938 Market St. | map |
Opened: April 4, 1946 in former retail space in the Garfield
Building. It was on the north side of the street just east of Mason.
Down the block to the east were the Esquire and Telenews.
This photo from the Open SF History Project
was taken in July 1946 when the Pix was running "Li'l Abner" along with a "Big Cartoon Carnival." Thanks to
Jack Tillmany for spotting the photo in the collection. He comments: "A
rainy but happier time, when the newborn Pix was just 3 months old.
Nobody in those days would ever have believed what would happen to
Market Street!" At the time of the photo Market St. still had four sets of tracks.
Seating: 280
An April 4, 1946 ad for the new theatre offering "Riding on Air" with Joe E. Brown along with the Roy Rogers film "Border Legion." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the ad. He notes:
"The Pix was the first post-World War II film theatre to emerge, and was so small it didn’t even issue tickets. You just walked through a turnstyle which the cashier activated after you paid for your admission. There was no lobby to speak of, and the rest rooms, lounge & snack bar were all located downstairs. Entering the auditorium, you found yourself on the center aisle, with six seats on each side to choose from. Amazingly, when wide screen presentation became a necessity in the mid-1950’s, the Pix was able to accommodate its own miniature, but properly proportioned version of CinemaScope in an acceptable manner.
"The theatre had been converted from retail space by entrepreneur Robert L. Lippert and, though small, boasted refrigerated air conditioning, unique at the time, and rare still now, in San Francisco, which prides referring to itself as 'The Air Conditioned City' but is often in need of just that when the occasional hot spell arrives and stays for a few days. For the humble admission price of fifty cents, a Pix
patron could enjoy no less than '3 Action Hits,' 6 Color Cartoons, and
actually cool off at the same time that bejeweled patrons of the
non-air-conditioned Opera House up on Van Ness Avenue were roasting like
ducks on a spit (and still are!)."
It was called the Newsvue beginning August 25, 1950. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating this reopening day ad. He comments:
"The Newsvue adopted a policy of nothing but newsreels Monday thru Friday, and nothing but cartoons (25) on Saturdays and Sundays. Apparently the novelty soon wore off and soon the former grind policy resumed."
The theatre reverted to the Pix name in March 1955 and ran as a triple-feature grind house before going to porno in 1971. Jack comments:
"In the building
upstairs, local street photographer Joseph Seele maintained his office, and so passers-by often found themselves snapped by Seele downstairs on Market Street, with the Pix Theatre in the background.
"Manny Levin, who also had the Hub, was running the theatre until it went porno in December 1971. In the early 1970’s, all buildings in the block East of the Pix were torn down in order to accommodate the Powell Street BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station and surrounding plaza. However, the Garfield Building and the Pix survived the wrecker’s ball and the Pix remained open with 'adult' films."
Status: After closing Jack notes that "it was almost immediately converted back into retail space." For years it was a Radio Shack but they're now gone.
A photo from the Jack Tillmany collection taken during the last week of August 1960.
Photographer Joseph Selle: This photo is by street photographer Joseph Selle. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sending a whole bundle of Selle's work along. For more about the strange career of this photographer and his business Fox Movie Flash, see the page on the website of Andrew Eskind about the collection of his photos. There's also a Chronicle article on Selle: www.sfchronicle.com/
Jack notes: "Here's a typical example of the countless photos Selle took in front of the Pix. You also get a slice of the Esquire which helps date the photo. This one is September 1960. Really captures the moment!
"Bad news is, of course, the Pix was not included in the Chronicle Movie Guide. Good news is, the Esquire is most often in the same shot, with at least enough of the marquee showing to identify what's playing, and that makes it easy."
A June 25, 1962 photo from the Open SF History project. Jack Tillmany comments: "Here's Funland, home of the iconic foot long 19 cent hot dogs, wedged between the Pix and the Esquire ('El Cid' at Popular Prices). Sniff."
A June 19, 1968 photo by an unknown photographer. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it on the Open SF History Project site. "Villa Rides" is playing at the Esquire. Its neighbor the Telenews has been demolished.
It's a June 1970 photo appearing as part of the Open San Francisco History Project courtesy of a private collector. Both the Pix and the Esquire theatres would soon close. The Pix to again become retail space, the Esquire to be demolished for the Hallidie Plaza / Powell St. BART station. At the Esquire: "The Adventurers" plus "Downhill Racer." Jack Tillmany notes that that bill at the Esquire opened June 24. At the Pix we get 3 Top Action Hits: "Kenner," "The Girl & The General" and "If He Hollers, Let Him Go."
A September 2, 1972 photo from the Open SF History Project. Jack Tillmany comments: "The Esquire closed 30 July 1972 and the Pix hung on to December 1972, so this photo really marks a sad farewell moment in theatrical history for that block! Sad to behold now, but try to imagine living thru it all and seeing it happen from one place to the next, from one week to the next. Poor little Pix 49 cents to noon; 99 cents to closing!"
More Pix 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.
Also see the Cinema Treasures page on the Pix.
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i lived just a few blocks away and went to the pix a lot.
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