4621 Mission St. | map |
Opened: 1911. Jack Tillmany reports the first telephone directory listing for the Panama Theatre was the October 1, 1911 edition. The first city directory listing was July 1913. The location was on the east side of the street between Brazil St. and Persia St., opposite Ocean Ave.
Architect: Mateo Mattanovich. His listing in the 1911 city directory identifies him as a structural engineer. The facade drawing is from his plans for the project that are in the Gary Parks collection. See ten images from them lower on the page. In 1916 Mattanovich would do renovations at the Haight Theatre.
The Panama on Mission is one of two Panama Theatres listed in a March 12, 1922 Paramount ad appearing in the SF Call. Thanks to Chris Ellinger for finding the ad -- he had it as a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
Closing: Spring 1922. The last city directory listing was 1922.
Status: It was demolished for the construction of the Excelsior Theatre, later renamed the Granada. An article in the August 3, 1922 Chronicle discussing the new theatre notes that two of the storefronts in the building were on the site of the Panama Theatre. Evidently there was some messing around with the numbers as the Excelsior used an address of 2631.
Images from the plans for the theatre in the Gary Parks collection:
The title block from one of the sheets.
A facade elevation.
A closer look. Gary comments: "A nice facade and good, cleanly inked, draftsmanship."
A detail of the ornament at the boxoffice and the arch above.
A section through the entrance and rear of the auditorium.
The floorplan.
A closer look at the entrance end of the auditorium.
The stage end of the auditorium. Note the dressing rooms at the sides of the stage. The stage was 7' 9" deep x 26' 6" wide.
A section view toward the stage.
A closer look at the proscenium ornament. Thanks, Gary!
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.
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