Fether's Point Film Society

4416 18th St. | map |

Opened: October 1967, as a project of John and Marge Buckley. This Castro district storefront venue was on the north side of the street between Eureka St. and Douglass St. It's a Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. Thanks to Jack for sharing the photo and researching the dates.  

Seating: 49 
 

A January and February 1971 flyer. Thanks to Gary Meyer for sharing this from his collection. He included this in a BAHT Facebook page post along with images of the first flyer the Buckleys did at the Cento Cedar. 

Sometime around 1971 Celeste West compiled a list titled "Where To Lose It At The Movies" for the San Francisco Public Library. Her "bleary-eyed guide" cataloged some venues running at the time that specialized in revivals, foreign and underground films -- or featured inexpensive admission. It's reproduced at the bottom of the Cento Cedar Cinema page. She had this to say about Fether's Point: 

"Funkiest little cinema house in town, playing the old favorites. Retrospectives a la Garbo, Bette Davis, Bogie, etc."

Closing: January 5, 1972 due to landlord problems and city code issues. 

The Buckleys went on to take over the Cento Cedar Cinema in April 1972. In 1983 they closed that operation and moved to the Rio Theatre on Union St., which they renamed the Mercury.

Status: The building survives with the main floor space in use as a restaurant.  
 

The building in 2021. Photo: Google Maps

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.  

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