Forbidden City / Sutter Cinema / Sutter St. Theatre

363 / 369 Sutter St. | map |

Opening: The Chinese nightclub Forbidden City opened in 1938 on the second floor of this building on the south side of the street in the middle of the block between Grant and Stockton. The club used a 363 Sutter Address. Prior to becoming Forbidden City the space was called the Aladdin Studio Tiffin Room. 

 

 

A postcard of the Aladdin Studio Tiffin Room from the collection of Arthur Dong. This card and the one below appear in his book "Forbidden City, USA: Chinatown Nightclubs, 1936-1970."

 

Another Aladdin Studio card from Arthur's collection. The caption in the book: "The Aladdin Studio Tiffin Room, 'San Francisco’s Most Distinctive Oriental Show Place' and San Francisco’s first supper club. Decorated with a Chinese motif, it occupied the future site of the Forbidden City nightclub. Postcards ca. 1921-1925." Thanks, Arthur!

Forbidden City is said to be part of the inspiration for the Rogers and Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum Song." Another story is that when doing the film version of the musical the casting directors went to the club in search of talent and found Sammy Fong there.  

 

 

A floor show at Forbidden City. The undated photo is from the San Francisco Public Library. 

 

 An undated ad that appears with the Wikipedia article on Forbidden City.

The nightclub closed in 1970. Still named Forbidden City, the venue re-opened as an X-rated film venue on May 21, 1970. The name was changed to Sutter Cinema shortly thereafter.

Thanks to James Bartlett for this 1972 flyer. In 1976 and 1977 the venue operated as the Sutter Street Theatre.

A May 20, 1977 ad for the venue rebranded as the "All New" Arena. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this ad as well as research on the theatres dates of operation.

Closing: 1977 was the end of it as an entertainment space.

Status: It was later used as a franchise location of Barbizon Modeling and School. It's now used as office space.

Exterior views:

A 1970 look at the venue running adult movies but still called Forbidden City. It's a photo by Tom Gray from the Jack Tillmany collection. It appears on the Open SF History Project website.

 

Renamed the Sutter Cinema in 1970. Note the Forbidden City vertical still up on the right edge of the building. It's a photo by Tom Gray that's in the Jack Tillmany collection.

 

A 1970 photo taken by Clay Geerdes. By this time they had blacked out the Forbidden city vertical. Thanks to David Miller for sharing it on a post on the San Francisco Remembered Facebook page.

 

The operation as the Sutter Street Theatre in 1977. Note the new signage below the marquee saying "The Sutter Theatre - the Arena." It's a Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.

 

A 1977 photo from the Gfeller Collection. Thanks to Lily Castello for sharing it on the BAHT Facebook page. In the post it was given a 1981 date.

The building in 2019. Photo: Google Maps

 

 

The Sutter Cinema in the Movies:

 

 

The theatre is seen in this shot from Richard Rush's film "Freebie and the Bean" (Warner Bros., 1974). It stars Alan Arkin, James Caan and Loretta Swit. Thanks to Eric Schaefer for spotting the theatre and getting the screenshot. | On IMDb |

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.

Check out Arthur Dong's book  "Forbidden City U.S.A: Chinatown Nightclubs 1936-1970." It's on Amazon. Also available is his 1989 documentary "Forbidden City USA."

Also see the Wikipedia article on Forbidden City. 

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