The Lincoln Theatre

 319 6th Ave. | map |

Opened: April 16, 1911 as the New Richmond Theatre. It was on the west side of the street just south of Clement. Earlier there had been a nickelodeon called the Richmond Theatre on California St. at 5th or 6th but evidently it didn't last long. 

The New Richmond was renamed the Lincoln Theatre in 1912.

Closed: Last day of March 1940.

Status: It was turned into the Lincoln Bowl, a venture that ran into the late 60s. The theatre building has been demolished with a new building on the site using a 317 address occupied by Bank of the Orient.



 
A 1911 advertising card for the theatre. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing the item from his collection as a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
 
 

A February 1918 ad for the renamed theatre from the Jack Tillmany collection.
 

A 1920 ad located by Ken McIntyre.



A 20s streetscape featuring the Lincoln's vertical. It's a detail from a photo in the Jesse Brown Cook collection at the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it.



An April 1928 calendar from the Jack Tillmany collection. The theatre closed in 1940.
 
 
 
An ad that appeared January 24, 1941 announcing the opening of the repurposed theatre as a bowling alley. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it. 



A photo of the theatre repurposed as the Lincoln Bowl.  We're looking north toward Clement St. with the former Market St. Railway line #4 passing the theatre building in 1948, last year of rail service on that line. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo.


 
A photo of the Lincoln Bowl from Leanna M. Dawydiak. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it as a post on John Grant's Richmond District blog.  
 

 A postcard view of the interior located by Jack Tillmany.

Lincoln Bowl closing: Jack notes: "Lincoln Bowl closed 22 December 1973. This completes its story."

More information: Thanks to Jack Tillmany and the indefatigable John Freeman for the research. Jack's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.

| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | pre-1906 theatre list | home |

No comments:

Post a Comment