Mysteries

Here are a few that we're trying to identify ---

Thanks to Chris Rini for locating this shot of an unidentified nickelodeon. He comments: "Here's a photo of a Wurlitzer Paganini orchestrion playing in a San Francisco theatre. It came from the Leathurby Co. files and was reprinted in Bowers' 'Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments.' So far as we know, it just played rolls during the picture."

 

 

A 1910 photo of a nickelodeon, presumably with the name beginning with an "S." Jack Tillmany sends along the photo and notes that it's NOT the Silver Palace/Hub Theatre on Market St.

Putting the finishing touches on proscenium boxes in a photo dated 1911 in the scrapbooks of Hamilton Henry Dobbin in the California State Library collection. Dobbin identifies the theatre as the Pantages but it's not. It's not a match with a photo of the Pantages box area that appeared in the December 30, 1911 Chronicle.

A mystery two-balcony house. The photo is from the Jack Tillmany collection. He speculates: "I narrowed it down to either Cort or Casino. My money's on the Casino, because the upper exits seem to match up with the exterior views. What's frustrating is that I used to go to the Casino, after it had gone grind as the Downtown, quite frequently. It was one of my favorite downtown haunts during summer vacation, but I was only interested in seeing the (old) movies they ran, and always sat downstairs, never ventured above."

The Casino/Downtown Theatre was at 198 Ellis St., the NE corner of Ellis & Mason. Later research determined that the photo is not of the Cort Theatre.

Thanks to John Bosko for this fine view of the Pastime running "The Honeymooners," a title used for at least six films between 1912 and 1915. It's not the Pastime that was on the 700 block of Market St. during this period. There was one on Haight St., one on Fillmore, and one in Berkeley (with no photos for any of them) all around the same time. It was a post on the BAHT Facebook page.

A photo of an unknown venue that appeared on the Facebook page Lost San Francisco.

| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | pre-1906 theatre list | home |