have all shortened the lives of our larger theatres as well as corporate neglect. As`nice as it was to sit in the downstairs Alexandria, the sound was “digital-mushy” and the upstairs theatre’s sound systems never sounded like they’d been upgraded past the 70’s. The only thing that will keep these large thatres open is crowds ($$$$$$) or owners who want to keep them open-or-creative programming (like the Castro).
Saw “The Sand Pebbles”, “Myra Breckinridge” and “The Exorcist” in the upstairs theatre which was called The Penthouse, in the late 60’s. An escalator had been installed from the lobby to the mezzanine. The downstairs theatre showed Cinerama films – “2001” played there for a couple of years. The last time I remember going into the downstairs theatre for a film was a double bill – “Zacharia” a rock western, was being shown on a conventional wide screen, and a sneak preview of “The Andromeda Strain” (with Hollywood bigwigs in the audience), was shown on the Cinerama screen.
I saw the last showing of “Wag the Dog” on the closing night of the Alhambra. After the film ended they turned on the houselight. Unfortunately it looked as though the restoration that had been done for the “Roger Rabbit” reopening had already begun to age. During the restoration (back to a single screen theatre) part of the orginal proscenium was revealed behind another renovation and the results can be seen in the above photo. On foggy damp nights its minarets glowed beautifully. For “Roger Rabbit” a new sound system was installed – the theatre had great accoustics.
In the late 1970’s a friend of mine and I snuck inside the empty Fox. The open side front door down near the stage provided the only light inside the cavernous auditorium. All the seats had been removed but the two big gold Buddahs that flank the stage were still standing guard and it looked like homeless people were using the stage to camp on. And now with the marquee restored it looks like the Fox will be coming back to life.
The Carlos usually showed 2nd run films after the 1st run engagements had finished in San Francisco. It also featured “kiddie matinees” on Saturday afternoons in the 50’s and 60’s. At one of those kiddie shows in the 50’s the projectionist mistakenly played the trailer for “And God Created Women” instead of the “kiddie film” for the following week. The full house of mainly kids and their mothers shreiked at the sight of all that Bardot flesh!!! Longest running film in the theatre’s history was “Goldfinger” which ran for over 2 months.
Run by Mel Novikov in the 60’s thru mid 80’s, this was a neighborhood art house and one of the Surf Theatre Group (which also included the Castro, Bridge, Clay and Lumiere). By the mid 80’s, it was one of the last of the “independant” theatres in SF and after closing became a childrens day care center. It was located just a couple of blocks from Ocean Beach.