The Toho / Kokusai Theatre

1700 Post St.  | map |

Opened: July 30, 1971 as the Toho Theatre. It was on the northwest corner of Post and Buchanan. Harold Iwamasa built it at a cost of $750,000. Iwamasa owned the building and initially operated the theatre himself. The Tom Gray photo is from the collection of Jack Tillmany. Gary Parks comments: 

"A nice example of the softer side of the Brutalist school of Modern architecture. It also draws subtle influences from Japanese architecture, appropriately."

Seating: 283  

 

A July 30, 1971 ad for the initial film, "Band of Assassins." Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating the ad. Visit his site: movie-theatre.org

 

The schedule for the Toho's 1st Samurai Festival in October and November 1971. 

 

Page 2 of the 1971 Samurai Festival schedule. 

 

Page 3 of the 1971 Samurai Festival schedule. Thanks to WV for scanning this.

Also see page 4 of the Samurai Festival brochure with several ads. This page is from a post of the program by Mike Breiding on Google Photos. Thanks to Gary Meyer for spotting it. 

It was renamed the Kokusai Theatre on December 27, 1972. Frank Lee was the operator at the end of the run.

Closed: July 1987

Status: The building is still there but the theatre space has been repurposed. The theatre was kicked out as Iwamasa wanted to use the space for a restaurant.

"Kokusai Switch: Films and Cocktails," Peter Stack's fine July 15, 1987 Chronicle article, discusses Frank Lee moving his operation to the Music Hall:

"The operators of Japantown's popular filmhouse, the Kokusai, are embarking on a big new venture as it moves to the Music Hall Theater on Larkin Street and reopens as the first movie theater in San Francisco to offer the services of a full bar - wine, beer and mixed drinks. 'It's a very exciting prospect,' said Frank Lee, 32, of San Francisco, who will begin showing movies at the Music Hall, 931 Larkin Street. The Music Hall was one of San Francisco's most popular art film theaters in the '50s and '60s. Although there are a few theaters in the country that serve beer - there's one in Savannah, Ga., for example, and another has been proposed for Dallas - there apparently aren't any that offer a full line of cocktails. Lee said his operations at the Music Hall, originally scheduled to begin today but postponed due to construction delays until Friday, July 24, will include regular movie theater snack bar fare such as candy and popcorn. In the near future, he said, he may offer light meals, since the Music Hall also has a full kitchen.

"Lee said the Kokusai, which has specialized in Japanese movies, was forced to vacate its 280-seat house at 1700 Post Street because the building's owner, Harold Iwamasa, plans to open a fast-food franchise restaurant there, possibly a Denny's. Iwamasa ran the Kokusai for a period of years. Both he and Lee aimed at a balance of Asian action films and more high-minded Japanese fare. The theater was generally considered a success. Although it has been widely speculated that the Kokusai was forced to close because of competition from the neighboring Kabuki 8 theater complex operated by American-Multi Cinema of Kansas City, Lee said the big multiplex operation had no effect on his decision to move to the Music Hall. 'Their programming was totally different,' he said. He allowed, though, that a decision to put a fast-food restaurant in the neighborhood may have been prompted by the arrival last year of the Kabuki 8. Nearby fast food stores on Fillmore Street reportedly have been doing brisk business.

"At the new location, Lee said he plans to continue the Kokusai's programming policies, although the theater's name, at least for the time being, will remain the Music Hall. Sunday through Thursday the theater will offer a variety of movies - mostly Japanese and Chinese, but also recent American releases - from noon until midnight. On Fridays and Saturdays, the films will be shown until 10 p.m., and then the Music Hall will offer 'disco events' with live music. This weekend, for example, the Paul Collins Beat will perform. Lee said drink prices will range from $1.75 for domestic beers to $2.50 for call drinks during films. The seating for the movies will be in director's-style chairs, made in three different heights and arranged in banks to afford the audience maximal views of the 20-by-28 foot screen. Patrons of the bar will be allowed to sit at tables along the walls of the theater, in the fashion of a nightclub. The Music Hall most recently had specialized in theatrical productions, from the long-running 'Dance Between the Lines' dinner show to 'Rapmaster Ronnie.'

"The theater, originally a department store and converted to a moviehouse in the late '40s and to a disco in the late '70s, is owned by Margaret Ann McGuire and Ann Marie Garvin, who created 'Dance Between the Lines,' a successful jazz dance show that employed young talents who performed in a revue format and also waited tables. The transformation of the theater into a rock nightclub and now a moviehouse has been a 'slow evolution,' said co-owner McGuire. 'If it all works out, it will be a wonderful asset in a neighborhood that is trying very hard to upgrade itself.' Lee is the son of Frank Lee, of San Francisco, who once was among the most influential distributors of Asian movies in the United States."

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the article. Frank Lee and his wife, doing business as Lee Family Theatres, operate the Marina, Presidio and 4-Star theatres.

A c.1987 photo by Tom Gray. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this one from his collection.  

 

 

The former theatre space as a Denny's in the 1990s. Thanks to Ray Morse for sharing this photo he took on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page. 

 

 

The building in 2016. We're looking west on Post St. Down there on the left is the AMC Kokusai 8. Photo: Google Maps

 

A c.2020 photo. Thanks to David Toshiyuki for posting this one on the Facebook page San Francisco Remembered, where it elicited many comments about the theatre. 

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

Cinema Treasures has a page on the Kokusai.

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