Stonestown Twin
501 Buckingham Way,
San Francisco,
CA
94132
501 Buckingham Way,
San Francisco,
CA
94132
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments
Worked here many years. Great times!
When did this theatre actually close and what was the seating capacity.
Please update, closed new new theatre opens Friday
The brand new Regal Stonestown Galleria 12 Theatre San Francisco CA will replace the old UA Stonestown Twin soon. It’s about a block away in the mall. The address of the new cinema is 3251 20th Ave San Francisco CA. I will post photos here on CT when they are tearing down the old UA theatre. The new 12 plex may open in late May 2021? Long delay because of CV.
Reopened(as a twin) on 21/12/1973 on screen 1 with The seven ups" and screen 2 on 25/12/1973 with “Ash wednesday”.
Reopened on December 21st, 1973 and the 2nd screen on December 25th, 1973. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
This opened on November 10th, 1970. Another ad posted.
SF’S only UA Theatre left now run by Regal will be torn down soon as a new Regal multiplex will be going in across from the Stonestown Cinema in the space Macy’s was.
Was taken there with a group to see Trog with Joan Crawford when I was 12/13…a treat to see that it’s still up and running
June 2014, Last evening I visited the Stonestown Twin and watched the delightful “Chef” I was taken back to to the 70’s for the style of the building and thought wow this what the Famous Cinema150’s looked like in there day and what a treat, the staff was friendly and one of the first thing I noticed the Lobby was Lighted and very clean for a Theater over 40 years old, in walking into the theater, It’s smell was distinctive not offensive you knew you were in a old theater, seats were also showing there age but still comfortable, You also knew immediately this theater was cut in half due to the positions of the seats and screen, But thinking wow would this be a special theater today if it was still one, The sound had a slight Echo very reminisce of these older cinema’s, I enjoyed the Movie it was great but I also enjoyed this theater for it’s good and bad, it is a “gem” I am sure you will not see the army of folks to try to safe once it is decided to close it but for now it is a Cinema Treasure to “Treasure” while it is still here, I encourage you to Give it a Visit…….
Not really; it is very similar to a number of pavilion-like buildings like banks, some college campus buildings, and other theaters built in that late 1960s-1970s period. It reminds me of some of the architecture at the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65. Its actually a smaller version of a design that UA used for some of its D-150 theaters such as the one in Santa Clara. View link.
I am surprised that this theater has survived; many, if not most twins of this era are either gone or converted to something else. I would have thought that a larger multiplex would have replaced it at Stonestown long before now, and there should have been an opportunity when the mall got that big makeover over a decade ago.There was a failed big box space near the Emporium, whoops, Macy’s end of the mall that might have been a space suited to conversion.
and apparently it’s changing over from 35mm to digital projection next week – what an odd looking theater.
Didn’t change the Seats,sounds like a nightmare to watch a movie,Money must have been the reason.
Contradicting claims above (and at CinemaTour and other web sites) that the U.A. Stonestown opened in 1971, Boxoffice Magazine’s issue of November 23, 1970, announced that United Artists had recently opened its Stonestown Cinema with the inaugural attraction “The Owl and the Pussycat.”
Also, in the earliest references it’s always called the UA Stonestown Cinema, not UA Stonestown Theater. Starting in 1974 it is called the UA Stonestown Twin, as it was until recently. For some reason, the Regal Cinemas web site now lists it merely as the Stonestown Twin, and the Fandango page to which Regal links for show times lists it with the oddly redundant name UA Stonestown Twin 2.
Eric******Thanks for the info on the Vogue. Iam glad it is still open. The UA/Regal Stonestown will take to much $$ to fix up, Regal won’t spend the money. They are almost out of San Francisco.
The SF Theatre Foundation just bought the Vogue and will operate it as Peerless Entertainment. Maybe they can save this theatre too…
I know for a fact the sound systems here are neglected and not maintained or calibrated. They had DTS sound installed in the past and since they are reduced to showing the worst art house fare they can get, most of these films probably do not come with DTS disks to play. Therefore, you’re probably hearing backup analog sound off of the film.
Yeah, I’d really like to see another operator take this theatre over. Reposition the seats, re-align the isles to the sides, not down the center, and get rid of the advertising. Some nice blue or red screen lights (like at the Lumiere) would be nice.
John***Check out the SF Cron today they have the Vogue listed under new management. Opening Aug 24 2007. No UA/REGAL logo. Do you know what is going on?
no they still operate the Vogue! They will dump this one as soon the high rent lease is up with the Mall. I believe that is 2010.
Thank God they have left most of San Francisco. The UA circuit in the last few years in SF ran their theatres in not the best ways. You can go to the same art movie in San Jose and hear the surrounds from time to time. The UA Stonestown is a chop up house. It’s days are numbered. I think when the lease runs out with the Stonestown people they are out of San Francisco. Once a great circuit in the 50’s they got money hungrey in the 60’s and 70’s and did the big cut job on their big houses. I am surprised they did’t go for a 4 plex at the UA Stonestown. The manager told me many years ago they keep the surrounds low because you can hear them in the next theatre. Many people just stay home and they can turn up or down their Dolby Digital sound system the way they want as the UA Stonestown sits empty. Good place to go for Halloween look for the dust on top of the surround speakers and cobwebs up high. They are real! The UA/Regal Stonestown now books any thing that they can get not just art films.
This theatre shows only arthouse films. They very often have understated soundtracks. Sometimes patrons mistaken this subtleness as the sound system and/or surrounds “not working”. Want loud blaring sound….go to a hollywood film.
“Watch out a spider may come down on your popcorn” – how ridiculous!
On another note, as of 8/17/07 this is now the last UA theatre in San Francisco. Their once great presence is over.
Last time I went last year I looked up at the ceiling. It was full of cobwebs. Watch out a spider may come down on your popcorn. The surround speakers are never up full. I was told by a cranky manager that if they turned them up they will be heard in the next theatre. I will pass on this UA dump.
Wow, drove by Saturday and saw the new sign all lit up very bright. I bet the mall paid for it. LOL.
Oh, is that what they’re doing to the sign? I figured it had been vandalized and they just left it like that (typical Regal).
Greetings Everyone:
Yes the staff is very friendly and the place is kept very clean. UA should have torn out the angled ornamental wall at the front so as to open the screen horizontally for scope. Let us not forget the huge (and free) parking lot!
Meanwhile UA continues to upgrade the theatre. They are presently refurbishing the 19th Avenue roadside marquee with new faceplates. The old ones had yellowed from age. Lets hope the trend is continued.
Mike
Hi Eric,
I have seen those pictures on the CT site (I know you from film-tech as well as your other posts of San Francisco cinemas) and I saw “Brokeback Mountain” on the opposite (left) cinema than the one pictured. Simply hold up a mirror to that shot and it gives you the idea of what it looks like. I poked my head into the other cinema for a moment and it was a true mirrored cinema. Sometimes twin-plexes will have a larger cinema than the other, but not in this case.
All of those movies you mentioned are all scope 2.39 films, so I guess you would have had to sit in the third or fourth row to get a good view! I am also surprised that Lucas would consider this a place to screen SW:Ep1. The DTS and analog sound aren’t very good, the image bleeds on all four corners of the screen and they need to turn the ceiling lights down further for the feature (on dark scenes it is dim in there and you notice the lights rather quickly).
I also forgot in the first post to mention a few things I liked about the place: the lobby is gorgeous, there is no annoying automation present (the lights stayed down for most of the credits), the staff were very nice and it was spotless when I visited. You can tell the people running the place do like to take care of it. Would be nice to upgrade the screen and projection first, and then the position of those seats. ;)
(Note: I also visited the Daly City 20 and made a comment on here; also a nice place to see a movie. Hopefully on my next visit I will check out some other SF landmarks.)