The new documentary “Inside Deep Throat” has numerous shots of the theater during the days it showed Deep Throat, including news footage of one raid that had been staged for the purposes of getting publicity for the city’s attempt at shutting the theater down.
Several comments: The SF Chronicle yesterday mentioned the closing of the Coronet will be on the 13th. It is sad that they couldn’t wait for the last Star Wars film to open there in May.(All of the Star Wars films played at the Coronet in their original runs)
With regards to the Presidio—Frank Lee(operator) signed a 30 year lease and I don’t think it will close very soon. The original aduitorium was converted into a three-plex plus a 4th screen was added off of the auditorium. His 4-Star is slated to close soon, however, as a church(who now owns the building) wants to turn the 4-Star into a church. Lee also recently signed a lease for the Cinema 21 and plans to reopen it as a theater!
I recall seeing two films here in the past—Hard Boiled(US premier) and Henry:Portrait of A Serial Killer. The Gateway was run as an independent as a movie house most of its life(I believe Landmark did run it towards the end for a few years). In its earlier days, it shared bookings with the Cinema(aka Fine Arts) in Berkeley.
Tillmany(who posts on here on occasion) did manage the theater at one point and would probably know a lot more details.
Does anybody know about the El Rey theater that was on Main St in the downtown area. (I am assuming it is now either demolished and/or turned into retail)
Several of the “drive-in double features” DVDs from Something Weird Video have the original “intermission announcements” from this drive-in(playing over old film posters and drive-in ads). The man who did those announcements was a DJ named Elmer Snodgrass.
Plitt operated this theater at one point. Theater is located in a shopping center. Operated as a first run house in the 1970’s, later going to second-run before closing.
In 1973-1974, it did turn into a porn house before reverting back to second-run. It was the first theater that showed porn films regularly in Contra Costa County. Others that did: Showcase(aka Enean) in Concord from 1975-late 1980’s (run initially as an independent, then Pussycat from 1976) and El Rey in (downtown) Walnut Creek on Main St(1975-1976, Mike Weldon theaters)
During the run of The Stewardesses, the Centre was operated by Louis Sher’s Art Theater Guild. It looks like this lasted until the early 1970’s. (In researching old newspaper ads, a lot of Sherpix distributed product played here.) FYI, a company is working on a DVD release of The Stewardesses to come out in 2005 in 3-D!
Deep Throat’s first “Market Street” run was here as well in late 1972. (Deep Throat first played San Francisco in July 1972 at the Presidio in the Marina district.)
Jacobellis was also the theater manager when the Louis Malle film Les Amants(The Lovers) got seized by authorities for obscenity. The case wound up going all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Nowadays, also has a lot of “live sex shows” as well.
Opened in 1970 and was a primary venue for XXX gay male films. (It was one of the first XXX gay male porn film theaters in San Francisco.) Its origins was a storefront theater.
It was a Walter Reade theater when it operated as an art house(I saw a double bill of Autumn Sonata and Interiors here in the late 1970’s). Later, when it was operated by Blumenfeld, it was renamed the Regency 3, which primarily was a move-over house from the Regency 1 & 2(at Van Ness at Sutter). After that, it ran a program called “The San Francisco Experience”(a tourist attraction) for an extended period of time.
Brentwood is actually closer to Antioch, in the eastern end of Contra Costa County. Fremont is in Southern Alameda County and is actually about 70 miles from Fremont. (During commute hours, about a 2 hr drive.)
This was the only porn theater in Utah. It had closed in 1986(prior to Cinema in Your Face) as a porn theater and actually got a write-up in Variety as “Utah’s Only Porner Shuts For Good”. (Today, it is almost impossible to get porn in Utah, even by mail-order. At the time this theater operated, porn videos were illegal to rent or buy in Utah.)
Good news: According to today’s SF Chronicle, page E3, Frank Lee has signed a deal this week to take over Cinema 21. Lee reopens the Presidio theater tomorrow as a 4-screener. This means that this will be a movie theater again! Thank god this was spared from being a Walgreen’s(which it came close to a few years ago).
The new documentary “Inside Deep Throat” has numerous shots of the theater during the days it showed Deep Throat, including news footage of one raid that had been staged for the purposes of getting publicity for the city’s attempt at shutting the theater down.
According to KCBS newsradio today, the Coronet will be staying open another week due to “increased crowds”.
Jaguar Productions produced a number of male homesexual XXX films in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Several comments: The SF Chronicle yesterday mentioned the closing of the Coronet will be on the 13th. It is sad that they couldn’t wait for the last Star Wars film to open there in May.(All of the Star Wars films played at the Coronet in their original runs)
With regards to the Presidio—Frank Lee(operator) signed a 30 year lease and I don’t think it will close very soon. The original aduitorium was converted into a three-plex plus a 4th screen was added off of the auditorium. His 4-Star is slated to close soon, however, as a church(who now owns the building) wants to turn the 4-Star into a church. Lee also recently signed a lease for the Cinema 21 and plans to reopen it as a theater!
Ironically, I also saw Dawn of the Dead(1979) at a mall theater, the UA Town Center 3 in Santa Maria, CA—Entrance was upstairs in the mall itself.
Originally started by Renaissance Rialto theaters(Allen Michaan). Always been an arthouse.
I recall seeing two films here in the past—Hard Boiled(US premier) and Henry:Portrait of A Serial Killer. The Gateway was run as an independent as a movie house most of its life(I believe Landmark did run it towards the end for a few years). In its earlier days, it shared bookings with the Cinema(aka Fine Arts) in Berkeley.
Tillmany(who posts on here on occasion) did manage the theater at one point and would probably know a lot more details.
Does anybody know about the El Rey theater that was on Main St in the downtown area. (I am assuming it is now either demolished and/or turned into retail)
Readers Digest also produced a “musical” version of Huckleberry Finn—Both films shared much of the cast.
Several of the “drive-in double features” DVDs from Something Weird Video have the original “intermission announcements” from this drive-in(playing over old film posters and drive-in ads). The man who did those announcements was a DJ named Elmer Snodgrass.
Plitt operated this theater at one point. Theater is located in a shopping center. Operated as a first run house in the 1970’s, later going to second-run before closing.
In 1973-1974, it did turn into a porn house before reverting back to second-run. It was the first theater that showed porn films regularly in Contra Costa County. Others that did: Showcase(aka Enean) in Concord from 1975-late 1980’s (run initially as an independent, then Pussycat from 1976) and El Rey in (downtown) Walnut Creek on Main St(1975-1976, Mike Weldon theaters)
When it started doing porn in the early 1970’s, it was operated under Louis Sher’s Art Theater Guild circuit.
During the run of The Stewardesses, the Centre was operated by Louis Sher’s Art Theater Guild. It looks like this lasted until the early 1970’s. (In researching old newspaper ads, a lot of Sherpix distributed product played here.) FYI, a company is working on a DVD release of The Stewardesses to come out in 2005 in 3-D!
Deep Throat’s first “Market Street” run was here as well in late 1972. (Deep Throat first played San Francisco in July 1972 at the Presidio in the Marina district.)
Was this a theater showing “black” films at one point?
Jacobellis was also the theater manager when the Louis Malle film Les Amants(The Lovers) got seized by authorities for obscenity. The case wound up going all the way to the US Supreme Court.
The Deep Throat/Devil in Miss Jones bill played here for over 10 years!
Today, it is an Adult Bookstore. Another storefront theater.
Nowadays, also has a lot of “live sex shows” as well.
Opened in 1970 and was a primary venue for XXX gay male films. (It was one of the first XXX gay male porn film theaters in San Francisco.) Its origins was a storefront theater.
A storefront theater.
It was a Walter Reade theater when it operated as an art house(I saw a double bill of Autumn Sonata and Interiors here in the late 1970’s). Later, when it was operated by Blumenfeld, it was renamed the Regency 3, which primarily was a move-over house from the Regency 1 & 2(at Van Ness at Sutter). After that, it ran a program called “The San Francisco Experience”(a tourist attraction) for an extended period of time.
The Venus also was a Chelly Wilson owned theater.
One of the theaters owned by Chelly Wilson, who also owned the Cameo and the Adonis.
Brentwood is actually closer to Antioch, in the eastern end of Contra Costa County. Fremont is in Southern Alameda County and is actually about 70 miles from Fremont. (During commute hours, about a 2 hr drive.)
This was the only porn theater in Utah. It had closed in 1986(prior to Cinema in Your Face) as a porn theater and actually got a write-up in Variety as “Utah’s Only Porner Shuts For Good”. (Today, it is almost impossible to get porn in Utah, even by mail-order. At the time this theater operated, porn videos were illegal to rent or buy in Utah.)
Good news: According to today’s SF Chronicle, page E3, Frank Lee has signed a deal this week to take over Cinema 21. Lee reopens the Presidio theater tomorrow as a 4-screener. This means that this will be a movie theater again! Thank god this was spared from being a Walgreen’s(which it came close to a few years ago).