1249 Stockton St. | map |
A photo from the September 25, 1915 issue of Moving Picture News where their article was given the subhead "A Most Cosmopolitan Photoplay House -- Entertains Large Motley Crowds Each Day -- Doing Excellent Business." The shorts "The Green Idol" and "Who Pays?" were both 1915 releases.
The full article on the Acme from the September 25, 1915 issue of Moving Picture News. It's on Internet Archive. The article notes that the Acme was run by I.L. Marks & Son whose letterhead proclaimed their venue "the most cosmopolitan theater in the world. It is just beyond Chinatown, and not quite in Little Italy, with the French section on one side, the Spanish quarter just around the corner, with Nob Hill, the home of millionaire merchants, but a few steps away."
A 1918 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. A small version of it can be seen on the San Francisco Public Library website. Jack also gave Preston Kaufmann a copy. It's now part of the Tom B'hend - Preston Kaufmann collection on the AMPAS website. The photo also appeared on the Lost San Francisco Facebook page where it generated many comments.
"North Beach Scene: The Mediterranean Soul Flowers in a Happy Clutter," a December 5, 1948 Chronicle article by Kevin Wallace, included this illustration of the Acme and its famous "Talkies" sign. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the article. Wallace noted:
A flyer for the Times found in the theatre, from sometime before Mike Thomas and Gary Meyer took over the operation. It's from Gary's collection.
Opened: As the Acme Theatre in 1909. The location is in Chinatown on the west
side of Stockton St. just south of Broadway.
The opening date is unknown. Jack Tillmany reports that the earliest newspaper appearances were classified ads in the August 27 and September 3, 1909 issues of the S.F. Examiner where they were seeking "vaudeville performers." The first city
directory listing was in September 1910.
Architect: William Mooser. The drawing of the facade was taken from the blueprints for the project that are in the Gary Parks collection. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this reverse version. See six more images from the plans down at the botttom of the page.
Seating: 250
The Acme appears with the designation "Motion Pictures" in this detail from page 44 of volume 1 of the 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. That's Pacific Ave. across the bottom. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this in the Library of Congress collection.
A photo from the September 25, 1915 issue of Moving Picture News where their article was given the subhead "A Most Cosmopolitan Photoplay House -- Entertains Large Motley Crowds Each Day -- Doing Excellent Business." The shorts "The Green Idol" and "Who Pays?" were both 1915 releases.
The full article on the Acme from the September 25, 1915 issue of Moving Picture News. It's on Internet Archive. The article notes that the Acme was run by I.L. Marks & Son whose letterhead proclaimed their venue "the most cosmopolitan theater in the world. It is just beyond Chinatown, and not quite in Little Italy, with the French section on one side, the Spanish quarter just around the corner, with Nob Hill, the home of millionaire merchants, but a few steps away."
A 1918 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. A small version of it can be seen on the San Francisco Public Library website. Jack also gave Preston Kaufmann a copy. It's now part of the Tom B'hend - Preston Kaufmann collection on the AMPAS website. The photo also appeared on the Lost San Francisco Facebook page where it generated many comments.
The theatre had a fire in 1930 and would have another five years later. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for locating this February 1930 article from the Oakland Tribune. See Bob's post about the theatre, which also includes the photo below, on the BAHT Facebook page.
A view taken after the July 7, 1935 fire. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for locating this in the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library collection.
Another take from the Bancroft Library. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this one. He notes that although these were taken for the Examiner he looked through the paper and was unable to find that either had actually been published.
The card for the order for the 1935 fire photos. George Lewis was the assistant manager.
A July 8, 1935 Examiner article. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. He notes although it wasn't a week earlier, there had been a theatre fire in June at the Lyceum Theatre on Mission St.
The July 8 story in the Chronicle that was located by Art Siegel. The interior was rebuilt after the 1935 fire and the theatre reopened.
"North Beach Scene: The Mediterranean Soul Flowers in a Happy Clutter," a December 5, 1948 Chronicle article by Kevin Wallace, included this illustration of the Acme and its famous "Talkies" sign. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the article. Wallace noted:
"Up on Stockton street the Acme Theater went all-out to meet the denier cri from Hollywood -- and who can say Hollywood has since made any cri more denier? -- and erected an enormous sign which still heralds the news to the neighborhood. 'TALKIES,' screams the sign."
Herb Caen mentioned the sign and an upcoming remodel in this news appearing in his January 8, 1949 column in the Chronicle:
Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the item.
It reopened as the Times Theatre on March 10, 1949. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating an opening day ad.
For at least part of the 60s it was operated by Neil and Elsie Salime.
A flyer for the Times found in the theatre, from sometime before Mike Thomas and Gary Meyer took over the operation. It's from Gary's collection.
In the 1960s the Times also tried a porno policy, without success.
A c.1963 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.
In 1969 it went to a daily change repertory policy under the management
of Mike Thomas and Gary Meyer. Admission was 99 cents. Mike discusses
the transition:
"Circa-1968 Art Theatre Guild took over the Times, renovated, and tried porn-o-rama. They were also operating the Paris and Centre on Market Street and The Movies in North Beach with same policy. This immediately flopped, owing to the 30 Stockton bus stop right in front of the box office. Businessmen were afraid to be caught going in or coming out. Porn was dropped and they tried adult first-run features, including 'Andy Warhol's Flesh" with 'Muni Love Bus' and 'Meatrack.' Soon they were open to another direction. Owner Lou Sher and general manager Les Natali were having that very conversation one day in the lobby of ATG's Presidio Theatre, which I was managing and conveniently could eavesdrop.
"I summoned my nerve, horned in and sold them that the new direction should be the old one, which had survived for many years on a cheap admission, new-show-daily policy. My added credibility was having lived nearby on Powell at Clay in the mid-60s and, on a tight budget, I’d walk over to the Times to shell out my 50 cents admission Every day featured a new beat-up old Western print in faded color. The co-feature was often randomly interesting. I observed that the cinephile and fantasy/horror stuff brought in a North Beach crowd of poets beatniks and hipsters, who left quickly once the inevitable western started. So with that and my vast film knowledge I was able to sell Lou and Les on trying calendared rep-type programming in the renovated environment. I got free reign for a test-month to program it within severe budget restrictions. We circulated typewriter-written calendars and were well attended from day one. Gary Meyer joined the effort later and brought his specialty skills and ideas.
"The only ornate detail by the 70s was the arch, the top of which was visible only from up in the projection booth. We had to hoist the prints up and down through a trapdoor. The auditorium had very little if any remnants of the early days. ATG had installed red sound-fold along the walls, reupholstered in red, and painted everything else black. The lobby was pretty shallow and wide…no room for bathroom facilities. Those were relegated to the left and behind the screen, up a few stairs but visible to the audience (and audible, farts and all, leading to occasional audience titters and a sheepish patron descending to face everyone.) The men’s room door closed slowly and squeaked. You could count 1, 2, 3, 4 before it finally slammed shut. For 99 cents no one complained, and the movies were now mostly good. For our last day, Xmas eve, I booked 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' with 'The Last Picture Show.' I was there as audience members passed joints and jug wine around and got nostalgic, even tearful. After that it became a fish market."
Thanks, Mike! Gary Meyer adds:
"The bathrooms under the screen were just like in France. Everybody could keep track of how long you were in there."
Jack Tillmany comments:
"I was operating the Gateway 1970-1976, and Mike and I maintained a friendly, happy, and mutually beneficial co-existence; and yes, on more than one occasion, I walked up to Stockton Street to enjoy some oddball selection that only Mike would have the where-with-all to unearth and the guts to show. 'Splendor in the Grass' (Mike's Favorite), 'The Big T.N.T. Show,' 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes,' 'Unman, Wittering and Zero,' 'The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,' Our Gang in 'General Spanky,' 'Marijuana: The Weed' with 'Roots in Hell.' That's what the Times was all about. Yes, I reverently recall, I saw them all there. My last visit to the Times was 'Sssssss' (who remembers that one?) ('don't say it hiss it!')."
Art Siegel comments:
"I loved going to this theater. There seemed to be a hidden theme to the double features that you could only figure out after you had seen them both. I remember in particular Terence Malick's 'Badlands' and Ingmar Bergman's 'Persona,' both told in flashback by survivors. Don't know if that was on purpose, but it was very cool."
Gary Meyer replies:
"Sometimes that was true but it was more likely to be that way later as Mike and I became full-time repertory programmers. At the Times there were limitations: only flat rental booking and the total program could not exceed $70 a day if I remember correctly. Since the theater had been a grind house for a long time appealing to a largely Chinese senior male audience who came to matinees the idea for making it a 'film lovers’ grind house' meant finding a balance between action films with art and classic titles as that new audience discovered it. Mike was brilliant at figuring that out. There was 35mm changeover and extended reel 16mm in the booth expanding the possibilities."
Projectionist Donald Johanson comments:
"Behind the rectifiers in the booth you could still see the back of the facade's main arch. The rectifiers were located on a shelf above where the right hand poster case was. Spent 8 wonderful years there, broke my heart to close it."
A c.1969 view from the Jack Tillmany collection. "Flesh" was a 1968 release. Jack comments: "Needless to say, the photo is by Tom Gray, who patiently waited across the street for a #30 Stockton to stop by and pose for the shot."
A 1970 flyer for the house as a daily-change repertory operation. It's from the Gary Meyer collection.
"2 Hits Only 99 cents Anytime." It's a 1975 view of the theatre taken by Tom Gray a year before closure. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A 1970 flyer for the house as a daily-change repertory operation. It's from the Gary Meyer collection.
A 1970-1971 schedule. It's another from the Gary Meyer collection.
A 1971 schedule from the Gary Meyer collection.
A 1971 midnight show flyer from the Gary Meyer collection.
An August 1971 schedule from the Gary Meyer collection.
A 1971 midnight show flyer from the Gary Meyer collection.
An August 1971 schedule from the Gary Meyer collection.
"2 Hits Only 99 cents Anytime." It's a 1975 view of the theatre taken by Tom Gray a year before closure. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
Up to $1.00 because of a penny shortage. This c.1976 photo appeared on the now-vanished American Classic Images website. It resurfaced on a Chinatown Facebook page post about theatres in the neighborhood. Thanks to Kerwin Berk for sharing those seven images on a post on the Bay Area Historic Theatres page.
This c.1976 photo by Dennis Hearne appeared as a post on the Facebook page San Francisco Remembered. Thanks to Lily Castello for spotting it for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. Dennis is a San Francisco based photographer. Visit his website: www.dennishearne.com
A March 1976 flyer advertising midnight shows. It's from the Gary Meyer collection.
"Vaudeville Returns." It's a schedule of midnight shows in April and May 1976. Thanks to Gary Meyer for sharing this and the other items from his collection.
A December 1976 Chronicle article about the end of the Times from the Mike Thomas collection. Thanks, Mike!
The entrance photo from the Chronicle article. It appeared on the SF Chronicle Vault Facebook page. Thanks to Lily Castello for spotting it. In the Facebook post they credit the photo to Stephanie Maze. In the original article Susan Ehmer gets the nod.
A December 1976 Chronicle article about the end of the Times from the Mike Thomas collection. Thanks, Mike!
The entrance photo from the Chronicle article. It appeared on the SF Chronicle Vault Facebook page. Thanks to Lily Castello for spotting it. In the Facebook post they credit the photo to Stephanie Maze. In the original article Susan Ehmer gets the nod.
Closing: The Times closed December 24, 1976. The lease was up
and the owner thought he could do better with a market as a tenant.
Status: It's still a market. There's nothing of interest remaining in the space.
The building in 2015. Photo: Bill Counter
Data about the owner and architect from one of the sheets. And even a date!
The Stockton St. facade with a storefront on the left.
A section through the building, with the boring middle part not shown.
Thanks, Gary!
Images from the plans for the project in the Gary Parks collection:
Data about the owner and architect from one of the sheets. And even a date!
A floorplan. Note we got a stage with several dressing rooms. Restrooms were near the screen. See the comments about that from Mike Thomas and Gary Meyer up near the top of the page.
The Stockton St. facade with a storefront on the left.
A section through the building, with the boring middle part not shown.
A two-fer with a section through the entrance at the left showing the entrance doors and the house right side of the proscenium at the right.
Thanks, Gary!
Times salvage:
The clock from the theatre. Thanks to Donald Johanson for his photo, a post on the BAHT Facebook page. He comments:
"This clock hung in the front of the auditorium for at least 30 years. I believe The Monte Carlo Cafe was in the International settlement adjacent to North Beach. I got it the day we closed the Times for good. I worked there for 8 years when I first became a projectionist in the 60's...The lettering on the clock was painted over so you only saw the clock face."
More information: There's a Cinema Treasures page about the theatre.
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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