There were three Chutes locations, all with big theatres. The first Chutes Park had been in the Haight, opening November 2, 1895 and closing March 16, 1902. See the page on the first Chutes Theatre for a few photos. This new location on Fulton opened in 1902 and ran until early January 1909. The photo of the park's Fulton St. entrance from the Clary collection appears on the Open SF History Project website.
The third and last location in the Fillmore opened Bastille Day July 14, 1909 and was closed by fire May 29, 1911. See the page on the American Theatre for a history of the final Chutes Theatre.
Opened: May 1, 1902. The Chutes Theatre at the Fulton location was a 3,000 seat wooden structure that included a full stage. The park also had a nickelodeon on the grounds. Evidently the big house also showed single reels occasionally as part of the vaudeville programs such as of boxing matches or celebrity visits to San Francisco. John Freeman comments on the access:
"Because the theatre building was
linked to the purchase price of entry to the Chutes, for like a dime
more for orchestra and a nickel more for balcony seating, they
created two means of access. From
the main park, the orchestra seating patrons took a tunnel
entrance under 10th Ave and the balcony patrons took a bridge across
10th Ave. The front of the building, facing Golden Gate Park
in the distance, had an insignificant facade. In the foreground were carriage and horse sheds. Who
is going to take a picture of that, since patrons are arriving from
under or over 10th Avenue?"
Attractions at the park in addition to the Chutes ride itself included a circle swing, infant incubators, a carousel, a while-you-wait photo studio, a zoo, a mirror maze and other amusements. A big draw was the "Scenic Railway," a roller coaster that ran around the periphery of the park.
A Sanborn insurance map showing the park property north of Fulton. Note the theatre with its access to the main part of the park via tunnel and bridge. The north end of the park was on C St, on the right. It was renamed Cabrillo in 1909. Thanks to Mike Winslow for including this on his Playland at the Beach site.
The owner of the Chutes, Charles Ackerman, a
prominent lawyer who dabbled in entertainment, wrote a very favorable
lease for himself for the full block, and purchased the half block
along the east side of 10th Avenue for construction of the theatre. Ackerman's day job was as a lawyer for Southern Pacific’s
street-rail operations. John Freeman notes that he claimed to have never lost a case and was
privy to all sorts of inside information about rail access to any site he'd lease
for an amusement venue such as this 10th and Fulton location.
Performers of note appearing at this house included a young Gracie Allen with her sisters doing
Irish or Scottish dance routines. The theatre suddenly became
more valuable following the April 1906 earthquake and fire when nearly
all the other large theatres in the city were rendered inoperable. The
Orpheum circuit grabbed it and it became the Orpheum Theatre on May 20, 1906.
A May 13, 1906 ad in the Chronicle announcing the opening. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.
Intrepid
researcher Art Siegel spotted posters for the Orpheum's opening in
this shot of earthquake and fire ruins at Gough and Lily. The image by an unknown photographer from the Bernal History Project / Helen Sjoberg Collection appears on the Open SF History Project website courtesy of Vicky Walker.
A detail that Art extracted from the ruins photo. Thanks!
The May 20 opening day Chronicle ad that was located by Art Siegel. Valerie Bergere and Company were doing "Carmen" to top the bill. Well, presumably excerpts.
On May 21 the Chronicle reported that 4,000 were there for the initial show. "Everything was there as it used to be in the old days before O'Farrell street became a heap of lime-white bricks.... we have a theater -- not a sham in a shack -- not the slow beginnings of what may hope to be a theater in one year or two, or perhaps five..." Here's the full review:
Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the article.
The last night for the theatre as the Orpheum was March 10, 1907 with Eddie Cantor topping the bill. He would continue his
Orpheum contact the following night at the New Orpheum on Ellis near
Fillmore, a venue renamed the Garrick Theatre when Orpheum moved back downtown in 1909. With Orpheum gone, the venue at the park was once again called Chutes Theatre.
A seating chart for the theatre's main floor. Thanks to Kevin Walsh for posting this on the BAHT Facebook page. It's from a 1908 guidebook in his collection.
Closing of the Park:
Despite its distant location from town, the park had done well starting with
better weather beginning in June 1906 and that luck held until January
1907. John Freeman comments:
"A nasty streetcar strike and very heavy
rains that winter killed
them. Who was going to ride streetcars operated by scab crews out to the
Chutes, not knowing if there would be return transportation?"
The park closed for part of the winter to remodel
and add some new attractions. It reopened on May 1, 1908 to
coincide with the arrival of the Great White Fleet on May 6th. John notes:
"Charles Ackerman had died in
January 1907, and his son Irving took over. He had passed the bar
and was a young man looking to capitalize on dad’s contacts and unload the
Richmond District site, which was now a financial bust."
A Billboard notice of the January 3, 1909 closing. The new Fillmore location opened on Bastille Day, July 14, 1909.
More photos:
A detail of the park's entrance. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this photo from his collection.
A January 1904 photo looking west with Golden Gate Park on the left. It's a photo by John Henry Mentz appearing on the Open SF History Project website.
Looking north toward the theatre with a later addition, a skating rink, in the foreground. We're on Fulton between 9th & 10th, with 10th heading north on the left. The major portion of the park is out of the frame to our left. It's an Abraham Lipman photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appearing on the Open SF History Project website. They date it as c.1907.
A lovely shot of the boxoffice lady at the Chutes Theatre, c.1905. She's guarding the tunnel that got you under 10th Ave. to the main floor of the theatre. It's a photo from a private collector appearing on the Western Neighborhoods Facebook page.
A look across the pond toward the one of the theatre's entrances after the Orpheum circuit had moved in. In the upper right we see a bit of the theatre's stagehouse and "CH.."from earlier Chutes signage on the roof. The theatre was actually across 10th from the park itself. Note the Orpheum signage leading to the underground tunnel entrance to the theatre.
Thanks to the Facebook page Lost San Francisco for posting the George Leahy photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Part of the LAPL caption: "A boat and its passengers are a blur as they splash into the pool at the end of the ramp. A Greek temple-style entrance to the right of the ramp advertises 'Around the Flume, a trip around the world.'"
A tiny bit of Orpheum signage is seen on the far left in this photo from Mike Winslow's Playland at the Beach site. All we get is the "UM" on the banner and an arrow pointing to the entrance.
Thanks to Glenn Koch for this 1906 view showing advertising for the Orpheum. He comments: "A Real Photo post card of a woman standing in what remains of a doorway most likely just west of the corner of Sutter and Kearny Streets sometime in June of 1906, based on the posters plastered onto the ruins. Those posters are for Ghiradelli Chocolate, 'San Francisco's Great Industry' whose 'Factory (was) running at full blast,' and also the Orpheum Theater (formerly the Chutes Theater) which had a whole laundry list of entertainments including motion pictures and the Folies Bergere." It was a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
This wider version of the image above is in the California State Library collection. Thanks to Kevin Caoimhín Bunker for locating it for a post on the California History Facebook page.
This smaller theatre space in the park is seen in various photos advertising a number of different attractions -- here with the signage just saying "Nickelodeon." The big theatre is out of the frame to the right, across 10th Ave. The Nickelodeon itself is the large structure rising beyond the second of the two towers on the right. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. The top has been cropped as it had some lettering identifying it as the wrong Chutes. The San Francisco Public Library version of the photo appears on their page "Splish! Splash! At the Chutes."
The big red-roofed thing is actually two buildings. The closer one, with a "Theatre Universum" banner on the side, is their Nickelodeon space. The big theatre with a bit of the stagehouse visible at the center of the card and "Chutes Theatre" lettering on the roof and front wall, is beyond. This postcard is on a San Francisco Days page with other Chutes views.
A view down at water level showing more of the side of the Nickelodeon building. The card appears on a Western Neighborhoods page.
Another postcard, with the Nickelodeon space on the right -- and a bit of the big Chutes Theatre's stagehouse beyond. It's from a Found SF page about the parks.
Looking north with the Nickelodeon building on the right. The big theatre is out of the frame. It's a photo appearing on the Found SF page about the parks.
A photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection appearing on Mike Winslow's Playland at the Beach site gives us a view of the Nickelodeon with signage up for "The Johnstown Flood" as the attraction.
A photo with signage up at the Nickelodeon for "A Day in the Alps." It's on Mike Winslow's Playland at the Beach site.
A photo by George Hanscom looking east across the pond. The Nickelodeon building is on the far left. It's in the San Francisco Public Library collection where they date it as c.1907.
More Information: See "The Chutes - 1895-1911,"
chapter 12 of George Hanlin and Alan Harrison's "Famous Playhouses of
San Francisco." It's a 1942 publication from the Writers' Program of the
WPA that was sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. Thanks
to Art Siegel for locating it on Internet Archive. This publication
formed the the basis of Edmond M. Gagey's "The San Francisco Stage," Columbia University Press, 1950.
Mike Winslow's "Playland at the Beach" site has many photos of the three Chutes locations from a variety of sources. Cinema Tour has a page on this Chutes location.
The Open SF History Project has many photos of this Chutes location in their collection. The San Francisco Public Library has a page about the Chutes.
Thanks to John Freeman for his research on this page.
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