Opened: April 1912 as the Majestic Theatre. It's on the east side of the street between 20th and 21st. It had a full stage with fly capability. The photo is a March 2017 view looking south from Google Maps.
An illustration of the facade that appeared with a page four article in the July 22, 1911 Chronicle that announced the project. It was part of a spread titled "City Real Estate Affairs in Sound Condition This Season." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the article. It's on Newsbank. The article gives us the name of the architects and noted that the projected cost was $50,000 and concluded with this informative sentence: "The theater has been leased for a term of years to a theatrical company."
A c.1912 photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments that here it all looks pretty new.
The Majestic is mentioned as being of "splendid construction" in a article surveying San Francisco theatres in the July 15, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World. At the time it was running lots of Fox product and changing programs three times a week. You only got vaudeville with your show on Sundays. The issue is on Google Books.
Majestic Trivia: In 1919 Boris Karloff was performing at the theatre as a member of the Robert Lawrence Stock Company. Jack Tillmany found the mention on a Boris Karloff 125th Anniversary web page.
Seating: 1,000 originally, later down to 870.
Architects: O'Brien and Werner designed the original building. At some point between 1932 and 1936 the Majestic acquired a huge vertical sign and got a new deco trapezoidal marquee.
The theatre then got a new deco front by S. Charles Lee in 1937 that included a revamp of that marquee. The vertical remained unchanged. The August 1937 Architect and Engineer issue had a single sentence on page 57 noting that Lee had let contracts for the remodel but didn't specify the scope of work. The lobby was also redone at this time.
The ad appearing in the Thursday February 1, 1942 Chronicle announcing the Tower's opening on February 20. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the article on Newsbank. He calls your attention to those "Magic 'Black Light' Wall Murals."
The vertical sign that had been on the theatre came down with the 1942 remodel. Later it was reinstalled across the street on the Majestic Department Store. See a photo down at the bottom of the page.
Closing: It closed as a film house c.1998, the last of the film operations on Mission St. It was later used as a church. They moved out in 2007. The building is owned by Vera Cort, who also owns the nearby hulk that used to be the Crown Theatre as wall as many other properties.
An aborted remodel for City College: Back in 2015 renovations began for was going
to become a film theatre/events space for City College to be called Mission Cinema School. The blog Capp St. Crap had a January 2016 story. Working on the project were architect Leonardo Zylberberg and structural engineer Rodrigo Santos of the firm Santos & Urrutia. Santos had been part of the restoration team at the New Mission Theatre. Only part of it got done but the ultimate $14 million plan was to dig out a basement and end up with a six story building that would be a full film production facility. Santos seemed to be financing the project himself and was in discussions to purchase the building.
The plan was to restore the signage to its 1942 look. The first floor facade and lobby were demolished, the floor was leveled, and most of the balcony removed. The auditorium walls were furred out and covered with plywood. The City had objected to covering all of the murals. Small areas on the house left and right walls were then uncovered and were going to be restored. Later, larger areas were uncovered when the City stepped in and wanted the murals not only preserved but visible.
Elizabeth Creely's "The tales of two once-grand San Francisco theaters diverge," an August 2018 story for Mission Local, discussed the futures of the Crown Theatre and the Tower. She talked to Santos about the project and his priorities:
"Santos says the mural is the most 'crucial element' of the redesign because its restoration must be complete before the construction of the interior and exterior proceeds. 'We were a little surprised at the emphasis that Planning placed on the restoration of this mural,' Santos, a dapper, energetic man, said during a tour of the site. 'But at the same time, we embraced it.' He’s in the process of hiring an artist, who must be approved by the Planning Department’s Historic Preservation team."
About 1:35 into Nicholas Meyer's "Time After Time" (Orion/Warner Bros., 1979) Malcolm McDowell, as H.G. Wells, pops into the Argonaut pawn shop next door to the Tower. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting the Tower. He comments:
"You don't see the name of the theatre but it's easily recognizable. There's no explanation of how he located this place, on the opposite side of the city from Francisco St. near the Palace of Fine Arts where he's been staying with Mary Steenburgen."
We also see the couple coming out of a screening of "Exorcist IV" at the Ghirardelli Square Cinema.
Interior views:
The look of the lobby following the 1937 renovation by S. Charles Lee. The October 25, 1943 Jack Tillmany collection photo is on the San Francisco Public Library website. Gary Parks comments:
This October 25, 1943 view of the proscenium reflects the 1942 remodel work which included black light murals. It's a Ted Newman photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. A smaller version appears on the San Francisco Public Library website. Jack comments:
"Interesting that the 1942 redo interiors are Mexican motif, even though
Spanish language films were not yet the policy and would not be until
about 20 years later."
A c.2010 sidewall view by R.A. McBride. It's from her 2010 book "Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres," written with Julie Lindow. It appears on the gallery page of the website about the book.
A 2011 look down from the balcony. After closing in 1998 and almost a decade as a church, the theatre sat vacant. The photo appears with "The Standing Dead," a Sam Harnett and Gundi Vigfusson article from 2011 on the site Bold Italic that features many views of abandoned theatres.
A fall 2015 photo by Catherine McMillan appearing with a January 2016 Capp St. Crap article on the renovation project for the City College cinema program. The ceiling was evidently taken out some time earlier -- here it's just steel trusses and the roof.
A 2018 look at the house right wall of the still unfinished project. The gentleman is engineer Rodrigo Santos, who was financing the renovations. Thanks to Elizabeth Creely for the photo, included with "The tales of two once-grand San Francisco theaters diverge," her August 2018 story for Mission Local. Work on the project later stopped.
More exterior views:
A May 13, 1913 photo. The Majestic, on the right, was advertising "America's Greatest Acrobats - The Florenze Family." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this one in the SFMTA Photo Collection.
A look north on Mission St. between 21st and 20th on February 11, 1918. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo from his collection. The date comes from the SFMTA Archives. Bob Ristelhueber found a version of the photo there and posted it on the BAHT Facebook page.
The theatre in October 1937 running "Cafe Metropole" with Loretta Young. Note the revamped marquee. It's a photo from the amazing collection of Jack Tillmany.
Did you wonder what was hiding in the darkness in the photo above as far as the look of the facade? Here's the daytime version courtesy of Jack Tillmany. The facade redo was a design by S. Charles Lee.
A look at the theatre with its 1942 slab facade. This October 28, 1943 photo with the Tower running "One Dangerous Night" with Warren William was taken by Ted Newman. It's from the Jack Tillmany collection and appears on the San Francisco Public Library website.
A c.1963 photo taken by Jack Tillmany after the house had gone to Spanish language product. Things had changed in the Mission district. Thanks to John Hough for working some magic on the image.
A 1975 Jack Tillmany photo of the theatre appearing with "The Standing Dead," a Sam Harnett and Gundi Vigfusson article from 2011 that features many views of abandoned theatres. It's on the site Bold Italic.
A 1978 photo included with an Eat Drink Films article by Tom Downs about the resurrection of the New Mission Theatre. The photo by Al Barna is from the book by Mr. Barna and Randall Ann Homan, "San Francisco Neon: Survivors and Lost Icons." The theatre closed c.1998.
A 2009 look at the Tower during the "For Sale" era. The photo is part of the Mission District album by Anomalous A on Flickr where you can page through more facade views.
A Tower collage that appeared on Loopnet. In the lower right note a drawing of the original 1912 facade.
The 2014 version of the Tower. Let's see the progress in 5 years: more of the sign panels have fallen off. Oh, yes, they got a different broker trying to sell it -- the first guy obviously had no luck. That tagging on the wall way back there is on the proscenium wall. It's got a full stage. Or did anyway. Photo: Bill Counter
The south side of the stagehouse as seen from a parking lot for a building on 21st St. Yes, it's another theatre in the Mission where one wonders how they ever loaded in a show. Photo: Bill Counter - 2014.
A July 2015 look up the tower of the abandoned theatre. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for his photo, one in a set of four from a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
Thanks to Michael Thomas Angelo for his 2016 photo, part of a post on the BAHT Facebook page including several other views of the theatre.
At the time of this November 2016 photo there was hope that it was coming back to life. The "Available"
sign had been taken off the marquee. There was a glimmer of light visible through a crack in the
plywood construction fence. The door was open. It was under renovation to become a film theatre/events space for cinema students at City
College.
A look up the vertical in 2023. Thanks to Gary Parks for sharing this photo he took on the BAHT Facebook page.
Not the Majestic Theatre:
A 1948 photo of the Majestic's vertical, but not on the theatre. It was taken off the theatre during the 1942 remodel and renaming. Here it's across the street on the Majestic Department Store at 2474 Mission. We're looking north from 21st. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the photo. There's also a less-sharp version on the San Francisco Public Library website where they give it a 1947 date.
Jack comments: "This 1948 photo of one of the last of the #9 line cars Southbound on Mission at 21st has shown up on some websites, and in at least one Arcadia Publishing book, identifying the building in question as the Majestic Theatre. Among other things, the author of the Arcadia book, in addition to getting the building wrong, was unaware that the photo had been taken six years after there was ever a theatre bearing that name in operation on Mission Street! The store, across the street on the west side of Mission, which faced the theatre, and who interestingly took ownership of the theatre's former vertical in 1942 when the theatre renamed itself the Tower. Clever these sofa salesmen!"
The corner deco building is still there. As is the Majestic building -- but with a new facade and no vertical. The Tower Theatre can be glimpsed on the far right. It's a 2015 Google Maps view.
A 1954 Chronicle ad for the "Mission Miracle Mile" that includes the Majestic Department Store. It's on a lovely Burrito Justice post about the Mission in the 50s.
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.
See the Mission District album on the BAHT Facebook page for many photos of neighboring theatres. Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour have pages on the Tower for you to browse.
Elizabeth Creely's "The tales of two once-grand San Francisco theaters diverge," an August 2018 story for Mission Local, discusses the Tower and the Crown.
Regarding black light murals, Gary Parks comments: "Black light murals seem to have emerged in the late 30s, for instance at Lee's Tower Theatre, in Fresno, still operating, with murals still glowing. Jack of course can tell you about the murals at the Lorenzo--he had the UV lamps shining on them, for the desired effect. Still there, stained, but they do glow when portable UV lamps have been brought in for public tours--I've been there. Not many people know the Orinda's murals are designed to glow, but later paint touch-up on a few of the mural figures was done with the wrong paint, so if UV lamps are installed, a few of the characters look like they have eczema or psoriasis.
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