The Avenue Theatre

2650 San Bruno Ave.  | map |

Opened: July 20, 1927. It's in the Portola area, east of the Excelsior district. The theatre is on San Bruno between Felton and Paul.

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the pre-opening photo from his collection. The photo, taken five days before the opening, appears on a Found SF page about the theatre. It's also on the San Francisco Public Library website.

Seats: 1,000 -- in a stadium-style layout.

Architects: It was a Reid Brothers design for the Ackerman & Harris circuit.

Stage Depth: 15'. Ed Stout and Phil Messner, both involved in the Avenue's operation in the 60s through the 80s, note that the theatre has no fly capabilities. Any drapes were dead hung from the roof structure. The installation (after sound anyway) was with the screen about 11' upstage with a traveler in front. Any live acts were done in front of that.

A promo piece that appeared in the August 16, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the article.

The Silent Era at the Avenue: In the mid 60s the organ from the State-Lake Theatre in Chicago was installed onstage by Ed Stout and his associates and the theatre became a popular venue for silent films with Bob Vaughn at the console. Later early talkies and other offerings (like a 3D festival) were added to the mix. The organ stayed in the theatre until the early 1980s.

Dick Meister, on a page titled The Art of Silence, talks about the joys of shows at the Avenue. There's an interview with Bob Vaughn on the Musicians Union Local 6 website. 2002 obituaries for Vaughn can be seen on SF Gate and The Independent. Thanks to Gary Meyer for sending along the links.

 

Edward Millington Stout III himself tells the tale of the organ installation at the Avenue: 

 

"Dear Friends of the Avenue Adventure -- There are many, many tall tales being projected on the stained and torn Picture Sheets of history, as it relates to the Avenue Theatre's not so Silent Photoplays. The story begins with my old friend Vernon Gregory, who ran a very successful photo-plate manufacturing at First and Brannon Streets. The company was called Gregory & Falk and they were the very highest quality photo plate makers in the Bay Area. At that time, San Francisco was the third largest 'printing' city in the United States and everyone in the City, who wanted to work, had a good job. 'Greg' had a Junk-O-Phone Theatre Organ on the third floor of his business and he always shared the organ with the ATOE and organ buffs, in general. He was a very kind man. In the early 1960s, Vern purchased the original style 240 Wurlitzer from the State Lake Theatre in Chicago and he and his son removed the organ and it ended up with five or six other organs on the famed 3rd floor of his business. He had many ATOE concerts up on that 3rd floor on the Junk-pile organ, which was a six rank Smith married to a style 'D' Wurlitzer.

"Greg said to me, 'I think I will sell the present organ and install it [the State Lake organ] on the 3rd floor. Without thinking, I said, 'Why not install it in a San Francisco theatre, where the general public could enjoy it?' Greg, also without thinking, said to me, 'FIND ME A THEATRE!' Of course that was the wrong thing to say and I told my best SF pal, Don Micheletti, the mandate. Don said, 'I know where there is an old closed theatre, up on Potrero Hill.' I insisted we go there at that moment and we charged up the old hill in Don’s beautiful Oldsmobile. There it was, a perfect little 1912 silent film theatre. I took down the address and looked up the owners at City Hall the next day. The next Monday morning I informed Greg, 'Well, we have a theatre for the State Lake organ!' He said, 'What have you done?' The rent was very little and we moved the style 240 into the 1912 shoebox. 

 

"Around 1964, Steve Levin, whose father owned General Theatrical Co., told Steve he was willing to rent the Avenue Theatre for our 'not so silent film' operation. During the time we built the three chambers, directly behind the picture-sheet, we were open seven nights a week. Henry Myers, the head of the 'operators union' allowed me to be the projectionist five nights a week, as I had a union card. So while the Avenue organ was being installed, we shared many wonderful adventures. As I remember, we were running silent photoplays on Friday and Saturday nights during my last year of association. It was impossible to me to be involved with the Avenue, while running a very successful organ maintenance firm. I believe Ken Eaton and friends took over the Avenue operation and then an experienced fellow, Geoff Hansen, took over and he ran a successful operation for nearly twenty years. I am glad there is still some interest in that valued part of Theatre Organ history. Good cheers to all. Ed Stout."

Thanks, Ed!

 

 

Pages from a 1966 flyer. Thanks to Peter Mintun for sharing this from his collection.  

The October 31, 1966 Halloween show, "The Man from Beyond" with Harry Houdini, was attended by Jack Tillmany. He reports: "Along with this was a WurliTzer implemented seance in an attempt to lure Houdini himself into dropping by, as he had once promised to do on Halloween, or something like that. It was a lot of fun, but, alas, nary a word nor sign from Harry himself."

 

Gary Parks comments: "I love the little drawing someone did of the Avenue for the map. Looks exactly like some little theatre drawings I made for maps I drew for getting to events at various theatres with which I was affiliated. I especially like how flags are flying on all five poles. All those poles are still there. They were popular with some theatre architects. The Reid Bros. were especially fond of them, and the Avenue, and perhaps the Fairfax, are the only two with multiple poles that are all still standing."

 

 

 

The schedule for January 1970. Thanks to Peter Mintun for sharing this. 

 

 

A 1973 poster for Abel Gance's "Napoleon." Thanks to Gary Meyer for sharing this on the BAHT Facebook page. Jack Tillmany comments that "this was complete with the three projector triptych finale. That was many years before the big restoration and Opera House presentation that got so much publicity."  The restoration work was by Kevin Brownlow and presented in conjunction with Pacific Film Archive.

 

 

Kevin Walsh still has his father's membership card. Thanks, Kevin!

 

 

A 3-D festival as part of the programming in April and May 1980. Thanks to Art Siegel for sharing this flyer from his collection.

The Avenue in the Movies: It's seen in the 1977 film "Nightmare in Blood."

Closing: The theatre closed in 1984, a victim of a declining neighborhood. Patrons cars were getting broken into and some felt unsafe in the area after dark.

 

 

The Avenue made the KRON4 news the night of its closing, December 21, 1984. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for taping the minute-long segment. He's posted it on YouTube.  

Later the Avenue was in use by a church. The church left in 2015. 

The 2017 facade rehab: The repainting of the facade and restoration of the signage was funded by a big grant from the city of San Francisco along with about $10,000 in private donations. Scroll down to the 2017 photos for links to many stories about the restoration work. See the Facebook page Renew The Avenue for current news. 

Status: The theatre is now vacant but still in good shape inside.


Interior views: 

A pre-opening interior view from the Jack Tillmany collection.  

Gary Parks comments about the photo on Cinema Treasures: "In this 1927 view, finishing touches are being put on the auditorium. The organ has been installed, and its console—covered with a tarp—is seen in the pit. Swell shades for the chamber on the right indicate the heart of the organ has been installed, but the ornamental plaster grilles have yet to be inserted in front of the chambers. The chamber on the left may have been left empty. Many smaller theatres had matching chambers, but if the instrument was small, it might occupy a chamber on only one side. 

"This photo affords a fine view of the high quality paint scheme of the circular lighting cove in the ceiling. Maidens, garlands, swags and urns of flowers create an airborne garden effect. Instead of a chandelier, an ornate plaster wreath-like ring, containing many lightbulbs, serves as both a focal point and additional source of illumination. It was removed in the later redecoration, but an identical feature remained in Reid Bros.' Amazon (Apollo) Theatre until it was gutted." The photo also appears on the San Francisco Public Library website.

A look down from the top of the stadium style auditorium.That's the asbestos curtain we see within the proscenium. Note the unfinished work in the organ chambers. This 1927 view in the San Francisco Public Library collection appears on a Found SF page about the theatre. 

A c.1940 look at the theatre from the upper seating section. No balcony -- it's a stadium style house. The photo from the Jack Tillmany collection appears on Cinema Treasures.

Gary Parks, who posted it there, comments: "The original sculptural and decorative scheme of the auditorium is seen here, though very late in its life, as the orchestra pit and original organ console have been eliminated, for the sake of adding a few more rows of seats. The organ grilles and proscenium are very typical of theatre designs by the Reid Bros., with striking parallels in other San Francisco theatres, and other theatres as far away as Sonoma and Monterey." 

Jack comments: "The Avenue experienced a serious fire in 1940, and was closed for a while as a result of it. When it re-opened it had been brought 'up to date' as we used to say, so it looks different in the pre-1940 photos from the post-1940 ones. I believe the photo was actually taken right after the fire and reflects the original 1927 decor. When it reopened, the ubiquitous wood nymphs [seen in the photo below] had suddenly emerged from the ashes." 

A c.1952 look at the interior from the Jack Tillmany collection. And, he notes, here we get a nice peek at the moderne nymphs adjacent to the proscenium. 
 

A 1960s photo by W. A. Hagaman from the Jack Tillmany collection. Note the new organ console installation. Gary Parks comments: 

"The murals of the ladies and flowers flanking the proscenium were painted over at some point by the organ folks who ran the silent movies from the 60s into the 80s. At that time, they wanted to get rid of the murals, as the desired look was to bring back the 1920s atmosphere. Late Deco and Moderne murals had not yet entered the 'window' of revival. I was told about this repainting directly some years ago by Ed Stout, who was co-running the theatre. 

"Those nymphs were separately painted on wooden cutouts, and were tan and mustard and brown and gold, as I recall.  They were removed but -- as I later found out -- were not thrown away, but ended up in the basement. Decades later, when Mark Santa Maria did salvage in the place just before it got Churched, he collected them and sold them. Mark got them at the same time as he got the doors to the auditorium, with the duplicate nymphs done in etched glass -- the ones Kevin Spacey bought."

A proscenium view. It's a detail from a c.2019 photo with the building's Loopnet listing.

 

See a 2017 proscenium view from Elisa Laird-Metke that appeared on a Renew the Avenue Facebook post. Also see a "then-and-now" comparison on another post. There's also a 360 degree panorama on that page where you can use the cursor to rotate around the auditorium.

 

A proscenium detail. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

A bit of Reid Brothers ornament. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

A view from the back of the house. It's a photo from Loopnet. It also appears in Graeme McBain's 2024 post about the theatre for the private Facebook group Theatre Architecture. Also see a similar shot shared by Elisa Laird-Metke in a 2017 Renew the Avenue Facebook post. 

 

 

An ugly duckling of a booth. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 
 

The back rows. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

House right. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

Gary Parks comments: "The nice thing is the interior, colors, 'clouds' and all, looks perfectly presentable enough now to serve the public until such time as some kind of a restoration can happen, perhaps combining the best of the original decor with the best of the 1940s decor which survives into a pleasing combination. One thing that would be great to do early-on, is to get power and light into the Spanish niches on the sidewalls near the rear, to make those corners more inviting. There were originally large urns in those niches--likely removed in the 40s remodel."

 

Sidewall ornament from the moderne re-do. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 
 

 

A house right detail. The clouds are courtesy of the church that was formerly a tenant. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

 

A look to house left. Photo: Loopnet

 

Another house left view. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

 A view from onstage. Photo: Elisa Laird-Metke - Renew the Avenue - September 2017 

 

 

A wider view from behind the curtains. It's a photo that appears with the Loopnet listing for the theatre. 

 

A photo by Gary Parks of one of the interior doors. It appears on a post on the Facebook page Renew The Avenue. Gary comments: "The actual mahogany door frames are original from the 1920s (and are even drawn on the blueprints) but were retrofitted with their etched glass in the c.1940 remodel."

The Portola Planet ran an August 2017 story "Apparently Kevin Spacey Has Our Doors" that didn't quite get the story (and a few other items) right. It was also covered (again) on a Renew the Avenue Facebook post. Gary adds: "My friend, antique dealer and architectural salvage specialist, Mark Santa Maria actually did the restoration of the wood doors -- obtaining them from the church folks, along with the glass. The art glass shop I was working for at the time furnished an exact replica of one of the panels which had a crack in it. I put together a packet of historical information on the Avenue Theatre for Mr. Spacey, which Mark gave to him."


More exterior views:  

A 1940 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection at the San Francisco Public Library. The photo was taken after a fire at the theatre. On the end of the marquee "Watch for reopening date." 

The theatre had a little problem in 1940, as we see on the marquee. Time for an update anyway. It's a Jack Tillmany collection photo at the San Francisco Public Library.Jack comments that the current vertical sign on the building may date from the remodel following the 1940 fire.

A closer view of the entrance during the closure following the 1940 fire. The photo, on Cinema Treasures from the Jack Tillmany collection, comes with this interesting note by Gary Parks: "...The theatre would ultimately be given a new vertical sign—identical in style to that of the Metro Theatre on Union St., and a simple, wedge-shaped marquee, and remodeled ticket lobby. The original doors were outfitted with new glass, featuring etched nude maidens holding orbs, legs bent under them, with large flowers behind. 

"This motif would repeat in painted form on murals which would replace the organ fronts. Approximately fifty years later, when the Avenue became a church, congregants deemed the etched nude figures inappropriate, and so they were sold to architectural salvage specialist, Mark Santa Maria, along with the inner set of original mahogany doors, and were soon sold to actor Kevin Spacey." 

 

 

A 1940 view taken after the new marquee and vertical were installed. Thanks to Dan Fontes for sharing this on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page. It was taken by commercial photographer George F. Ingham of Berkeley. His client was the sign company, Wonderlite Neon Products Co. at 170 Otis St. Both firms had their stamps on the back. 

A 1947 look north on San Bruno Ave. with the theatre and an H-line streetcar. The photo is from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection at the San Francisco Public Library. The photo also puts in an appearance on a Found SF page about the Avenue.  

A 1967 photo by Tom Gray of the theatre in its white period. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection. Gary Parks comments: "Wow—did the theatre ever look chalky and weathered when that shot was taken. I’ll bet it hadn’t been repainted since the 1940 redo."

Jack notes: "Columbus Savings 4-walled neighborhood theatres which were otherwise closed weekday afternoons for a series of promotional matinees, which appealed to the something for nothing crowd, which Columbus was trying to lure into their customer base."

The theatre running "Jungle Book" and "Charlie the Lonesome Cougar." It's a c.1968 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. 

A 1976 facade view from a preliminary historical assessment of the building by the City Planning Department. Here's the PDF of the report: http://50.17.237.182/docs/1976/5982003.PDF

Thanks to William David French Jr. for digging out the file. He posted it as a comment in response to a query on the BAHT Facebook page about the theatre's facade by Elisa Laird-Metke. 

Another view from the 1976 City Planning Department report.

A facade detail from the 1976 City Planning Department report. Evidently there once had been textured stucco in these panels, now down to bare concrete.

A photo by Gregg Mancuso from the 1981 book "In The Neighborhoods." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for posting the photo on the BAHT Facebook page.

A December 1984 photo by Tom Gray from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "In later years, the Avenue entrepreneurs helped pay the overhead (which silent films on Friday evenings failed to do), by 4-walling it out on Saturdays and Sundays to various 'ethnic' groups who ran Mexican, Indian, and German films & bought lots of popcorn."

Gary Parks adds: "Whoever chose the colors for the repaint -- which is how it was the first time I saw it -- chose well. They may be in the earth tone direction, but they follow colors I have discovered on actual Reid bros. theatres, and having the flat arches much darker than the rest of the facade is correct. Early photos of the Metro(politan) and others such as the Broadway in Burlingame show those same kind of features being painted significantly darker than the other parts of the facade. I wonder if either Ed Stout or Steve Levin chose the colors? Clearly, it was someone who knew what they were doing."

A 1991 photo from Gary Parks on Cinema Treasures. 

A 1991 detail of the Avenue by Joseph Greco on Flickr. 

Thanks to William David French, Jr. for this 2008 facade view taken while the building was used as a church. 

A 2008 facade detail by William David French, Jr.

Looking north on San Bruno Ave. toward the vacant theatre. It's a May 2015 shot from Google Maps.

A 2015 look at the abandoned theatre from Maxine Chong. Her post on the Facebook page San Francisco Remembered elicited many comments.

An October 2015 view. Photo: Bill Counter 

Still sitting vacant. The most recent user had been a church. Photo: Bill Counter - 2015 

An April 2017 photo from the Facebook page Renew The Avenue. The facade scaffolded for rehab work.

A peek behind the mesh. It's a May 2017 photo from the Facebook page Renew The Avenue. The work was done by Winning Colors Painting and Restoration.

An entrance view appearing with a July 2017 Chronicle article about the challenges of doing planning work in the Portola neighborhood.

The readerboard pre-restoration. Photo: Michael Mintz

The readerboard pre-restoration. Photo: Michael Mintz

 The readerboard pre-restoration. Photo: Michael Mintz

The top of the restored vertical. The photo was a July 30, 2017 post on the Renew The Avenue page.

Testing the neon. It was a July 31, 2017 post on the Portola Neighborhood Association Facebook page.  The photo also appeared with an August 2017 S.F. Weekly article "Neon Revival: Portola's Avenue Theatre Returns." The price tag they give for the facade and sign work: $250,000.

The contractor for the sign was Jim Rizzo's Neon Works, based on Oakland. Greg King is also on the project, researching and designing the flasher unit for making the letters animate. Greg noted:

"The sign was full of rot holes from being compacted with pigeon shit. This rotted the upper E and the structural angle iron. The thirty somethings in charge of purse strings were dead set against any original standard colors so changed all colors to new ones even though I made my feelings really known about that one. Anyway who would of thought that thing would ever light again."

Jim Rizzo near the top of the vertical. Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017

Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017

Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017

Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017

Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017

Photo:  Michael Mintz -  BAHT Facebook page - August 2017. Thanks, Michael!

A photo from the fun August 5, 2017 Portola Planet Story "Solving the Avenue's Neon Color Mystery." The Planet also had a June 2017 story, "See Your Name Up In Lights," about on the  crowdfunding drive for the restoration project.

Thanks to Greg King for this September 2017 photo. The official "unveiling" for the facade and sign work was scheduled for September 13. Mayor Ed Lee was to flip the switch. Greg has been working on the restoration project.

A great shot by Christopher Michel on Flickr. It appeared with a September 11, 2017 story on Hoodline: "Electric 'Avenue' - Classic Portola Movie Palace Gets New Neon."  The Hoodline story also has a video version by Mr. Michel showing the sign's animation.

A photo from a September 12, 2017 Portola Planet story.

 

 

A 2019 photo from the building's Loopnet listing. 

The blueprints: Thanks to Gary Parks for these photos of the prints that are in his collection. He posted them on the BAHT Facebook page with these comments: "Here are some images of the Reid Bros. blueprints of San Francisco's Avenue Theatre, the facade and signage of which are currently being restored. I have just shared these with the folks at Renew The Avenue. Note in the last photo--of the original marquee--that the theatre was then planned to be called the San Bruno, for San Bruno Avenue."

 

Thanks, Gary! 

More information: See the Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour pages. The site Found SF has a page on the Avenue.

Want it? See the building's Loopnet listing. 

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