The Boarding House Theater

960 Bush St. | map |  


Opened: The building opened as the Fitzgerald Memorial Methodist First Episcopal Church on August 25, 1918. It was on the north side of the street between Taylor and Jones. It was repurposed in 1931 as the Fine Arts Building and Auditorium with a reopening on September 8.

On June 1, 1933 it became Kamokila, the Temple of the Art, named after its founder Alice Kamokila Campbell. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this 1934 photo of the building as the Kamokila. It's from the San Francisco Public Library collection. A smaller version is on their website.



A June 1933 article about the Kamolika. 



 Another June 1933 article article about the Hawaiian-themed theatre. 
  


Alice Kamokila Campbell and four of her entertainers in June 1933. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating these newspaper items.

On April 25, 1935 it became the Royal Hawaiian Club. It was the Emperor Norton Variety Hall for a couple months in May and June 1935. Jack Tillmany notes that the only production of consequence seemed to be "The Front Page," put on by a group of local newsmen, which is probably the only reason it was remembered.

It became the Federal Theatre March 5, 1936, opening with a WPA Federal Theatre Project production of "The Sabine Women." Jack Tillmany notes that there was no admission charge although tickets needed to be picked up in advance at the box office. The Project's production of "The Taming of the Shrew" opened April 30, 1936. It was their first show requiring paid admission -- all of 25 cents. The venue housed Federal Theatre Project shows until that program fizzled nationally in 1939. In 1942 it was the Shangri-La.



On March 8, 1943 until 1946 it was the Bush Street Music Hall, home of the melodrama "The Drunkard." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the opening day ad.



From March 1947 until 1949 it was the Balalaika. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this image from his collection of the cover of a matchbook for the the venue. On January 10, 1950 it became the Bush Street Theatre, home of the San Francisco Repertory Company.



George and Nicky Andros re-opened it as Fack's II on June 27, 1956 with Mel Torme topping their first show, and that operation continued until July 1960. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for researching the dates and locating the ad.

It became Neve of SF on September 26, 1960. In 1966 it was Theatre Lab. It was The Quake beginning December 31, 1967 and The Troubador (North) beginning August 4, 1970.



It was renamed the Boarding House Theater on March 26, 1971. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the article. The history of the building is complicated not only by its many name changes but by the fact there were two performance spaces. Jack comments:

"I seem to recall, while researching the dates and names for this place, that it was actually two venues, a smaller, more intimate downstairs 'club' and the larger, restaurant sized space upstairs. Sometimes, they were operated separately, as in the Federal Theatre days, with different formats, different policies, sometimes it was an all under one roof type situation; that's why there were so many names. My gut feeling is that, as Kamokila, as the Bush Street Theatre, when they did the Drunkard, and as the Balalaika, it was the upstairs space, a combination eatery and entertainment venue."

Status: The building was demolished in July 1980 following damage from a fire. A condo building is now on the site.



Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this July 1980 article about the building's demise. It's a nice bit of reporting from the Chronicle in the days when, as Jack notes, newspapers did this sort of thing.


More photos:


This 1971 photo by Tom Gray of the theatre under its final name, the Boarding House, is in the Jack Tillmany collection. It's on the Open SF History Project website. Jack comments: "If you look closely you'll see, even though the name is over the entire front, the actual entrance is the small downstairs door with the 960 address on the awning."



A 1978 photo by Tom Gray from the Jack Tillmany collection. 

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.

Wikipedia has an article on the Boarding House. 

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