New Potrero Theatre
312 Connecticut Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94107
312 Connecticut Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94107
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I walked by this building yesterday and have posted a couple of pictures on the photos page. You can see on the facade where the marquee was attached to the brick which looks like it was never repaired after it was removed. Besides it’s nickelodeon and movie theater past it has functioned as a storefront church, a rehearsal hall for the Grateful Dead and now home to the London based Gurdjieff Society.
My grandfather Samuel Nasser started the Alta in 1913. My Dad worked there until 1927-28 when my Grandmother demanded he continue his education (MD UCSF). The family sold the theaters to Grandpa’s Brother who went on to establish the Nasser Brother theaters. The most well known exists today…The Castro.
The building is now used for offices. While layers of paint were cleaned off the facade, exposing a very nice red and tan brick surface, the wonderful little marquee which had been on the theatre since at least the 1930s was removed, as were the slabs od white and grey veined marble which were still in place in the ticket lobby.
Nice little theatre.
In a 1973 episode of “The Streets of San Francisco,” called “Trail of the Serpent,” thugs come
out of a theatre called “New Potrero Theatre.” Does anyone know what theatre they actually used for this? Assuming the theatre closed in 1963, I guess the producers decided to make the scene extra nostalgic for those in the know.
After it closed as a movie theatre, The Grateful Dead used the Potrero as a rehearsal hall. Circa 1968.