The Alhambra Theatre

 240 Eddy St.  | map |

Opening: The first venue on the site at the NE corner of Eddy and Jones was constructed in 1890 as the Republican Wigwam. It was was two blocks west of the 1880s Panorama building at Eddy and Mason that ended up in 1903 as the Tivoli Opera House.

Peter M. Field, author of the 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time," comments:

"The Republicans used the Wigwam for political rallies from when they built it in 1890 at least through 1892, as well as renting it out for various performances and meetings, such as a wrestling match and a YMCA meeting." 

Peter notes that in December 1892 the Board of Supervisors gave the Wigwam owners permission to convert it for theatrical use. That decision was noted on page nine of the December 29, 1892 issue of the Chronicle. The venue got a writeup headed "The New Theater" on page 3 of the March 18, 1893 issue of the Chronicle.

The remodeled building opened as the National Theatre on April 3, 1893 with "The Black Crook" as the initial attraction. An April 5 ad noted that seats were going for 15, 25 and 30 cents. Jack Tillmany comments that throughout 1893 the National seemed to have all the usual problems: illegal booze, unpaid actors, openings, closures, re-openings. John C. Byrnes was the proprietor. In the 1893 city directory he's listed along with with Percy Hunting as the manager. It's also listed in the 1894 city directory as the National. In the 1895 city directory it was listed as Scheel's Auditorium. Peter has the story on Scheel:

"Herr Fritz Scheel, a well known German conductor touring the U.S., organized an orchestra to perform at the Auditorium starting in September 1894 and going into 1895 as well. Though the newspapers referred to it as the Auditorium, Scheel had it listed in the 1895 city directory as Scheel’s Auditorium. Scheel was apparently very German. He often didn’t get along well with his musicians, was dismissed by a women’s orchestra, and was chased by a lawsuit from a New York musicians union over failure to pay their salaries. 

 

"He had to settle this last issue before he was allowed to lead an orchestra at the Mechanic’s Pavilion, at that time located near City Hall. The newspapers reported he didn’t speak English, and that probably didn’t help matters. Yet apparently lots of venues wanted him because of his competence and popularity with the public. Most of the items I found were complimentary to him."

 

A c.1895 view by an unknown photographer with Scheel's Auditorium visible on Jones St. two-thirds of the way up on the left edge of the image. Thanks to Peter M. Field for locating this in the Open SF History Project collection. It was taken from the Odd Fellows Building at 7th and Market. In the foreground it's the Hibernia Bank on the left and Prager's Department Store / Murphy Building in the center. 

 

The Auditorium, with its triangular roofline, is seen at Jones and Eddy in this detail from the c.1895 image. Thanks, Peter!

In 1896 and 1897 it's just referred to as the Auditorium, according to Peter's research. In 1896 the Republicans, headed by Theodore Reichert, were using the hall again as their campaign headquarters. They promised that the building would be "attractively decorated."

 

This picture of Theodore Reichert and a discussion of his accomplishments, appeared on page eleven of the August 14, 1896 issue of the Chronicle. Thanks to Peter Field for locating the item. For their 1884 campaign headquarters the Republicans had built a structure at Geary and Stockton that later became the Wigwam Theatre. 

 

An 1897 article about the return of Herr Scheel and a mention of his earlier concerts at the Auditorium. Thanks to Peter Field for locating this in the August 28 issue of the S.F. Call. 

 

An image appearing with the Call's August 28, 1897 article. Their caption: "Fritz Scheel, Who Expects to Return Here on September 7."

 

A major rebuild for the site in 1898:

This March 6, 1898 Examiner article noted that the new Alhambra Theatre would rise on the site of the National / Auditorium as a $300,000 project. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the item. Perhaps the article was overly optimistic as far as stating the proposed work as new construction rather than a remodel.

Architect: M. J. Lyon

A drawing of the new theatre that appeared in the August 1898 issue of California Architect and Building News. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing this from his collection. Presumably that's the Cafe Annex over on the right, evidently never built.

The Chronicle also covered the news in a page thirty-two story on March 6, 1898 with information that contradicted the Examiner's story of the same day. Peter Field notes that the Chronicle said that the budget was only $25,000, not $300,000. Peter also reports another item that lends credence to the theory that the "new" Alhambra was only a remodel. A building permit for $6,000 of work involving “alterations and additions to the old Auditorium Building" was reported on page twelve in the Chronicle's “Real Estate and Building” column on April 30, 1898.

Peter also comments: 

"Another reason I’m still unsure if the old building was demolished prior to erection of a new one is that the original Republican Wigwam on the site could hold an audience of up to 5,000 people. This sounds large enough to remodel into a theater." 

They didn't make their projected June 1 opening date noted in the Examiner article. Construction took them six months. Announcement of the impending opening was on August 28 in a page twenty-seven Chronicle "Amusements" column.

An August 31, 1898 discussion in the San Francisco Call about the bill that was to open the theatre. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the article for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. 

The Alhambra Theatre opened September 3, 1898 as a vaudeville joint. While it had been intended as that by its promoters, it was soon a legit operation of Belasco & Mayer. That firm also had the Alcazar on O'Farrell St. and, beginning in 1900, the Central at 8th and Market.

An 1898 Alhambra program on Calisphere from the from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.

By 1900 the Alhambra had been taken over by Alfred Ellinghouse and Samuel Mott.

Seating: The Examiner article said it would have 2,300. Actual capacity was about 1,650. The breakdown was 114 in the main floor boxes, 863 on the main floor, about 30 in 10 balcony boxes, 345 fixed seats in the rest of the balcony and 296 in the gallery at the back of the balcony.

A main floor seating chart from the 1900 edition of the San Francisco Blue Book. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing the image from a copy of the book that's in his collection.

A balcony and gallery seating chart from the 1900 Blue Book. Thanks, Glenn. 

 

 

A 1905 ad. Thanks to Ken Emerson for locating it for a post on the page for the San Francisco History to 1915 Facebook group. 

Closing: It was finished off by the earthquake and fire in 1906. Or was it? See the answer below. Demolition of the later building that was a dance hall, ice rink and bowling alley followed a fire in 1981. The site is now the location of Boeddeker Park.

Thanks to Glenn Koch for this unpublished c.1905 photo from his collection. The photo appeared as a post of Glenn's on the BAHT Facebook page. That's Eddy St. running across in front of the theatre with Jones heading up the Hill. 

The March 6, 1898 Examiner article mentioned a cafe annex that was planned next to the theatre but evidently was never built. Peter Field notes that it shows up in a drawing with a March 6 Chronicle article but isn't seen here in this photo.

Here in this April 18, 1906 view we see trouble headed toward the Alhambra. That's the Flood Building, at Market on Powell, on the middle of the right edge of the photo. The photo is from the Bancroft Library.

There's also a version in the San Francisco Public Library collection. Written on the back of theirs was "Mechanic Pavilion, Larkin bet. Grove + Hayes, where auditorium is now. Alhambra Theatre - 240 Eddy." Meaning that the photo was taken from the Mechanic's Pavilion. A version of the photo on Calisphere from the California Historical Society is credited to Mathewson. 

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this detail from the image above. At the time of the cataclysm the play at the theatre was "Queen of the Highbinders." 


Post-1906 adventures on the corner: 

The $120,000 Arcadia Dancing Pavilion was opened on the site on Friday May 14, 1915 by Mike Fisher, a gentleman not to be confused with the well known theatreman E.A. Fischer. That Mr. Fischer ran Fischer's Theatre on O'Farrell before the quake.

 Jack Tillmany raises an interesting question: "Was the theatre building really destroyed in 1906?"  Well, the answer is provided in this post-fire photo:

At the lower left note the ruins of the Tivoli Opera House at Mason and Eddy. Mason is along the bottom of the photo with Eddy running east up to the upper right corner of the image. Follow Eddy up a block to Taylor and then another to Jones. As Peter Field notes, the lots at the corner of Eddy and Jones are rubble with nothing usable to rebuild. This detail is from a California Historical Society photo on Calisphere. On that site click on the image once to get a larger view, then click again for another increase in size. 

A postcard from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection, appearing on the Open SF History Project website courtesy of Molly Blaisdell. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it in the collection. 

Gary Parks comments: 

 "I don’t know for certain, but I would not at all be surprised if the Arcadia Dancing Pavilion was designed by Cunningham and Politeo—who did the Oakland T&D, as the facade is very similar. Still, style pattern books were everywhere back then, and so it could have been someone else."

Mike Fisher didn't run the Arcadia for long before selling or leasing it out to become the Techau Tavern Ice Palace. A page eight story in the February 15, 1916 issue of the Chronicle was headed “Dancing Pavilion To Be Made Into Ice Rink.” An April 30, 1916 Chronicle story on page fifteen advised “New Ice Rink Will Have A Gala Opening.” Thanks to Peter for finding the Chronicle stories. The new business was a venture of the same people running the Techau Tavern on Powell St. near Market. 

These guys are from the Canadian Club, one of the hockey teams competing at the Ice Palace. It only ran for about a year as an ice rink. It didn't make it into either the 1916 or 1917 city directories under the Ice Palace name. In the 1918 city directory there's again a listing for it as the Arcadia.

An interior view of the Arcadia Dancing Pavilion from the Jack Tillmany collection.

An Arcadia view from the Peter Field collection.  

The dance hall was renamed Fisher's Dancing Pavilion ("formerly Arcadia") on Tuesday evening May 15, 1923. It's a May 1925 photo looking east on Eddy St. from the Chris Carlsson collection that he gave to Peter Field. It's also in the Jesse B. Cook Collection at the UC Bancroft Library.  

As Peter notes, Fisher "ran it, sold it, ran it again." Peter also found a listing in 1926 for it as Fisher's Dancing Academy rather than Pavilion. From 1923 to 1927 Eva Bullerdieck’s School of Dancing was also listed as a user of the space.

A detail from the previous photo showing the Fisher's operation on the theatre site. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this one.

From 1930 to 1935 the building was known as the Golden Gate Ballroom. 

Jack comments on a photo from his collection: "Fast forward 20 years, and now we have a Skating Rink! And just a sliver of what looks like a theatrical marquee!" It ran as the Golden Gate Roller Rink from 1937 until 1941.

A look up Jones St. during the Roller Rink era. It's a photo from the Chris Carlsson collection. Thanks to Peter Field for finding it. 

Jack comments on this photo from his collection: "Eight years later it's the Downtown Bowl in the background behind that #31 Streetcar. It was 'built and operated' by Henry Golobic, and opened Thursday 30 April 1942. It closed in 1977 because, according to Golobic, his business began to decline and his customers were 'afraid to walk the hellish streets of the Tenderloin.' Probably better photos of this site, with its incredible neon (a neon bowling ball knocking down pins) survive on some neon sites or somewhere."

Pin setters getting automated out of a job as the lanes are rebuilt with automatic equipment. It's a photo from the Chris Carlsson collection via Peter Field.

Scoring a game at the Downtown Bowl. It's a photo from the Chris Carlsson collection via Peter Field.

Two stewardesses out for a big night on the town. It's a photo from the Chris Carlsson collection. Thanks to Peter Field for locating it.

A postcard from the building's Downtown Bowl days. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding it on the site Card Cow.

The ruins on April 8, 1981 after a fire at the building. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo. Since 1985 Boeddeker Park has been on the site.

More information:  Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.

For a fine history of the neighborhood see Peter M. Field's 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." It's available through Amazon.  

The earlier Alhambra: An Alhambra Theatre at 325 Bush St. had opened in the early 1870s. That operation was no relation to this one on Eddy. The Bush St. Alhambra had dropped the name by 1874 becoming known as Maguire's New Theatre and the Bush Street Theatre. 

The later Alhambra: Again no relation to the one lost in 1906. The name was unused for twenty years, until the Alhambra at 2326 Polk St. opened in 1926. It's a design by Timothy Pflueger. 

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