The Palace Theatre / Peekarama

53 Turk St. | map |

Opening: It opened as the Palace Theatre November 6, 1974 in a storefront on the south side of the street between Mason and Taylor. It was almost behind the Crest and the Warfield. The 1974 Tom Gray photo of the building's short time as the Palace is from the Jack Tillmany collection.

Previously the site had been Peekarama, an adult bookstore that had opened in mid-1968. Jack Tillmany notes that this was the first of at least three San Francisco locations with that name and, following the trend of the era, began offering live shows in 1969.

When the location was remodeled to become the Palace, the stated aim was to offer old-time vaudeville. The opening was discussed in "Vaudeville Lives in Turk Street Palace," a page 33 article in the October 26, 1974 Chronicle. "It will be like vaudeville never left - only, hopefully, better" said Michael Owen, the 26 year old entrepreneur behind the venture. The opening show got a favorable review on  page 33 of the November 9, 1974 Chronicle. They noted that  the film part of the program was Esther Williams in "Dangerous When Wet."

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the articles on Newsbank. He comments: "Surprise! Vaudeville F-A-I-L-E-D! Well, at least 'Old-Time Vaudeville.' But what is 'Vaudeville' anyway, but live performers doing whatever they think they do best. Next came 'Live Burlesque Revue' and 'Girls and Boy Boy Girl Love Act' [sic], and 'Completely Nude Girls Live on Stage,' i.e. vaudeville updated to the 1980s! A month later, it re-opened once again as Peekarama with 'Sexual Hardcore Stag.'

"Personally, I cannot help but believe all the 'Old-Time Vaudeville' schtick was just an smoke screen to get some investors to spend some money to upgrade the site, and overcome local political resistance to the already out of control X-Rated Entertainment situation. But there's one born every minute - PTB."

Closing: It closed c.1985, but its signage was still up in 1988 despite a city ordinance requiring owners of defunct adult businesses to remove signage within 30 days. The complaints of a bookstore owner across the street were covered in a page 51 article in the September 10, 1958 Chronicle article. The premises were flagged by a city inspector as a result of the complaint but he noted that it might take a year or more to get any action.

Status: The building the theatre was in has been demolished.

The site as the Peek-A-Rama before its big upgrade to become the Palace. It's a Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.  Off to the right we get a bit of the back of the Warfield.

Back to being the Peekarama with upgraded signage after a fling with the Palace Theatre name. It's a Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.

The side of the building. It's a Tom Gray photo from the Jack Tillmany collection.

Thanks to the American Classic Images collection for this May 1984 photo. 

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.

| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | pre-1906 theatre list | home |