Opened: 1913. This first Irving Theatre was, as Jack Tillmany notes, "one of several smaller early venues in the Inner Sunset." He shows the first city directory listing as in the July 1913 issue. The building is on the north side of the street between 9th and 10th Avenues.
The image is a detail from the set of plans in the Gary Parks collection. Head to the bottom of the page for nine more details.
Architect: Gary comments: "There is no architect named on the drawings, so maybe a sheet is missing. But Gary Goss, who previously owned the plans, lists a R.W. Moller as the architect, on the outside of the roll. I’ll take his word on it."
Seating: 390 according to Cinema Treasures, presumably from a Film Daily Yearbook. On the plans there are 399. Gary Parks says: "I counted the seats."
A 1916 handbill for the theatre from the Jack Tillmany collection that appears on the Open SF History Project website.
The theatre was still listed as the Irving in the September 1922 telephone directory. It was renamed the Sunset Theatre with its first telephone directory listing under that name in April 1923.
Closing: It closed around 1929 -- it's still in that city directory. Jack comments: "The 1926 opening of the bigger, better Irving Theatre a few blocks away no doubt put a severe crimp in its business, and it looks like it closed without ever having converted to sound."
Jack found a January 4, 1935 Chronicle ad listing 828 Irving as Mitchell's Groceteria aka Weiss Market.
No photos of the building when it was a theatre have surfaced. Jack Tillmany and Gary Parks looked at the building during a "nickelodeon ramble." Gary comments: "Obviously, it got a Moderne redo when turned into retail, but...look close...you might find a clue or two as to its theatrical heritage."
The Irving Theatre building as a market. Photo: Gary Parks
A wider look at the streetscape. Photo: Gary Parks
In the former theatre in 1950. Thanks
to Chris Ellinger for spotting a post by Charles Haig for a share on the BAHT Facebook page. Haig's family had evidently just taken over the market. He commented: "This was opening day in March of 1950 of our family's market at 828 Irving Street. My mother Virginia Kazarian is the cashier in the back. It is fun to look at the prices and the clothing. My father Haig Kazarian told me that the store was at one time a movie theater. We ran it until 1965."
Details from the set of plans in the Gary Parks collection:
A facade elevation with a tall flagpole.
A facade and boxoffice detail.
A section through the ticket lobby and rear of the auditorium.
A closer look at the ticket lobby. Note the projection booth at the right.
A section through the front of the auditorium.
A floorplan for the lobby end of the building. Note the theatre's single restroom, behind that lower store space.
A floorplan of the screen end of the building. Note the piano pit in front of the stage. Gary comments: "I love it when the show the seats, and give numbers for each section."
A closer look at the pit and stage. Gary comments: "Interesting to see the platform being 4’ tall, but no
steps leading up. This may have been a wise decision. They could
always have a little moveable set of steps which could be moved up to
the platform, if they needed to use it. Note the little pit. I am
going to guess that it is for a piano. Considering the height of the
bottom of the screen from the floor, and the depth of the pit, it looks
just right. Power runs to it—presumably just for a piano light. The
pit is wide enough to hold a standard piano console with a little room
to spare on each end. There were some little photo player-type
piano/organ combo instruments as well, but if one of those was here, it
would have been a very small model."
An elevation looking toward the screen.
Thanks, Gary!
More information: See the page for the other, much larger, Irving Theatre. It opened in 1926 at 1332 Irving St.
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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