Theatres of San Francisco (CA) (Images of America) [Paperback]

Jack Tillmany (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 5, 2005

You read the sad stories in the papers: another ornate, 1920s, single-screen theatre closes, to be demolished and replaced by a strip mall. That's progress, and in this 20-screen multiplex world, it's happening more and more. Only a handful of the 100 or so neighborhood theatres that once graced these streets are left in San Francisco, but they live on in the photographs featured in this book. The heyday of such venues as the Clay, Noe, Metro, New Mission, Alexandria, Coronet, Fox, Uptown, Coliseum, Surf, El Rey, and Royal was a time when San Franciscans thronged to the movies and vaudeville shows, dressed to the hilt, to see and be seen in majestic art deco palaces. Unfortunately, this era has passed into history despite the dedicated efforts of many neighborhood preservation groups.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jack Tillmany, former owner of the Gateway Cinema in San Francisco and a revival programming pioneer, brings the city's theatres to life in this amazing selection of vintage images. Drawing from his personal archive collected during a 30-year career in cinema management, he paints a detailed story of the golden age of theatre, both live and cinematic. It was a time of stunning architecture, elegance, and opulence, and this volume is a reminder of the pre-multiplex days when almost every neighborhood boasted its own beloved theatre.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (September 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738530204
• ISBN-13: 978-0738530208
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great reminder of those (mostly) gone palaces, October 31, 2005

By 

Michael Favareille (Pinole, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theatres of San Francisco (CA) (Images of America) (Paperback)

Jack Tillmany, the author, has owned and/or managed several movie houses in the San Francisco Bay Area and is perhaps one of the best sources for photographs of theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. This book gives at least one photo of every theater that ever operated in San Francisco (except for "storefront" theaters that was the first public outlets to show hard porn--I felt the Screening Room should have been included for historical reasons). All the Market Street houses, neighborhood theaters, "international" houses (art/foreign films have always been popular here), and even the current multiplexes. A small amount of history is included with each photograph, not an in-depth history, but a nugget of knowledge. (I would love to see a McFarland-type book on San Francisco theaters.) Many great photos, my favorite being the showing of the Howard Hughes production "The Outlaw" at the United Artists on Market Street. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice, January 29, 2006

By 

BruceH (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Theatres of San Francisco (CA) (Images of America) (Paperback)

I didn't see the York Theater in it, but just about every other movie house in the city seems to be here. Lots of information, too, on the ups and downs of these theaters; name-changes, remodelings, changes in ownership, changes in the surrounding neighborhood, and in many cases, dates when the theaters were closed or demolished. A great resource.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradise Lost, July 8, 2006

By 

Phillip M. Gray - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theatres of San Francisco (CA) (Images of America) (Paperback)

A welcome addition to anyone interested in San Francisco's past though fans of the heyday of Hollywood's golden era will most likely feel a twinge of melancholy at the loss of almost all of the theatres documented in this excellent history.

Sad that today's generation will never experience what it was like to step inside one of these grand theatres and for a couple of hours be transported to another world in an atmosphere that rivaled most real palaces.

Even sader that today's theatres are huge multiplexes with high admissions fees showing films on small screens in ugly unadorned "boxes" with an audience that thinks it's acceptable to talk constantly to friends or on a cell phone with no regard to people who actually want to enjoy the film.

Thanks to Mr. Tillmany we at least have a history of what the movie going experience was once like.

Phil Gray