Opened: The Coliseum Rink opened January 23, 1907. It was on the east side of Baker St. between Oak and Fell. The building suffered some damage in a November 20, 1909 fire but soon reopened.
The March 1911 photo of the structure by Martin Behrman appears on the Open SF History Project website. It's from the archives of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We're looking at the Baker St. side of the building with Oak St. on the right and Fell St. at the far left. The photo is also on the San Francisco Public Library website.
John Freeman comments: "The Coliseum was one of 6 roller skating rinks built in the 6 months after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Rollerskating was hugely popular in England and in the US. But with so many rinks, and with a decline in interest pretty quickly in 1907, all these rinks became multi-use auditoriums, lecture halls, political rallies, boxing matches and places for fraternal or other organization events such as the Police Ball.
"From June 20 to 27, 1911 the 13th International Sunday School Convention was held in San Francisco. This was a parent group for the Gideon Society. The event culminated with a huge parade from downtown out Fulton St. then over to Fell St. with each man carrying a Gideon Bible, which they heaped at the podium in the building. Then they had their rally to get a volunteer army to make sure a Gideon Bible was placed in every hotel room in 'heathen' San Francisco.
"It was a bit of an albatross. After its original use as a rollerskating rink, it had a second use as a rental hall. But as the city rebuilt after the earthquake and fire, it was out of the city's social cores, and as an out-of-the-way hall, had competition from other halls closer to where the social action was."
The building appears on the 1913 Sanborn insurance map.
Closed: John notes that it evidently was abandoned when the City refused to give it a use permit in 1922. It was demolished shortly afterward. Thanks to John Freeman and Jack Tillmany for all the data.
Status: There's now a California DMV office on the site.
More information: See the page about The Auditorium, another early roller rink at Page and Fillmore.
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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