Fischer's Theatre

122 O'Farrell St. | map |

Opened: Ernest A. Fischer opened the theatre on March 19, 1900 as a stock company venue. It later transitioned to vaudeville. It was on the north side of O'Farrell between Stockton & Powell, just to the west of the Alcazar Theatre at 116 O'Farrell. The Orpheum was across the street at 119 O'Farrell.

Prior to opening this theatre Fischer had been running the Oberon Music Hall at 38 O'Farrell St. He sold that operation when the new theatre opened.

Architect: Unknown

Seating: Unknown

A drawing of the new theatre appearing on page seven in the March 18, 1900 issue of The Bulletin. Thanks to Peter Field for finding it. "The acoustics in the Fischer Building are more perfect than in any other theater in the west. Even a whisper being audible at the most distant part in the auditorium, balcony or galleries from the stage."

The cover of a 1902 program on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.

 

A 1903 program cover on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library. 

 

Evidently Fischer had done some remodeling in 1904. But the Radium Girls were late. Thanks to Kevin Walsh for locating this item in a fall 1904 issue of Sunset magazine:

 

"The recent opening of Fischer's modified, enlarged and rebuilt theater, in San Francisco, was a success if numbers in attendance may be taken as an indication of popularity. The audiences were large; and while there was some disappointment because of the delayed appearance of the eight radium girls, their later act was compensation for the delays. From a small and modest beginning Fischer's is constantly growing in popularity."

 

Fischer's and its neighbor the Alcazar are seen in this detail from Volume 1, pages 35-36 of the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlas. It appears on the website of the David Rumsay Historical Map Collection. Also see a discussion page on the site's blog with links to various pages of the six volume publication. That's O'Farrell on the left and Geary St. running up the right side of the image.

Closed: April 17, 1906. The whole block was destroyed by the fire.

Repurposed: Glenn Koch notes that the facade of Fischer's was incorporated into a new restaurant building. Later a third story was added on top for a domed ballroom space, Tait's Pavo Real. In the 1910 city directory it's listed as the Tait-Zinkand Cafe with the address then as 168-178 O'Farrell St. See a 20s photo at the bottom of the page with Tait's Coffee Shop on the ground floor and Tait's Dancing Palace on the 3rd floor. Later the building was the Club Deauville. 

The architect for the rebuild of the shell of Fischer's into a restaurant was William Henry Weeks. Gary Parks has plans for that project in his collection and comments: 

"This Weeks had no connection to theatre/hotel architects Weeks & Day. William Weeks I first learned about as a kid, growing up in Santa Cruz County, which is liberally speckled with his work. Downtown Watsonville was largely his creation—much sadly destroyed in the Loma Prieta quake, including the Appleton/T&D/State Theatre—one of a very few non-school-auditorium theatres he designed. He designed Holy Cross Church in Santa Cruz, which replaced the ruins of Mission Santa Cruz. The Neptune Casino and Plunge (largely extant) at the Boardwalk is his, numerous Victorian mansions, and the 1930s Palomar Hotel in Santa Cruz and the De Anza Hotel in San Jose. He successfully bridged the Victorian to the Deco eras in his work."

Mr. Fischer finds a new home: E. A. Fischer took over the the theatre at 2030 Sutter St. that had opened as the Victory on November 25, 1907. It became Fischer's on May 3, 1909. It eventually ended up as the Sutter Theatre. Fischer also had theatres in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

Looking toward Market St. from Powell in 1901 with Fischer's running a show called "Fiddle Dee Dee" at, as their side wall notes, "popular prices." Just beyond is the Alcazar, a Belasco & Meyer operation. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. A version of the photo is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. A cropped version appears on the San Francisco Public Library website.

A March 1904 photo of a billboard for "Kismet" at Fischer's taken at an unknown location. The photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appears on the Open SF History Project website. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it. 

A February 6, 1905 view east from Powell St. with Fischer's on the left. The theatre by this point was running as a vaudeville house. In the gloom down the block on the right is the awning coming out to the street of the original Orpheum Theatre, which featured two-a-day vaudeville. The photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appears on the Open SF History Project website.

Other versions of the photo appear on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library and in the scrapbooks of Hamilton Henry Dobbin in the California State Library collection. The San Francisco Public Library also has a version as well as a detail from the photo.

A 1905 or 1906 photo taken after the theatre raised their prices (30 cents top!) and added an awning to emulate the Orpheum across the street. One of the vaudeville acts consisted of 14 Tyrolean singers.

Thanks to Glenn Koch for the photo, one that appeared in an October 1906 souvenir program in his collection for the opening of the Colonial Theatre, a house later known as the President. It was part of a portfolio honoring theatres lost in the fire and earthquake plus a few of the hasty replacements. See Glenn's post on the BAHT Facebook page for 26 more images from the program.


The aftermath: 

A Bear Photo Co. view toward the Call Building after the earthquake and fire. Fischer's is on the near left with the squat ruins of the Alcazar beyond. The taller building beyond at 110 O'Farrell had been Delmonico's restaurant. The Orpheum is on the right with the skeleton of the rounded awning that had extended out to the curb still visible. The photo appears in the California State Library collection.

A closer look at the north side of the street. The photo by Sacramento photographers Hodson & Walsh is in the San Francisco Public Library collection.

This colored postcard version of the previous photo appears on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library.

A later look toward Market after more of the wall between the Alcazar and Delmonico's had collapsed. The photo from the Wyland Stanley collection appears on the Open SF History Project website.

Looking west from Stockton. The Orpheum is on the left at 119 O'Farrell. On the right it's Delmonico's at 110, the Alcazar at 116 and Fischer's at 122. The Pillsbury Picture Co. photo from the Zelinsky collection appears on the Open SF History Project website. 

A fine view of the theatre ruins on O'Farrell St. from above. At the left, that's Powell St. headed up Nob Hill going by the burned-out St. Francis Hotel. Fischer's is the building just right of center with the 5 arches on the second floor. To its right is/was the Alcazar. On the near side of the street in the lower right we get a look at the inside of the arch that was the entrance to the Orpheum. Thanks to R. Christian Anderson for adding the photo as a comment to a post on the San Francisco History Facebook page about Enrico Caruso's 1906 visit. And thanks also to Glenn Koch for spotting it there.     
 

A November 5, 1906 photo of a billboard for Fischer's that had survived the fire. We're on Sutter St. looking east from Mason. That's the Temple Emmanuel-El on the left. It's a photo appearing on the SFMTA website. Thanks to Woody LaBounty for finding it in the collection.

A detail from the November 1906 SFMTA photo.

Another look at the billboard. It's a photo on the Open SF History Project website.

The rebuilt block:

A February 1910 Chronicle ad for the cafe in the rebuilt Fischer's building. Thanks to Peter Field for locating it.

A c.1911 view toward Powell St. by an unknown photographer. Note the repurposed Fischer's facade on the restaurant, here called the Tait-Zinkand Cafe. Thanks to Peter Field for spotting the photo on the Open SF History Project website.

A 1911 banquet at Tait's. It's an R.J. Waters photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection. Thanks to Peter Field for spotting it on the Open SF History Project website.

Tait's Coffee Shop and Tait's Dancing Palace in the 1920s. They've added a new top floor for the ballroom. We're looking toward Market St. in this photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "The Union Square Theatre is in the same location as the pre-1906 Alcazar, and there's just a smidgen of the Orpheum and its vertical seen directly across the street. Busy little block, that, with Coffee Dan's (later site of Omar Khayyam Restaurant, I believe), Tait's Dancing Palace, with Ben Black's Band, etc."

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.

For a fine history of the neighborhood see Peter M. Field's 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." It's available through Amazon.  

There's a photo on Calisphere from the San Francisco Public Library of Winfield Blake and Maude Amber performing at Fischer's. They suggest a very suspect 1932 date for the image. Julia Long of the Ebell Club in Los Angeles notes that the duo were also costumers. They have several items in their costume collection made by them.   

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