Paramount Theatre

November 17th, 1921 grand opening ad as Granada can be found in the photo section.

stefoscope on July 16, 2007 at 12:18 pm

Standing on Market St, looking to where the entrance to this theatre was (above the current row of storefronts), one can see a mural on the side of the left-hand, corner building, that looks like a Spanish courtyard, as seen through arches. It’s quite colorful. Was this mural part of the theatre’s original lobby? If so, I am amazed it is still there, though it looks like it is part of the original wall of the theatre building, and possibly could not be removed during demolition.

It’s a mural placed there by San Francisco’s Arab community in 2003:

http://www.oweis.com/mural.html

I can’t find anything about the colors of the interior of the Granada, but the facade was certainly colorful according to a rather effusive report in the trade Journal Brick and Clay Record, issue of December 13, 1921:[quote]“BEAUTIFUL TILE WORK IN ‘MOVIE’ THEATRE

“What is probably the most luxurious picture theater west of Chicago was opened in San Francisco, Cal., November 17. It is happily named the Granada and represents an investment of more than $1,000,000. The building is in Spanish-Colonial style and equipped throughout like a king’s palace. One of the most distinctive features of the Granada is the work in colored tiling in the facade around the great windows. This work was done by Eri H. Richardson of San Francisco, who has scored a triumph which has caused most favorable comment among architects of this city. Some go as far as to say that the facade tiling is not unworthy of some of the great masterpieces of the fifteenth century, the materials being translucent, turquoise blue, golden luster, rose and iridescent hues. The tiles mere made by Richardson from original designs, the motif being California fruits and flowers. The original suggestions were offered by a Moorish pattern of a design in the Alhambra and these were supplemented by color ideas obtained from the workings of a kaleidoscope. The two fine towers of the facade are distinctively characteristic of the Spanish-Colonial churches in Mexico, and are laid in a herringbone scheme of yellow enameled tiles with blue dots, and offer a brilliant bit of color to crown the rich polychrome beauty of the whole design.”[/quote]I’d love to see color photos of the facade before the tile work was lost (as it apparently was by the time the 1965 photos were made.)

When a Louise Brooks film first played in San Francisco, it was at the Granada Theater on Market Street. “The Street of Forgotten Men” opened there on August 8, 1925 and played for a week.

The Granada Theater was part of Publix, a chain of movie theaters allied with Paramount – Famous Players Lasky. As a result, all but two of Brooks' 1920’s Paramount features opened in San Francisco at the Granada. No other San Francisco theater can claim to have locally debut as many films. The other films which opened there include

The American Venus (Jan. 9-15, 1926 with afternoon & evening appearances by Fay Lanphier)
A Social Celebrity (Apr. 24-30, 1926)
It’s the Old Army Game (May 29 â€" June 4, 1926)
Love Em and Leave Em (Jan. 8-14, 1927)
Evening Clothes (Mar. 19-25, 1927)
Rolled Stockings (Aug. 13-19, 1927)
City Gone Wild (Nov. 5-11, 1927)
Canary Murder Case (Feb. 8-14, 1929)

Also seen on the above color picture postcard view is Kress Variety Store that was formerly the Pantages Vaudeville Theatre. Does this building still stand?

Standing on Market St, looking to where the entrance to this theatre was (above the current row of storefronts), one can see a mural on the side of the left-hand, corner building, that looks like a Spanish courtyard, as seen through arches. It’s quite colorful. Was this mural part of the theatre’s original lobby? If so, I am amazed it is still there, though it looks like it is part of the original wall of the theatre building, and possibly could not be removed during demolition.

And as the Paramount:

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End of the road, 1965:
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The downtown Los Angeles Paramount was disposed of earlier. As I recall, it closed in 1962, and was demolished soon after. There was a proposal for a large bank and office skyscraper to be erected on the site at the time, but it fell through, and the corner remained a parking lot until a building for the wholesale jewlery trade was erected there in the late 1970s.

The Paramount Theatre was owned by American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres Inc. and operated by their California Paramount Corp. division. That division operated the Paramount and the St. Francis and down in Los Angeles the Paramount Theatre downtown Los Angeles.

If my memory serves, and it doesn’t always, the Granada in San Francisco was the first theatre to have a “flying stage”. That is, a stage with elevators under a couple of sections. I believe it was also the first to have elevators under the orchestra pit.

It would be nice to see some photos of the Paramount. I used to got to the movies on Market St at the UA, Orpheum,Fox-Warfield,St Francis,Golden Gate,Esquire,and Fox but was never inside the Paramount.I remember before it was demolished Phyllis Diller was on a morning show walking through the Paramount with a TV crew. I would love to see both auditorium and pictures of the marquee.brucec