The Metropolitan Theatre

West side of Montgomery St. between Washington and Jackson | map - approximate |

There were two on the same site. The first opened in 1853 and burned in 1857 in a fire engulfing much of the neighborhood. A replacement Metropolitan was erected on the same site in 1861 and demolished in 1873 for construction of Columbus Ave.

The 1st Metropolitan Theatre: It was opened in the fall of 1853, a project of Joseph Trench. Catherine Sinclair was the manager as well as the starring actress in the theatre's first production, "The School for Scandal." James Dowling the Stage manager. The Metropolitan got gas lighting in February 1854.

 

A flyer advertising the July 11, 1854 performance of "De Soto! The Hero of the Mississippi." The title role was played by J.E. Murdoch. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this on eBay.  

 

"Damon and Pythias - Or, The Test of Friendship" was playing August 25, 1854. The "American Tragedian" Mr. Neafie had the lead. And that wasn't all. You also got "The Water Nymph" and "A Glimpse of Constantinople." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the flyer on eBay. 

The interior of the 1st Metropolitan, a drawing representing itself as from the 1850s. The print comes from a 1942 book "Stages Through the Ages." The drawing was for sale on the now-vanished site Vintage Paper World. 

An ad for the Metropolitan in the 1856 city directory. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for the find. It was a post on the BAHT Facebook page.

The theatre burned in the summer of 1857 in a fire that spared Maguire's Opera House behind it at 618 Washington St.

The 2nd Metropolitan Theatre: The replacement theatre opened in 1861, built in a grander style to compete with Maguire's and other theatres. 

 

 

 

The Metropolitan and Maguire's Opera House offered productions by competing Italian opera companies. This ad appeared in the June 9, 1865 issue of the Alta Daily California. It's on the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection.  

 

 

 

A September 1865 program on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. Eminent actor Charles Wheatleigh was managing as well as performing. Until shortly before this production he had been leasing and performing at the Eureka Theatre, on Montgomery between Pine and California.  

 

 

 This ad for "Arrah Na Pogue" appeared in the October 4, 1865 issue of the Daily Alta California.

 

 

 

An 1869 stereo card of the theatre by Eadweard Muybridge on Calisphere from the UC Bancroft Library collection. A somewhat different looking version of the card, but using the same photos, is in the California State Library collection.

 

 

A July 1870 view of the theatre by Thomas Houseworth & Co. Ignore that 1865 that's inked on it. This version of the photo is from the Martin Behrman Negatives Collection of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it. A version of the photo from the Library of Congress collection is on the BAHT Facebook page, a find by Bob Ristelhueber. The San Francisco Public Library has a version of the photo with less vertical cropping.

Art Siegel, who dated the photo for the Open SF History Project, based the date on a missing cupola on the Miner's Exchange Bank Building on the right as well as signage visible for "Black Bess." He also located a discussion of the production offered at the time of the photo that appears on page 324 of Amy DeFalco Lippert's 2018 book "Consuming Identities: Visual Culture in 19th Century San Francisco." It's on Google Books. 

 

A detail from the 1870 photo included on page 326 of Amy DeFalco Lippert's book. Her comments:

 

"In this close-up of the scene in front of the Metropolitan Theatre (c.1870) we can see that the theatrical promoter displayed large posters in frames at three of the archways in the theatre entrance, beneath the gaslight sconces. Additional images are visible on one of the glass-paneled entry doors opening inward to the theater. All the posters as well as the six-to-eight-foot tall signboard propped up across from the entrance on the sidewalk (it is taller by at least a foot or two than the grown person standing directly in front of it), advertised the theater's latest production: Miss Leo Hudson and her mare, Black Bess, starring in another rendition of Byron's wildly popular 'Mazeppa.' All of the posters feature an illustration of a scantily clad woman lying down -- or strapped to a horse, per the title role of 'Mazeppa.'"

 

This ad for Miss Leo Hudson and her celebrated horse "Black Bess" appeared in the July 7, 1870 Daily Alta California. "Look Out for the Greatest of all Sensations - The Run Around the Dress Circle." Another ad for "Black Bess" at the Metropolitan appeared in the July 23 Daily Alta California. Thanks to Art for locating these ads via the California Digital Newspaper Collection. Note that a Joseph L. Schmitz is operating the theatre at this point. 

 

If you're sorry you missed the show, Art found this illustration of Miss Hudson and Bess as a consolation. It appeared on a poster in the collection of the Huntington Library that was used for a 1872 engagement at the Harrington Opera House in Philadelphia.

In the 1871 and 1872 city directories William H. Lyon is listed as the proprietor of the Metropolitan. 

 

Closing: The theatre closed in April 1873, necessitated by the cutting through of Montgomery Ave., now known as Columbus Ave. 

 

 

An ad for the "Last Five Nights of the Metropolitan Theatre" that appeared in the April 23, 1873 issue of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.  

 

 

April 28, 1973 was the last performance at the theare, an event celebrated by various hijinks including the throwing of chairs. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this review of the festivities that appeared in the April 30 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. 

 

 

An account of the demolition that appeared in the May 24, 1873 issue of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. 

Only part of the Metropolitan's building was demolished. A slice of it survived until 1906. As noted in the May 24 Bulletin article, Maguire's Opera House was also a victim of the street construction project.

More Information: Some of the Metropolitan's history is mentioned by James Madison in his 1925 article "San Francisco Theatrical Memories." The article appears on a page from The Virtual Museum of San Francisco. 

The theatre is discussed beginning on page 99 of James R. Smith's "San Francisco's Lost Landmarks." It's on Google Books. 

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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