The Pantages Theatre

939 Market St. | map |

Opened: December 30, 1911. The theatre was on the south side of Market between 5th and 6th, opposite Mason St. The 1925 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection has the marquee advertising the Diamond Jubilee Girls. A smaller version of the photo appears on the San Francisco Public Library website. Jack notes: 

 

"Harry Girard's Diamond Jubilee Girls opened at the Pantages the first week of September 1925 as part of the city wide Pioneer Days Celebration. 'They sing, dance, act, or play some musical instrument, and all of them take part in the ensemble numbers.' We can only hope that they were not chosen from among the surviving members of the original 1849 arrival party."  

 

Beginning in 1908 Pantages vaudeville had been out in the Fillmore at the Empire Theatre. From 1909 until this new theatre opened the circuit's shows had been at the Central Theatre, 8th & Market. 

 

Architects: San Francisco based James Rupert Miller and George T. de Colmesnil were the architects of record. 

 

The new theatre went into and behind the Emma Spreckels building, a structure that rose as a replacement building after the 1906 earthquake and was initially only two stories. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this news via the California Digital Newspaper Collection that appeared in the June 10, 1911 San Francisco Call. It was buried in an article about houses that Miller and de Colmesnil were designing for the Friedlander and Brandenstein families: 

"... Miller & Colmesnil are the architects. The same firm is making working drawings at the present time for the following buildings:... Pantages theater in rear portion of the Emma Spreckels building in Market street between Fifth and Sixth. The front portion of the Emma Spreckels building will be built up five stories higher for offices over the present two story building that is on the lot."

 

 And Art found this in a column of building permit news in the June 17, 1911 SF Call: 

 

"Permit was issued this week for a class A addition to the Emma Spreckels building in Market street between Fifth and Sixth, to be used as the Pantages theater..."

 

This item appeared in the July 15, 1911 Organized Labor. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it via the CNDC website: 

 

"Market street near 5th; structural steel and iron work for Class 'A' theatre building. Owner, Alex Pantages; architect. Miller & Colmesnil; contractor, Central Iron Works. Cost. $ 38,000."

B. Marcus Priteca, who was working in the office of the architects, became the house architect for the Pantages circuit after this job. He was 22. It's possible Timothy Pflueger also worked on the building. Joe Vogel reports: 

 

"Around 1907, James Rupert Miller and George T. de Colmesnil hired Timothy Pflueger, then 15 years old, as an apprentice. In the late 1910s, after Colmesnil withdrew from the firm, Pflueger became a partner in the firm of Miller & Pflueger. As he had been with the firm for several years at the time the Pantages was built, it’s likely that he was involved in the project in some way, perhaps quite extensively. 

 

"It’s easy to imagine Pflueger being impressed with the accomplishments of Priteca, who was less than three years his elder. Perhaps his involvement with the Pantages project had some influence on his decision to design theaters later in his career."

 

 

A proscenium view from the plans for the building that are in the Gary Parks collection. See 26 additional images from the blueprints down at the bottom of the page.

Seating: 1,800

 

A clipping from page 4 of the December 30 S.F. Chronicle that was located by Jack Tillmany.

 

 

This article about the opening the previous evening appeared in the December 31, 1911 Chronicle. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the find. The issue can be viewed on Newsbank, accessible for free if you have a San Francisco Library card.

 

 

The December 31, 1911 San Francisco Call also covered the opening. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this illustration via the website of the California Digital Newspaper Newspaper Collection. The text of the Call's accompanying article written by Walter Anthony: 

"EXCELLENT BILL FEATURES WEEK - Class A Structure in Market Street Has Artistic Ivory and Gold Effect - Almost without ceremony the new Pantages theater opened its doors to the public last night and completed the chain of downtown theaters which will circle the city with entertainment. The building which was dedicated to popular vaudeville last night is a class A structure and combines the remote elements of coziness and size. Its 1,800 seats were occupied twice last night, there being two 'shows,' and both were patronized to the limit of police interference. 

 

"The stage is large and well appointed. The lighting effects in the auditorium are well arranged so that no glare from incandescent bulbs offends the eye. The stream of light is indirect from covered lamps, and is diffused over the daintily decorated walls and ceiling, the color scheme of which is old ivory and gold, with a touch of orange and hangings of a darker shade. The effect on the eye is at once restful and reassuring. The house 'looks' artistic. Only one episode of a ceremonious nature took place last night, and that was when George L. Hutchin, an old time friend of Alexander Pantages, stepped to the footlights after the opening overture and made a few complimentary remarks concerning the founder of the 'Pantages circuit.' Hutchin and Pantages were boy friends in San Francisco when the latter was a recent arrival from Greece, and Hutchin paid him a nice compliment when he called attention to what had been done by the foreign lad who had become in a comparatively few years a power in the vaudeville world. 

 

"'Mr. Pantages,' said Hutchins, 'will soon have bound the continent from ocean to ocean with a chain of theaters. To show you his great faith in the future of your city, this caterer in the amusement world has expended nearly half a million dollars for a home for vaudeville in this your great city. The dedication of this temple of amusement tonight marks an epoch in the history of San Francisco. It is a milestone in your municipal growth. Mr. Pantages is looking to the future. He has not conjured from the past. He realizes that San Francisco is the New York of the Pacific coast. He would wish me to say to you that this is your theater and he wants you to enjoy it. He will do the best that is in him to make it a place where you will enjoy yourself.' 

"The program which dedicated the theater will be a difficult one for Pantages to duplicate every week in the year. It has, for instance, Harry Tate and his 'motoring act,' which, strangely enough, closed the 'old Orpheum' and opened the new Pantages. Tate and his little company of motoring farceurs were on the bill in 1906 when the Orpheum ceased, with a lot of other things in San Francisco, to have its being. The act last night exhibited an unusual tendency on the part of vaudeville performers to put 'new business' into the act. and went with a roaring accompaniment of laughter. 

 

"An act of distinct merit is that of Paul Pereira, who, as violinist, heads a quintet of musicians who draw sweet music from their large and small viols. The number begins with Nevin's 'Rosary,' which was played well, and ends with—what do you think?—a Beethoven minuet, played by Pereira, who stands in the spotlight while the plaintive melody sings well under his bow. When you think that this is a Kreisler number and recall the fact that Pereira plays it in popular vaudeville you respect the musician and applaud the audience. The former played it sentimentally and with pretty tone and the latter listened intently. The balance of the bill measures up to a proper appraisement of what popular vaudeville should be. Sol Berns has a good voice and an amusing dialect, in which he tells some new Hebrew stories, and 'Count the First' is a 'man monkey' who (or which) eats and drinks and smokes like lots of us."

 

While the articles about the opening stressed the theatre's vaudeville offerings, films were always part of the program to some extent. Jack found a January 8, 1912 review that commented "novel motion pictures completed a varied and entertaining bill," confirming they were shown from the very beginning. As feature films grew in importance (and got longer) the programming started relying on them more. Eventually they were half the program with a film alternating with vaudeville throughout the day.
 

The story is that prior to the construction of the Pantages the site was the home of two small theatres operated by Turner & Dahnken. On pages 588-90 of the 1917 Elms Publishing Co. book "The History of Contra Costa County" it's noted about T&D: 

 

"They had decided to enter the theatrical ownership field themselves, and their first real substantial investment in the exhibition of moving pictures was in two small theaters on Market Street, which turned out to be another big advance in the march of progress that had marked the success of Turner & Dahnken's career. They sold their lease to a Market Street location on which these two theatres were conducted to Alexander Pantages, who built the present Pantages Theater on this site. Turner & Dahnken received the amount of $28,000 for this transfer of lease." 

 

The entry can be viewed on a Rootsweb/Ancestry page. The T&D nickelodeons on the site were the Elite Theatre at 935 Market and the Photo Theatre at 941 Market. The Pantages building was on the lots numbered 935, 937, 939 and 941.

A detail from a 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map showing Market St. at the top with the theatre's entrance at 939 and the Empress/St. Francis to the left at 965. That's Stevenson St. at the bottom behind the theatres. The image is a detail from plate 50 of the version of the map in the Library of Congress collection.

Stage specifications:

Proscenium: 35' wide x 30' high

Stage depth: 35'

Stage wall to wall: 60'

Grid height: 65'

Depth of "one": 5'

 

Dimmerboard: off right

Rigging: hemp, rigged with 33 sets. The pinrail was at stage level on stage right

Number of dressing rooms: 8, all in the basement. A musicians room was in the basement downstage left. An animal room was in the basement stage right.The green room was at stage level off left.

Orchestra size: 9

Power: AC and DC.

Some of the stage data comes off the plans. Other information appears in the 1919 edition of "Vaudeville Trails Thru the West." It's on Internet Archive. Thanks to Mike Hume for spotting it. The book notes the house was doing 3 shows during the week, 4 on Saturdays and 5 on Sundays.

A 1913 program cover from the theatre. It's on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.  

A 1924 ad in the "Douglas '20' Police Journal," a publication of the San Francisco Police Department. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding it on Internet Archive for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.   

Closing: Pantages closed the theatre on February 13, 1926. His new theatre (now called the Orpheum) down the street at 1192 Market opened February 20.

Status: The building was demolished in June 2013. After closing as a theatre the building was remodeled and became a Kress store. Later there were other tenants including the Social Security Administration.


More exterior views: 

The Pantages is down the block in the center of this c.1912 view looking east. In the foreground it's the Empress, a theatre that opened in 1910 and was renamed the Strand in 1917 and the St. Francis in 1925. Thanks to Glenn Koch for the card shared on the BAHT Facebook page from his Vintage San Francisco page. 

A 1912 look east toward the Empress and the Pantages. It's a cropped version of a photo by an unknown photographer appearing on the Open SF History Project website. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it in the collection. He notes that Weber & Fields in "Fun in a Barbershop" got a lot of press when it opened in mid-November 1912. 

A March 1913 look west on Market toward the Pantages and the Empress from the Jack Tillmany collection. Off farther to the right is the Empire Theatre at 979 Market.

 
A 1913 view east on Market from the Glenn Koch collection. That's the Maio Biograph on the left, much later to become the Crest Theatre. On the right with the dome is the Empress with the Pantages beyond. Thanks, Glenn! 

In the distance on the left, hardly visible, is a roof sign for the theatre that would later be known as the Esquire saying "House of Movies." The electrical array across Market is the "Portola Bell," put up for the 1913 edition of the fall Portola Festival. A bit to the right is the Hibernia Bank Building with lights saying "1915," in honor of the Pan Pacific International Exposition that would be happening that year.  Also see a closer view of the Portola Bell (with a bit of the Portola Theatre marquee) from Glenn's collection. 

 

 

A July 15, 1914 image by an unknown photographer. The columned building at the right is the Hale Building, with signage on the second floor for the Rudolph Wurlitzer Co., one of the tenants. In its east storefront, just beyond the Washington Market, is the Empire Theatre. Beyond are Eilers Music House, a little two story building, then the Empress and the Pantages.

 

Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the photo in the Open SF History Project collection. The site notes that this was an automobile parade organized by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company with an advertised 25,000 automobiles on parade from the Ferry Building to the Exposition grounds, at that time under construction. The edge of the marquee of the Maio Biograph/Crest, is on the left side of the photo.

 

 

A detail from the 1914 photo. Thanks, Art!

A fine postcard view of the Pantages and the Empress from the Billy Holcomb / Don Lewis collection on Flickr.

We're looking east on Market sometime between 1911 and 1917. Just beyond the market Jack Tillmany spotted a "5 cents" and "EMP" and "TH" for the Empire Theatre. Then we see a bit of the lit dome and roof sign for the Empress Theatre. And beyond that we see the two verticals for the Pantages. Thanks to Gregory May for posting the photo on the Vintage San Francisco Facebook page. 

 

 

A view from a 1915 souvenir booklet in the collection of Kevin Walsh. He shared what he calls this "much-retouched 'nighttime' photo" in a post on the BAHT Facebook page. The Odeon Cafe, seen in the lower right as offering vaudeville, is in the 1915 city directory with an address as Market and Eddy. They were calling themselves "San Francisco's leading restaurant." See the page about the Odeon Cafe.

A c.1915 view west. Note the added stud lighting on the Pantages. Thanks to John Bosko for sharing this from his collection. It was a post on the BAHT Facebook page. Interesting to see that the Odeon Cafe gets blobbed out of the lower right corner in this shot. 

 

A c.1915 look east on Market with the Pantages over on the right. It's a photo by Louis J. Stellman in the California State Library collection, their item #001418997. The "1915" numbers can still be seen on the Hibernia Bank Building down the street. Art Siegel comments:  

 

"I'm pretty sure they were removed soon after the PPIE closed in December 1915. However I think they may have been up since some time in 1912. I see 'Clayton [...] ennie' on the Pantages marquee. The comedy act Clayton & Lennie played there in June 1914. [ SF Call, June 22, 1914 via CNDC] They played there in 1913 and 1916 as well. It looks like it could be a 1914 plate on the car at far left. The background was red, but it was the first annual plate in California." See Wikipedia: Vehicle Registration Plates of California.

Glen Norman notes: "The 'Winning of the West' street lights have not yet received the familiar triple 'Path of Gold' tops in this photo. So, we're looking at 1916 or earlier."

 

A detail that Jack Tillmany extracted from the c.1915 Louis Stellman photo. Thanks, Jack!  

 

 

A late 1917 look at the back of the Pantages roof sign and east to the Ferry Building. The guy in the foreground was a police photographer doing some espionage involving a building across the street. Thanks to Art Siegel for this detail taken from a San Francisco Public Library photo he located, their #AAG-0151. This is from a set of a dozen 1917 Police Investigation photos in the San Francisco Public Library collection. Others in the set look across to the Alhambra/Esquire Theatre at 934 Market. 

A 1918 view west. On the far right we get a bit of the signage for the Esquire Theatre, here called the Alhambra. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo.

 

 

A detail from the 1918 image. Jack notes that the Alhambra is playing Anna Luther in "Her Moment." Gary Parks comments: "And look at those seated gryphons flanking the Pantages rooftop sign!"

A 1918 photo of a rooftop sign for the Pantages taken from the collection of  H.H. Dobbin. This one was nowhere near the theatre itself -- the photo was taken at 16th & Mission. It's in the California State Library collection, their item #1380936.

A look at the theatre during the week of June 29, 1919. Thanks to Glenn Koch for the photo from his collection. The photo appeared as a post on Glenn's Vintage San Francisco Facebook page.

This 1919 view looking south on Mason toward Market from the collection of Hamilton Henry Dobbin appears in the California State Library collection, their item #1380937.

 

 

A detail from the 1919 Dobbin photo. 

 

 

A closer look at the entrance. "Twelve Tally Ho Girls."

 

A March 1920 photo looking east from 6th St. On the corner it's the David Hewes Building with the Empire Theatre in the next building in, the Hale Building. Down the block it's the Strand (formerly the Empress) and the Pantages. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the photo in the Open SF History Project collection. It's an image from the Martin Behrman Negatives Collection of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Archives. 

 

 

A detail from the the March 1920 photo. The Strand was running "The Feud," a December 1919 release with Tom Mix.  Thanks, Art! 

A look at the crowds for the May 13, 1922 opening of the Warfield. It's a photo in the Jack Tillmany collection. He calls our attention to the dual verticals of the Pantages across the street.

An April 1923 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection looking east from the Warfield.  We also get a sliver of the Strand/St. Francis playing Tom Mix in "For Big Stakes." At the Warfield it was "Success" and an Our Gang Comedy. 
 

A 1924 trade magazine look at the theatre when running Universal's "Fight and Win" series. Charmaine Zoe found the item for her "Marvelous Melange" collection on Flickr. See the IMDb page on "Fight and Win." It was a ten part series of shorts about boxing.  

 

 

An image from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "An interesting April 1925 view from the top down. Richard Holt in 'Ten Days' is the film attraction, worth mentioning as it was filmed in San Francisco, and received extra promotion as such. Yes, it's a detail from yet another (boring) parade shot."

A June 9, 1925 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. The Warfield is running "Soul Fire" with Richard Barthelmess. Across the street it's the St. Francis and Pantages. Jack comments: "Looks like rooftop signage is getting just a bit out of control!"

An August 1927 photo from Jack Tillmany.  Pantages is gone and the building has become a Kress store. Jack notes that here the St. Francis is running "Beau Geste" with Ronald Colman. It had been released one year earlier as a roadshow, and was now at "popular prices."

An undated post-1926 look down at the building after Pantages had moved out and it had become a Kress store. It's a photo in the San Francisco Public Library collection.   

A detail from a July 1938 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments that they've used the old Pantages roof sign framework for their Kress letters. Check out the full photo for a much broader panorama including the Warfield.

A 1943 view looking east toward the Esquire. On the right we get the Kress building, the former theatre. It's a photo from the San Francisco Public Library.  

The building in 1956 after Kress had put a modern skin on it. It's a photo from the San Francisco Public Library.  

A c.2010 look at the vacant building taken by Mark Ellinger. He notes that the seven story steel frame building, completely stripped and remodeled, was occupied by the Social Security Administration from the 1980s until 2007. Mark's photo appears on his Up From the Deep survey of Mid-Market architecture.

The building scaffolded for demolition in 2013. It's a Michael Thomas Angelo photo on the Facebook page Vintage San Francisco.

 

A look down Mason St. toward the site of the Pantages, straight ahead. Over to the right is where the St. Francis used to be. Photo: Bill Counter - 2015

 

Images from the blueprints in the Gary Parks collection:

 

Part of a title block. Gary comments: "Some blueprints in the collection were trimmed—either by the Planning Department, or perhaps a former collector. In any case, this is the best preserved of the title blocks among all the sheets. I assure you that faint muddy shoe print is NOT mine!

 

"Here at last, we finally find out what the interior of the penultimate Pantages looked like. It looked like…practically every other Priteca-designed Pantages. The architects of record were Miller & Colmesnil, but Priteca’s stamp is obvious. Later, J. R. Miller would partner with T. L. Pflueger, and the rest is history. The quality of drawing of the ornamentation is first-rate." 

 

 

A section through the theatre portion of the building. It's a steep balcony with a tiny booth at the top. Gary comments: "Note the steep projection angle. Placing a projection booth on the orchestra floor would have done away with quite a few seats. While the ornamental scheme for this theatre is grandiose, it is a surprisingly small space, but being so, would have been perfect for any live performances that played its stage."

 

 

 

A closer look at the lobby and back of the auditorium from the section drawing.

 

 

A boxoffice detail. Gary comments: "Though this looks like a freestanding, movie theatre style box office, it actually was set into the wall on the right side of the ticket lobby, as the floorpan shows."

 

 

A closer look at the ticket lobby from the section drawing. At the bottom we get the stairs to the men's smoking lounge and, on the landing we see here, the hat and coat check. 

 

 

 

The rear of the main floor and the stairs to the balcony. Note that nice plaster railing on the landing. Gary comments: "Had this theatre survived long enough to have become a regular movie house into the 40s or later, I predict that the little Mezzanine balcony, looking down on the rear of the orchestra seating, would have soon been walled, or at least glassed-off. I can imagine children—and a few adults—succumbing to the temptation of tossing popcorn and candy wrappers down upon unsuspecting audience members."

 

A closer look at the top of the balcony. Gary comments: "The nosebleed section, with the Operators Room. Note that those who have to sit this high up are only deemed worthy of a 'Tinted Stripe,' when it comes to the ornamentation of the walls on either side of the seating."

 

 

The side wall near the front of the auditorium. At the bottom we're seeing the air plenum under the auditorium. The orchestra pit is in the lower right.

 

 

A closer look at the main ceiling dome and some of the sidewall treatment. Later Pantages houses would have an art glass panel in the middle of the dome. 

 

 The smaller dome and the decoration above the balcony-level boxes. 

 

 

The ornamentation above the doorway leading out of the balcony-level boxes.

 

 

The main floor box level house left. 

 

 

A plan of the ceiling area around the main dome and near the proscenium, which is on the right edge of the drawing. The upper half of the drawing is an attic plan showing catwalks and ladders. The lower half shows the decorative plaster.

 

A closer look at the ceiling plaster. 

 

A basement floorplan with the stage at the right. Gary comments: "The patron 'facilities' are on the left. Note that the men have a 'Smoking Room,' whereas the women merely have a 'Retiring Room.' On the right are the under-stage dressing rooms, the musicians room, and the animal room."

 

 

 

A closer look at the lobby end of the basement. Several of the toilets are associated with retail spaces. The female theatre patrons got all of two toilets, the men got two toilets and two urinals. That area between the two sets of stairs is a hat and coat check.  

 

 

The stage basement plan. The auditorium is off to the left. The two sets of stairs we see in the proscenium wall are entrances to the orchestra pit. If you're looking for the animal room, it's up at the top of the plan. 

 

A plan view of the lobby end of the main floor. Note the stairs on either side of the lobby. From the ticket lobby you could go up to the balcony. From the foyer at the back of the main floor you could go down to either the men's or women's lounge, depending on which stair you chose. 

 

 

The ticket lobby portion of the main floor plan. That's the boxoffice at the bottom of the image. Gary comments: "To clarify: One half of the plan depicts the floor—which had a simple tile or terrazzo pattern, with PANTAGES written across it, perhaps in bronze letters, whereas the other half depicts the ornamental plaster pattern of the ceiling above it."

 

 

 

 

A closer look at the design. Gary comments: "It's a detail of the ticket lobby ceiling ornamental scheme. An area of it is blurred, due to long-ago water damage to the print."

 

A main floor plan of the auditorium and stage. Off right, at the top of the plan, are seen the dimmerboard and the pinrails. There are no flyfloors. The green room is off left. There are stairs to the basement dressing rooms both upstage left and upstage right.

 

 

 

A floor plan of the balcony and upper level of the stagehouse. In the lower right note that area off left above the green room is used as a scene dock. The sets of dashed lines crossing the stage indicate grid beams in line with the back wall columns. The dashed rectangles are labeled as skylights, which presumably also functioned as smoke vents.

 

Gary comments: "It should be noted here that the office building which enclosed the lobby areas is noted as being a separate contract, except for parts of it that pertain to the theatre itself."

 

A closer look at the seating area from the balcony plan. At the front of the balcony note the lower section divided into a series of boxes. We get a view of half of the projection booth at the back of the balcony.

 

 

 

A proscenium elevation. 

 

 

A detail of the box area. 

 

 

Ornament at a corner of the proscenium arch. 

 

Gary comments: "Here, centered above the proscenium, is the trademark Pantages Torch, always executed in the round."   Thanks, Gary!

A very similar Pantages:

Many of the early Pantages theatres looked alike, or at least very similar. Priteca did them all (until the mid-20s anyway) in a style that came to be known as Pantages Greek. This early photo from the Jack Tillmany collection is of the Oakland Pantages, a house that opened August 4, 1912.

A November 1939 Oakland Tribune photo of the Oakland Pantages from the Jack Tillmany collection. He notes that very little had changed since 1912. The occasion for the photo was the theatre's reopening as the Downtown Theatre.

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Pantages.   

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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