The Chutes Park and Theatre - Haight [1895-1902]

 Haight St. at Cole | map |

 

Park opening: There were three Chutes locations, all with big theatres and many other attractions. This first Chutes Park opened in the Haight on November 2, 1895. The park was on the south side of Haight St., stretching from Clayton to Cole with Waller St. as the south end. This 1895 opening day photo appears on the Open SF History Project website. We're looking toward the area where the park's big theatre would be constructed in 1897. 

 

 

An 1899 flyer that Art Siegel located on eBay. He notes that the Maze opened that year.

 

The inside of the flyer. Art notes that the "Joe, Sally and Congo" performers were chimps. 

This first Chutes location closed March 16, 1902. The second location on Fulton St. at 10th Ave. opened May 1, 1902 and ran until January 1909. See the Chutes/Orpheum page for data on the big house as well as a smaller nickelodeon there. The third and last location in the Fillmore opened Bastille Day July 14, 1909 and was closed by fire May 29, 1911. See the page on the American Theatre for a history of the final Chutes Theatre and park.

 

Outdoor movies beginning in 1896: 

 

An undated look down from the top that's in the Jack Tillmany collection. He calls our attention to the movie screen next to the Haunted House and a little hut for a booth. John Freeman comments:

 

"The Animatoscope was indeed first introduced locally at the Chutes (or they were the first to advertise it). It was an afternoon - evening free attraction starting on Sept. 21, 1896. So it was an outdoor venue that needed to be seen as the sun had set in the West. I found it described as being 'on a big stage at the foot of the lake.' What they showed were clips of motion in the beginning, but eventually the reels got longer. By Summer 1897 they featured 'A Trip to Ogden' which sounds like a camera stuck out the window of an eastbound train." 

The Chutes Theatre:

Opening: 1897. In addition to vaudeville and circus acts, the theatre was presumably also running films in the late 1890s. This 1901 photo from a Chutes program appeared with the caption "This theatre has the largest seating capacity of any theatre west of Chicago." The photo appears on the Open SF History Project website.

Seating: 3,000. 2,000 on the main floor, 1,000 in the balcony.  

Closing: The park, and its theatre, closed March 16, 1902. The theatre was later demolished.

Looking south on Cole toward Haight St. It's a photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection that appears on the Open SF History Project website. That's part of the theatre building on the right.

A c.1894 entrance view appearing on a Found SF page about the Chutes.

The back side of the theatre building c.1900. It's a photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection on the Open SF History Project website.

Looking across the pond at the theatre. It's a photo appearing on Mike Winslow's Playland at the Beach site. Note here that the lettering on the arch at the building entrance reads "Casino" rather than "Theatre." It's an early photo -- they haven't yet built the pavilion atop the Chutes ride. 

A later splashdown. The photo appears on the Open SF History Project website.

More Information: See "The Chutes - 1895-1911," chapter 12 of George Hanlin and Alan Harrison's "Famous Playhouses of San Francisco." It's a 1942 publication from the Writers' Program of the WPA that was sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on Internet Archive. This publication formed the the basis of Edmond M. Gagey's "The San Francisco Stage," Columbia University Press, 1950.  

Hamilton Henry Dobbins has three views of Chutes in his scrapbooks. They're in the California State Library collection. Cinema Tour has a page on this Chutes location.

Found SF has a page on the Haight St. Chutes location. Hoodline had a 2016 story on the Haight Chutes location. But note that the top photo on thir page is mis-labeled. It's actually the Fulton Chutes. 

This first Chutes location is one of the venues covered in Rae Alexandra's 2022 KQED article "5 Long-Lost San Francisco Attractions the City Should've Kept."

The Open SF History Project has many photos of this Chutes location in their collection. The San Francisco Public Library has a page about the Chutes locations.

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. 

See Mike Winslow's "Playland at the Beach" site for many photos of the three Chutes locations from a variety of sources.

Thanks to John Freeman for his research on this page.

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