I recently took my family to see “Willy Wonka” at the Paramount. We arrived late (only 30 minutes before the show) and had to struggle to find seats in the upper balcony of this 3,000 seat gem. Your $5.00 gets you a period newsreel, a cartoon, and a wonderful, pre-film “wheel of fortune” (dubbed “Deco-Win” in honor of the theater) game in which several audience members win dinner for two at neighborhood restaurants. So show up early …… you’ll need the time to wander through every level of this amazing building, have a cocktail in the bar, visit the beautiful wash rooms and find your favorite seat.
My favorite place to see a film in the WHOLE world! The best audiences anywhere, and possibly the best programming on the planet. A terrific mix of classic, art and festival films … something for everyone. And I feel like a kid again every time I look at the quarterly broadsheet calendar … reminds me of sitting under the Christmas tree looking through the JC Penney toy catalog!
I’m afraid to look, since it has recently been converted into a HEALTH CLUB!!!! An amazingly enjoyable theater for film. I only hope we can reclaim it one of these days.
Still one of the best seats in San Francisco. I always try to see first run films in the downstairs auditorium whenever possible. My last visit was with my 5yr old son to see “Finding Nemo”. Beautiful house.
I live in San Francisco, and drive the 40 minutes or so to Palo Alto whenever possible to see films the way they were meant to be seen at the Stanford Theatre. David Packard not only runs the Stanford as a non-profit venue for old films, but I believe he is also the main financial supporter of the UCLA Film Archive.
The Stanford movie experience often includes Dave himself up on stage with a microphone telling the audience just how they were able to piece together the print he is about to show us, finding the best bits of film from many different prints all around the world and assembling them. And, on more than one occasion, he has done the assembly on the spot. When we recently watched The Wizard of Oz he told us that his own Technicolor print looked better in the color portion of the film, but the rented print looked better for the black and white intro …….. so he told us that they would be switching reels (seamlessly) when Dorothy reaches Oz. Another example was for my favorite film, “Gilda” staring Rita Hayworth. The UCLA Film Archive restoration hadn’t quite been completed by the scheduled screening date (one that had been postponed for months), so he showed us what he had finished. As a result, we got to see a cleaner print than any other theatrical audience ever had (or will), since our print had been made directly from the negative.. WOW! And, since they were still working on it, the sound had to be played off of another recording. He cautioned us that the sync might slip during the screening, but everything was perfect. And what an amazingly clear picture! We were seeing incredible detail in a 50+ year old motion picture ……. the kind of skin detail you don’t get in today’s films.
So, THANK YOU David Packard for spending your fortune so wisely and philanthropically. We DO appreciate your efforts and perfectionism.
I recently took my family to see “Willy Wonka” at the Paramount. We arrived late (only 30 minutes before the show) and had to struggle to find seats in the upper balcony of this 3,000 seat gem. Your $5.00 gets you a period newsreel, a cartoon, and a wonderful, pre-film “wheel of fortune” (dubbed “Deco-Win” in honor of the theater) game in which several audience members win dinner for two at neighborhood restaurants. So show up early …… you’ll need the time to wander through every level of this amazing building, have a cocktail in the bar, visit the beautiful wash rooms and find your favorite seat.
My favorite place to see a film in the WHOLE world! The best audiences anywhere, and possibly the best programming on the planet. A terrific mix of classic, art and festival films … something for everyone. And I feel like a kid again every time I look at the quarterly broadsheet calendar … reminds me of sitting under the Christmas tree looking through the JC Penney toy catalog!
I’m afraid to look, since it has recently been converted into a HEALTH CLUB!!!! An amazingly enjoyable theater for film. I only hope we can reclaim it one of these days.
Still one of the best seats in San Francisco. I always try to see first run films in the downstairs auditorium whenever possible. My last visit was with my 5yr old son to see “Finding Nemo”. Beautiful house.
I live in San Francisco, and drive the 40 minutes or so to Palo Alto whenever possible to see films the way they were meant to be seen at the Stanford Theatre. David Packard not only runs the Stanford as a non-profit venue for old films, but I believe he is also the main financial supporter of the UCLA Film Archive.
The Stanford movie experience often includes Dave himself up on stage with a microphone telling the audience just how they were able to piece together the print he is about to show us, finding the best bits of film from many different prints all around the world and assembling them. And, on more than one occasion, he has done the assembly on the spot. When we recently watched The Wizard of Oz he told us that his own Technicolor print looked better in the color portion of the film, but the rented print looked better for the black and white intro …….. so he told us that they would be switching reels (seamlessly) when Dorothy reaches Oz. Another example was for my favorite film, “Gilda” staring Rita Hayworth. The UCLA Film Archive restoration hadn’t quite been completed by the scheduled screening date (one that had been postponed for months), so he showed us what he had finished. As a result, we got to see a cleaner print than any other theatrical audience ever had (or will), since our print had been made directly from the negative.. WOW! And, since they were still working on it, the sound had to be played off of another recording. He cautioned us that the sync might slip during the screening, but everything was perfect. And what an amazingly clear picture! We were seeing incredible detail in a 50+ year old motion picture ……. the kind of skin detail you don’t get in today’s films.
So, THANK YOU David Packard for spending your fortune so wisely and philanthropically. We DO appreciate your efforts and perfectionism.