The Oberon Music Hall

38 O'Farrell St. | map |

Opening: It was around from at least 1882 as Oberon Hall, also known as The Oberon. We're looking east toward Market in this November 1901 photo by an unknown photographer. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it on the Open SF History Project website. The Oberon is in the second building in, the Shiels apartment building. Note the swing-out sign.

The entrance to the upstairs floors of the Shiels building was at 32 O'Farrell at the far end of the building. Just beyond, the building with "Pianos" on the side wall, would house the Belvedere Music Hall at 30 O'Farrell St., opening in 1904. The buildings were on the north side of the street between Grant and Stockton. It's the Call Building straight ahead across Market. 

Thanks to Art Siegel for dating the photo. He spotted a sign on a building across Market for Sarah Cowell LeMoyne in "The First Duchess Marlborough" at the Columbia Theatre, which played there in November, 1901. He adds that this photo and image #WNP27.7594 were taken moments apart.

Peter Field reports that Ernest A. Fischer was one of a string of owners of the Oberon and notes: "He bought the business in 1893 when it was a restaurant/saloon, and remodeled it into a music hall in 1897."  In the 1893 city directory Fischer is listed as being in the liquor and wine business a5 833 California St. In the 1894 edition he's listed as the proprietor of The Oberon. 

A February 22, 1897 article located by Jack Tillmany outlining Fischer's transformation of the venue into the "family concert hall" that became advertised as the Oberon Music Hall. Note that they transposed Mr. Fischer's initials.

Fischer would go on the somewhat grander theatrical adventures. In March 1900 he opened the new Fischer's Theatre at 122 O'Farrell St. and sold the Oberon. In 1909 he took over the the theatre at 2030 Sutter St. that had opened as the Victory in 1907 that eventually ended up as the Sutter Theatre. Fischer also had a Fischer's Theatre in Los Angeles, later renamed the Princess Theatre. There was also a Fischer's Theatre in Pasadena, a building later renamed the Oaks Theatre.  

 

The cover for a c.1904 program for the Oberon. Thanks to Jeff Greenwood for sharing this from his collection of memorabilia related to his great-grand-aunt Anna Robinson and her husband, magician Frederick Palmer. She was a singer, billed with Palmer as "The Sorcerer and the Soubrette." As a solo performer she was billed at various times as "The Little Girl with the Big Voice" and "The Great Coon Shouter." See a 1905 trade magazine ad for the duo.  They also appeared at the Lyceum Theatre, 7th & Market.  

 

A page from the program with Anna Robinson as act #17.  

 

 

Another page from the program. Thanks to Jeff Greenwood for sharing these items. 

 

In the 1905 city directory the Oberon noted it was offering "Concert & Vaudeville." It was then being operated by the Oberon Amusement Co. with Frank Waltenstein as manager. The address was listed as 38-40 O'Farrell.   

 

The Oberon is seen in the upper left of 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. 

The "Concert Hall" at 26-28-30 O'Farrell, just east of the Oberon, is the Belvedere. Geary St. is running along the right edge of the image.   

A c.1905 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. The Oberon is at the far left in the Shiels apartment building. In the center of the image is the Belvedere Music Hall at 30 O'Farrell. Jack comments: "The photo is by Ted Hecht who we must be grateful to for documenting so much of pre-1906 SF. It's not dated, but most of his stuff that I've seen is circa 1905."

Closing: The end for the Oberon came with the April 18, 1906 earthquake.

The crowd is watching the fire in this view looking toward Market St. On the left it's the Oberon (with its facade missing) and the Belvedere (just beyond). The tall structure on Market is the Call Building. The photo is on Calisphere from the California State Library. W.E. Worden of Bear Photo is credited as the photographer.

Another version of the photo is on Calisphere from the California Historical Society. Also see another photo taken during the fire from a slightly different position, also from the California Historical Society.  

In the center with the three arches it's the Shiels apartment building, housing the Oberon Music Hall. The Oberon Shaving Parlor on the far left doesn't appear in the 1905 city directory. It's evidently a dba for a barber named Max Schwartz, who was listed at 44 O'Farrell St. The Belvedere, with the sign over its entrance still intact, is to the right of center. The photo appears on Calisphere from the Bancroft Library. Thanks to Kevin Walsh for spotting the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.

 

Another view of the ruined building. It appears on Calisphere from the California Historical Society.  Note the signage for the Belvedere Music Hall painted on the building to the east.

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.  

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