Granada Theatre
4631 Mission Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94112
4631 Mission Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94112
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Now a Goodwill store.
Granada had that old light bulb vertical that really stood out at night. Just before the theatre closed, I recall the vertical was re-bulbed and the Granada glowed out in the night, the only thing you could see in that area of the city. Wish I had taken a photo as it was magnificent. BTW, there were downtown theatres that weren’t as elegant as the Excelsior District’s Granada.
The art moderne tower and other alterations to this theater in 1931 were the work of architect Frederick H. Meyer. The Architect and Engineer announced the planned $50,000 modernization project in its issue of March, 1931.
The problem is that there were two architects named Frederick H. Meyer practicing in San Francisco from about 1900 to 1960, and I’ve been unable to discover if the Granada remodeling was the work of Frederick Herman Meyer or Frederick Heinrich Meyer.
This theater was designed for the Excelsior Amusement Company by architect G. Albert Lansburgh. It was mentioned in several issues of Building and Engineering News in 1921.
Sorry about that. There is now a Goodwill store on the first floor, so retail would be the appropriate function.
ken mc you mixed the pictures of both Granada Theatres together.
A few of the above photos are actually those of the Market Street Granada (AKA-Paramount) …
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rear viewhttp://webbie1.sfpl.org/multimedia/sfphotos/AAB-3833.jpg
The Granada theatre was a nice theatre. It had a double bill, all seat 50 cent policy for quite sometime during the seventies. It continued to show movies in the early eighties. It closed briefly, then reopened showing Filopino movies. During the Filopino movie run, the manager was shot and killed in the theatre lobby right in front of the concession stand. When the theatre finally closed, it was converted to a Consumers Distributing Store (remember that?) the marquee and vertical was removed. The curtain on the stage was removed in the late 60’s when where was a water leak and the curtain was damaged and could not be repaired.
1944:
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More photos:
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Here are some additional photos, from the same source:
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From the SF Public Library website:
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As memory serves the Granada closed in the late 70’s briefly and was used for boxing, beauty contests and other activities. When the Granada re-opened in the late 70’s it was torn up pretty bad. The last movies I viewed there were The Big Red One, Caddyshack and The Shining all in 1980. Me and two cousins went up into the balcony (it had been closed for years, we snuck past the help) and watched The Big Red One, it was still in great shape. I grew up going to this theater. What a shame we lost such a wonderful piece of Americana!
As the Excelsior, the Granada was in operation as early as 1922;
its grand re-opening as the Granada took place on October 3, 1931.
It closed in November 1982.
Located at the point on Mission Street where Ocean Ave. angles-into it and ends, this theatre originally opened as the Excelsior. When the Granada Theatre downtown on Market Street became the Paramount, one of its “Granada” vertical signs was moved over to the Excelsior (renamed Granada) and hung on a majestic Spanish-deco style tower added to the facade, its contours all outlined in neon. The theatre operated into the early 1980s, and that old Granada vertical sign remained until the end. After closing, the building was converted to other uses, the lobby becoming retail space and the auditorium becoming a warehouse. A new plain plastic sign replaced the old theatre vertical sign, and has bourne the names of more than one business. The Spanish-deco facade still stands intact, showing anyone who cares that there was once a large neighborhood theatre at the spot.