The Favorite Five Cent Theatre

California St. between 4th and 5th Ave. | map - approximate |

Opened: February 22, 1908

John Freeman reports: "It only lasted a couple of weeks, because it was mid-block, with no alley. By this time the city was already cracking down on these kind of joints on Fillmore St., so this one on California St. didn't have a chance. No address was ever given, and there is very little go on to identify the site. I don’t know if it was on the north or south side of California, but think the south side would have been logical, being closer to the Clement street action. But this was also the block where the proctologist, Dr. Cross, had Carzonia, the collection of old cable or horse cars, converted into apartments."

A current address would be something like 325 Cornwall St., a street south of California St. that just runs from 1st Ave. to 7th Ave. In 1908 that street was referred to as California South, with just a thin wedge of unbuildable property between it and the main California St. John Freeman reports:

"This is a weird area. The north side of California St. is consistent, but the south side has the street that was added as California South, to connect the Richmond District grid with the Presidio boundary, yet allowing some streets from downtown, like California St. or Geary to meet another grid. California S. first appeared in the City Directory in 1883, listed as from First Ave. to Fifth. I doubt there were any buildings, but someone may have sold lots that early. The Richmond didn’t really become a district until 1890. 

"The name Cornwall St. would be the outgrowth of the street renaming committee formed in 1909. The committee finished it’s work in early December, 1909, got it passed before Mayor P.H. McCarthy’s tenure ended. So technically, the street renaming was in 1909, but signs changed and the populace would deal with the changes starting in the new year, 1910. California St. S. became Cornwall St. up to 7th Ave. on a map, but not numbered past 5th Ave.

"At the time of the Elite Theatre, it was just California St. between 4th and 5th because California S. numbers only went from 1st Ave. to 4th Ave. The properties between 1st and 5th are now numbered as being on Cornwall. The south side between 5th and 6th reappears as the odd numbered 4300 block of California St." 

Thanks, John!  For details about the city's street renaming issues see his articles "Street Naming Controversy - 1909" on the Found SF site and "Spanish Town: Street Names in Western SF" on the Western Neighborhoods Project site.

More information:  Sorry, nothing more is known about the theatre at this time.

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