Pearl Stimmel (1922-2006) was the “manager with an attitude” at the Regency 1. I believe she retired in 1993. Her assistant Anita went home to North Dakota. I have no idea what became of Ana.
I was an usher at the Capitol 6 in the very early 1980s. The place was unionized and pay started at $4.24 per hour (a small fortune back then). Management supplied the jacket, shirt and bowtie and weren’t shy about getting angry at ushers and doormen for slouching or spending too long in each theatre. But once you were there long enough to join the union, your job was quite safe (a few staff were so difficult that management wished those folks could be terminated) and it was the best-paying, do-little job in town (all those free movies, too!) I made lots of friends there and dated a cashier.
I guess theatres have long since become de-unionized, and that’s a shame. Can you imagine getting $13 per hour today just to wander around and open doors? That was the greatest job any high school or college kid could have asked for. Back then, the Capitol 6 and other movie houses were inundated with applications; you could grow old and die waiting for an interview.
In the mid-1980s I was a regular at the Embassy, Strand and St. Francis. There were lots of weirdos every day, which meant the entertainment was both on the screen and in the audience. I consider these three cinema closures to represent the end of an era.
I worked at the O'Farrell in the mid-1980s. Hunter Thompson was not the night manager (although Herb Caen said he was); rather, HST sat upstairs in the manager’s office, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Lots of guys came in with HST paperbacks for him to sign; alas, we had to tell them that the Gonzo one was upstairs and unavailable.
If anyone reading this knows the O'Farrell’s management, would you tell me if Gish, Charlie, Lonnie and the others are still around? I know they fired Vaughan, the mean-spirited, longtime night doorman, after Vaughan’s buddy Artie was killed. That place had the same staff for many years, mainly the Mitchells' friends from childhood. The O'Farrell was a model of inefficiency, mainly because some of the top people had the attitude, “Well, I don’t have to do anything because my bosses are my friends and they won’t fire me.” Nice work if you can get it, huh?
I worked at the Regency 1 in the summer of 1991. Mrs. S., the old woman who managed the place from its opening, was the meanest human being I had ever met. She mocked and degraded her staff almost daily; was she the boss till the end? She must’ve been 75 by 1998! Would love to know what became of her as well as Anita and Ana (her two friendly assistants when I worked there; Mrs. S.’s daughter was not always her assistant).
Pearl Stimmel (1922-2006) was the “manager with an attitude” at the Regency 1. I believe she retired in 1993. Her assistant Anita went home to North Dakota. I have no idea what became of Ana.
I was an usher at the Capitol 6 in the very early 1980s. The place was unionized and pay started at $4.24 per hour (a small fortune back then). Management supplied the jacket, shirt and bowtie and weren’t shy about getting angry at ushers and doormen for slouching or spending too long in each theatre. But once you were there long enough to join the union, your job was quite safe (a few staff were so difficult that management wished those folks could be terminated) and it was the best-paying, do-little job in town (all those free movies, too!) I made lots of friends there and dated a cashier.
I guess theatres have long since become de-unionized, and that’s a shame. Can you imagine getting $13 per hour today just to wander around and open doors? That was the greatest job any high school or college kid could have asked for. Back then, the Capitol 6 and other movie houses were inundated with applications; you could grow old and die waiting for an interview.
Who are the managers of this megaplex? I used to know most managers in the 1980s and wonder how many are still around.
In the mid-1980s I was a regular at the Embassy, Strand and St. Francis. There were lots of weirdos every day, which meant the entertainment was both on the screen and in the audience. I consider these three cinema closures to represent the end of an era.
I took my friend there in 1985 to see “Amadeus.” The Cannery was the puniest theater I had ever seen. Sorry to hear it’s gone.
Who managed the Royal at the end? Was it still a Blumenfeld property? I knew Eddie, Russell and all those folks. What became of them?
I worked at the O'Farrell in the mid-1980s. Hunter Thompson was not the night manager (although Herb Caen said he was); rather, HST sat upstairs in the manager’s office, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. Lots of guys came in with HST paperbacks for him to sign; alas, we had to tell them that the Gonzo one was upstairs and unavailable.
If anyone reading this knows the O'Farrell’s management, would you tell me if Gish, Charlie, Lonnie and the others are still around? I know they fired Vaughan, the mean-spirited, longtime night doorman, after Vaughan’s buddy Artie was killed. That place had the same staff for many years, mainly the Mitchells' friends from childhood. The O'Farrell was a model of inefficiency, mainly because some of the top people had the attitude, “Well, I don’t have to do anything because my bosses are my friends and they won’t fire me.” Nice work if you can get it, huh?
I worked at the Regency 1 in the summer of 1991. Mrs. S., the old woman who managed the place from its opening, was the meanest human being I had ever met. She mocked and degraded her staff almost daily; was she the boss till the end? She must’ve been 75 by 1998! Would love to know what became of her as well as Anita and Ana (her two friendly assistants when I worked there; Mrs. S.’s daughter was not always her assistant).