Regency II
1268 Sutter Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94109
1268 Sutter Street,
San Francisco,
CA
94109
6 people
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Worked there from ‘91 til they closed. Always had the same management team while I worked there.
Manager Dale Fisher
Asst Manager Lydia Rodriguez
Asst Manager “Steven” from the R3
I started off as an usher there, worked in concessions for a little bit, and closed the theater in the Box Office.
Regency II did have an escalator from the street level into the lobby.
I remember seeing Days of Heaven in 70mm 6-track sound and you had to take an escalator to get up to theatre. Was it this one or were there other theatres that had an escalator?
This has NOT been demolished! It’s now the Argonaut advertising agency.
Recent news. It has been Demolished. Nothing but a hole in the ground. I’ll try to take pics soon and upload them.
Went there only once and saw the movie Carrie. It was a nice place to see a movie, but the seats were uncomfortable.
Blumenfeld owned the Regency 1, 2 and 3, plus the Royal, Castro and Alhambra. The R3 was the smallest but had the best location (plus the management team of Jim MacMillan, Aaron Betts and Tseghazeab “Steven” Estisanos)l the R1 had the best movies (as noted above) and the bossiest, crankiest manager; the R2 had a succession of managers and the Royal had great managers but a bad location. When I was a Blumenfeld manager years ago, they often moved managers between theatres (many managers got fed up with their low salaries and lack of candy commissions and quit). The R3 closed years ago, reopened as a playhouse and currently is Ruby Skye, the city’s premier nightclub.
The one movie I saw at the REGENCY II was the reissue of THX 1138, in the Fall of 1977; this was, of course, the peak of the STAR WARS craze, when any and all Science Fiction would find a ready audience.
As I recall,the REGENCY II did make the news the following Spring, with the release of COMING HOME; there was a protest, as the theater was not wheelchair accessible, and this was a movie about disabled Vietnam Veterans.
I saw quite a few films here; I think the last one I saw was “The Last Starfighter.” It was actually quite easy to find, and was during its time part of a little cinema district between Van Ness and Polk, that included the Regency I, the Galaxy, the Royal, and the Lumiere, all within easy walking distance from each other. By the time AMC opened its multiplex on Van Ness, these theaters did not stand a chance. Because it was formerly a ballroom, the was almost no rake to the floor, but it still was a good place to see a film.
What an easy theatre to miss,Guess the locals had it all to themselves and that ain’t a bad thing!
The Regency II had Norelco DP-75 35/70mm projectors. One of the machines is currently owned by a private film collector in Menlo Park, CA. I had the other projector in Santa Clara from 2004 until 2008 when I sold it to another private collector in Los Angeles.
This theatre had a great curved screen. almost like a D-150 screen.It’s sister theatre the Reg 1 had a smaller screen and like many Blumenfield theatres they just droped masking down to make it cinemascope. I believe they both had 70mm.
Exterior photo here:–
View link
I saw THE LAST WALTZ concert film there in 1982 as a re release, and in 70MM 6-track Dolby Concert level Stereo.
also went to Regency 3 downtown and saw MISSING with Sissy Spacek, smaller than the others, and not as nice.
Regency II—-the once and future Avalon Ballroom!
I have been here ummmm 2x’s (Simon Birch, Enemy of The State)…. The Regency did suffer big time w/ the neighboring UA Galaxy and AMC 1000 nearby.
As I remember you go up the escalator and at the top you curve right over to the box office counter area. The decor and auditorium looked nice. The ONLY thing I did not like was the CHAIRS. They constantly moved while I was sitting. Grrrrrr
This has reopened as a ballroom again and occasionally has live concerts!