The Casino / Downtown Theatre

198 Ellis St. | map |

Opened: It debuted Sunday April 8, 1917 as the Casino Theatre on the northeast corner of Ellis and Mason, a site previously occupied by the Ellis Street YMCA. It offered both vaudeville and motion pictures, as we can see by the signage.

The photo appeared with a March 2016 article by Bob Bragman on SF Gate "A 100 year look at San Francisco marquees and theaters." A San Francisco Public Library version of the photo photo appears with Mark Ellinger's fine Uptown Tenderloin Historic District article on his Up From The Deep blog.

Architect: Benjamin G. McDougall

Seating: 1,934
 

A page in the April 7, 1917 Chronicle celebrated the new theatre. Thanks to Mike Rivest for posting the image on Cinema Treasures.  

The initial manager was Charles H. Brown, who had built the 16th St. Theatre in the Mission district (now known as the Victoria), a house that opened in 1907. Also involved were Ackerman and Harris. Harris is quoted about the Casino in "Harris Cites Old Film Days," an article by George Fischer in the December 23, 1928 issue of the Examiner:

"'...We made big money so we built the present Casino theater and produced our first musical comedy 'Let's Go.' For the leads in this comedy we secured the services of a popular dancing team at Tait's Cafe in O'Farrell street. We told them if it succeeded, they could take it on a tour of the States. They were game and agreed. That team was Fanchon and Marco..."

Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the article. The full text of the story is reproduced down near the bottom of the page about the Wigwam Theatre, an earlier Harris venture in the Mission district. 

 

There aren't any interior shots that have been definitely identified as the Casino. But this one probably is:

It's a photo is from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "I think this is the Casino because the upper exits seem to match up with the exterior views. What's frustrating is that I used to go to the Casino, after it had gone grind as the Downtown, quite frequently. It was one of my favorite downtown haunts during summer vacation, but I was only interested in seeing the (old) movies they ran, and always sat downstairs, never ventured above." 

A photo appearing as part of an ad for Mauerene Likwid Sement in the November 1917 issue of The Architect and Engineer. It's on Internet Archive. The ad helpfully listed Benjamin G. McDougall as the architect.

The cover of the program for March 16, 1919. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it. Note that by this time Charles Brown had teamed up with Ackerman and Harris as operators.

 

By mid-1920 the house was rebranded as Loew's Casino, but with Ackerman and Harris operating it for Marcus Loew. They were called his "western representatives."

 

 

A July 1920 ad for "What Not" at the Loew's Casino. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the America in the 1920s Facebook group. 

 

A July 1920 photo with "Frivolities of 1920" on the marquee.  Not sure what the gang is up to posing along the Mason St. side of the building that we see as we look south toward Ellis. Perhaps a parade to promote the show? It's a San Francisco Public Library photo. Note the billboard for the Hippodrome. It was another Loew's/Ackerman & Harris operation. 

Marcus Loew had hooked up with local operators Ackerman & Harris much earlier. By the late-1910s they had become partners in the Hippodrome on O'Farrell, a house that later was called the Union Square. Loew was also involved in the Empress (later known as the St. Francis) after he had picked up the pieces of the Sullivan and Considine vaudeville circuit. As partners, Loew and A&H eventually had more than a dozen theatres up and down the coast. A&H was running the Warfield for Loew when it opened in May 1922. 

 

The partnership was dissolved by June 1922. The Sacramento Daily Union had a June 13 article "Loew Drops Chain of Theaters - Retains S.F. and L.A. Houses." It's on the California Digital Newspaper Collection site. Loew kept the Warfield and Loew's State in Los Angeles, A&H got the rest of the properties in Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose, Oakland, Long Beach and Salt Lake City. A&H, of course, had other Bay Area theatres that weren't part of the partnership with Loew.  

 

 

"A Family Institution." It's a July 30, 1923 program for the theatre running a mixed film and stage show bill. You got a two-reel film and on stage it was the Casino Players in a comedy titled "Hilarity" and another little drama called "Within The Law." Plus you got a newsreel and various vaudeville acts. Richard Wilbur was operating the theatre at the time. Thanks to Dallas Movie Theatres for locating this for a post on Cinema Treasures. 

 

James Beatty had the Casino in 1925 and early 1926 calling it Beatty's Casino. He also operated theatres in San Jose. 

 

The cover of the April 1925 program for "Laff A Lot." At the time the venue was called Beatty's Casino. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on eBay.  

 

An inside page of the "Laff A Lot" program.  

 

Another "Laff A Lot" program page.

The cover of a 1925 program for the week of June 6. It's on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.

After Beatty left, the Casino was very briefly under the management of Henry Duffy, who also had the Alcazar, the President, the 12th St. in Oakland and others up and down the coast. 

 

Thanks to Tenderloin historian Peter M. Field for locating this story in the March 9 issue of the S.F. Chronicle. Peter is the author of the 2018 Sutton Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." The article notes that the building was owned at the time by Mrs. Leona Rowenstirn, sister of "Broncho Billy" Anderson. In 1913 Anderson had owned the Gaiety Theatre, later called the Union Square. Duffy took over the Casino on April 9, 1926.

 

An April 29, 1926 story Peter found in the Chronicle about a Duffy show, "Honey Girl," moving from the Casino to the Alcazar. This was Duffy's exit move, after operating the theatre less than a month. 

 

 

In this May 5, 1926 Chronicle article it was noted that Duffy sold his lease to Ackerman and Harris and it would become a second-run film house with program changes four times a week starting May 6. Thanks to Peter for locating the article. It's unknown how long Ackerman and Harris continued to operate the theatre. 

 

The building was sold in 1939. In "Famed San Francisco Theater Property Sold, to be Remodeled," an October 29, 1939 Chronicle article, it was noted that the Anglo California National Bank, trustee for the estate of the "Bronco Billy" Anderson family, had sold it to a Peter H. Markowitz, apparently representing a syndicate that intended to modernize the theater. Thanks to Peter M. Field for locating the story. He notes that the plan evidently fizzled.   

 

It did get a remodel in 1941, but not by Markowitz. The house was renamed the Downtown Theatre and when it reopened the policy again was as a second-run house. 

 

 

 

Thanks to Peter M. Field for sharing this September 1, 1941 Chronicle article. Irving Ackerman was again involved a partner in the operation. They didn't make that Thanksgiving opening that they were shooting for. Peter notes that this was a lease from another new owner, the Hibernia Bank, and wonders if they were left holding the mortgage after the collapse of the 1939 plan by the Markowitz syndicate.   

 

 

 

A January 1, 1942 ad for the remodeled theatre. Thanks to Mike Rivest for posting it on Cinema Treasures.  

 

 

A January 1, 1942 item in the Chronicle about the reopening show "They Met In Bombay" and "Moon Over Miami." Thanks to Peter M. Field for locating this.  

 

The January 1942 program for the Downtown. Thanks to Dan Dewell for sharing this image and the one below as comments to a post on the BAHT Facebook page. 

 

The inside of the January 1942 program. You can click on these images for a larger view.

 

The remodeled theatre in 1942. It only had 10 more years left. The photo from the Jack Tillmany collection appears on the Cinema Tour page about the theatre. He notes that "Major Barbara" opened March 18, 1942.

 

 

 

The theatre as it appeared the 1950 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. That's Ellis St. along the bottom and Mason St. on the left side. It's a detail from page 62 of the copy on the Library of Congress website it's their image 71 of 119.

By 1950 the Downtown was down to double bills of "San Francisco's Biggest Hits" with a daily change of program.

A May 1950 calendar from the Jack Tillmany collection. 

The front of the July 1950 calendar. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.  

The middle of the July 1950 calendar. 

The back of the July 1950 calendar. Thanks, Jack!

 

After a few experimental one-night stands, vaudeville returned to the Downtown "in the London Palladium Manner" [sic] on Friday-Saturday-Sunday weekends beginning January 26, 1951. In mid-February two-a-day vaudeville became a daily attraction. In April 1952 it became a burlesque venue.

"Bouncing Beauties..." Running burlesque shows at the end. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating this April 18, 1952 ad. He comments: "'Desperadoes' was Columbia's first Technicolor feature so it was a real treat, but Lili St. Cyr taking her famous Bubble Bath in 'Love Moods' left you feeling clean all over."

 

Closing: Its last show was a week's run of a new edition of the "Parisienne Follies" featuring Melba Toast, the "Toast of New Orleans," which opened September 12, 1952. After which the theatre quietly closed down, apparently on Thursday, September 18, 1952. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the research.

Status: Demolition was in 1953. 

The back wall of the stagehouse coming down in 1953. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for getting a shot of the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. It's at the SF Public Library, a photo not yet digitized. A version of the photo by Joe Rosenthal for the Chronicle appears in Peter Hartlaub's September 12, 2015 SF Gate article "Our SF: The city's movie palaces make an unexpected comeback." Well, this one didn't. Thanks to Gary Meyer for spotting the article.

A postscript from Peter M. Field: 

"In the decade following the Korean War, a number of Tenderloin residential hotels and other structures were demolished as San Francisco's population declined (over 96,000 between the 1950 and 1980 U. S. censuses), shrinking the Tenderloin's residential customer base. A number of these demolitions were replaced by outdoor parking lots, including the Downtown Theatre. 

"It was first leased by the System Auto Park chain, followed by a miscellaneous string of other companies and outdoor parking entrepreneurs, until the lot was purchased as part of a larger property assemblage on which the Holiday Inn project was built in the early 1980s, which became Japan Airlines' Hotel Nikko."

Thanks, Peter! 

More information: See the Cinema Treasures and  Cinema Tour pages 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. 

For a fine history of the neighborhood see Peter M. Field's 2018 America Through Time/Sutton Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time." It's available through your local bookseller or Amazon.   

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