Opening: It opened with live productions as the Shanghai Theatre around 1911. At the time it advertised as being "the only Chinese Theatre in the city." Jack Tillmany notes that it's listed in the August 1911 telephone directory. The building is on the west side of the street just north of Washington. The pagoda we see here decorating the facade is now mostly gone and the building is used for retail. The photo of a card from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library is on Calisphere. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding the flyer in the collection.
Architect: J. Eugene Freeman. Many images from the original set of blueprints for the theatre in the Gary Parks collection appear at the bottom of the page.
Seating: The original capacity is unknown. A count decades later was 200.
The stage: Although they performed Chinese drama in the theatre (and burlesque decades later), it was identified on the plans as a film house, with no provision for dressing rooms and only a minimal stage. Depth was 10' 8". The proscenium was 20' wide and 31' high.
A 1912 postcard for the theatre from the Jack Tillmany collection. Jack suspects that this image is the reverse of the card shown above.
It was soon renamed the Kearny Theatre with that name appearing
as early as December 1912, evidently when they switched over to
non-Asian entertainment. It's the Kearny in the 1913 city directory.
Jack reports that although the Kearny name was used through the 1910s,
the Shanghai name still appeared in telephone directories as late as the
August 1919 edition.
A detail from image 35 of the 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this in the Library of Congress collection. Kearny
is running up the right. That's Jackson St. across the top.
The Shanghai/Kearny Theatre is shown as "Moving Pictures" and here given an 821
address.
815 is the entrance to the Lyceum with the auditorium positioned along Washington St. as "Vaudeville and
Moving Pictures." The building on the
corner is shown as 801 to 808. The
white rectangle in the middle of the block was the location of the
auditorium of the 1868-1906 version of the Bella Union.
The Kearny gained major fame among burlesque devotees in the 1930s and 40s as the Kearny Burlesque. It's unknown when burlesque shows first began at the theatre. Jack Tillmany suspects it was as early as 1933.
"Amateurs wanted; ready to work."
This was a want ad Jack found in the July 7, 1933 issue of the San Francisco Examiner under "Theatricals." He comments:
"They didn't advertise in the newspapers at that time, and so the only newspaper coverage was when they were raided or some such. The Kearny's location just across the street from the Hall of Justice caused no small embarrassment to the Police Department on more than one occasion when situations arose to cause their participation. The earliest newsworthy police action was February 1934."
A September 11, 1943 ad for the theatre with their typical programming of non-production code films along with the burlesque shows. Thanks to Mike Rivest for posting in the ad on Cinema Treasures.
Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this ad. It makes an appearance on page 59 of his great Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco." He comments:
"During World War II, it offered what seemed to be an exact copy of the florid packaging of stage and screen entertainment found at its sister theatre, the Liberty, but rumor had it that its performers were sent to the Kearny after the bloom was off the rose and their mileage was beginning to show. 'Wild Oats' hit the Kearny in April 1945. It had been at the Capitol in 1941 and the Liberty in 1943."
The Kearny Burlesque closed on May 13, 1945. Jack Tillmany reports that Maury Schwarz took it over and re-named it the Teatro Rex and re-opened May 16, 1945. Initially he was running Spanish language films, then later segued to Filipino films.
On October 1, 1948 it became the Bella Union and had a short fling as a silent film house under the management of Henry Saffold and Richard Garland. The theatre's new name was an homage to the pre-1906 Bella Union, a theatre/saloon with an original entrance around the corner on Washington St. Part of the auditorium and a later entrance had been on the site of the Kearny. The Bella Union name had also been used for a 1920s dance hall under the Hippodrome at 555 Pacific.
A December 1948 flyer advertising Colleen Moore in "Ella Cinders." It's from the Jack Tillmany collection.
A December 1948 flyer for "Tillie's Punctured Romance." It's from the Jack Tillmany collection. Saffold and Garland ran the theatre until February 13, 1949 at which time sound was back and it began running Chinese films.
The live theatre group Interplayers took over the theatre in 1954, opening with Shaw's "Arms and the Man" on May 21. Jack Tillmany notes that among their offerings at the Bella Union was "Richard III."
While Interplayers was using the building there was another (unsuccessful) attempt at silent films with a Silent Sunday series offered by Maury Schwarz and Grover Sales. Jack notes: "It opened 7 August 1955 with Rudolph Valentino in 'The Eagle' (1925), in 'stereophonic silence' [sic] and 'Honky-Tonk piano' [sic] accompaniment. Not surprisingly, the series failed."
An August 1955 flyer from the Jack Tillmany collection. He comments: "Judging from the one surviving calendar, the operators didn't seem to know much about the product they were offering. On Sunday August 21st they scheduled Bette Davis & Humphrey Bogart in 'Bad Sister' (1931), a talkie of course, which they seemed to think was a 1929 silent film, but maybe they got their hands on one of the silent prints that Universal was still distributing in 1931 to the financially strapped small town theatres, not yet equipped for sound. I was there for their final offering, a screening of 'Son of the Shiek' on 30 October 1955."
Interplayers productions in 1956 included Federico Garcia Lorca's "Yerma," running in July. Interplayers stayed at the theatre until March 25, 1962, at which time they moved to a new Interplayers Theatre at 747 Beach Street, where they reopened on May 19, 1962. See more about the group's earlier homes lower on the page.
Later, still named the Bella Union, this house ran both conventional Hollywood product as well as Chinese films. According to an interview with Frank Lee, Jr. that Jack Tillmany found in the Chronicle it was noted that Frank Lee, Sr. ran the Bella Union from 1964 until it closed.
Closing: 1985. The landlord refused to renew Frank Lee's lease.
Status: The building is now used as retail space.
More exterior photos:
Looking south on Kearny toward Portsmouth Square. The distinctive pagoda facade of the theatre is on the right beyond the billboards. It's a detail from a September 29, 1911 photo in the SFMTA Photography Department & Archive. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for the image.
A 40s look north toward Coit Tower with a vertical up on the theatre saying "Rex." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for this detail from a photo in his collection. He notes: "The title 'Rancho Grande' is just barely readable on the original photo. It's probably a 1949 Mexican film, 'Alla en el Rancho Grande' with Jorge Negrete."
A July 1956 view with the Interplayers production of Federico Garcia Lorca's "Yerma" on the marquee. It appears on a "Kearny St. North Beach" Found SF page where they credit it to Ben Campbell via Facebook. Thanks to Art Siegel for dating the photo and spotting it on a 2024 San Francisco Remembered Facebook group post by Joe Garrans.
Mark Zannini commented: "Amazing how much culture and ethnicity could change in half a block or on opposite sides of the street (it still does in various parts of the City) - Chinatown starts one step west of this picture - but these 3 blocks of Kearny had the remnants of the Barbary Coast/International Settlement, Manila Town, remnants of Beat era: Interplayers Theater and Hungry I. Still had the Hall of Justice, even bits of the Basque parts of the adjacent neighborhood. Portsmouth Square was the belly button of Yerba Buena/San Francisco."
Dave Wilson added: "Basically, a walk through Jack Kerouac Alley by Vesuvio’s takes you
from the world of North Beach, into the world of Chinatown…..which is
pretty awesome.?
A fine look north in 1958 by Phil Palmer. That's Portsmouth Square on the left. Thanks to Kevin Walsh for spotting Doug Eaton's post of the photo on the Facebook page San Francisco Remembered. Kevin notes the marquee says the group Interplayers is doing "Children of Darkness." Jack Tillmany comments that the play was presented at the theatre in December 1958.
A 1965 photo taken by Jack Tillmany.
A 1968 view of the the Bella Union signage. Thanks to Carl Griffith for the photo, added to the San Francisco History Facebook page as a comment to a photo posted by Mark Schwery of the 1850s Bella Union Theatre in Portsmouth Square.
A 1970s photo from the Jack Tillmany collection appearing on Cinema Tour.
A July 1972 view from the now-vanished American Classic Images website. That building on the left had been the entrance for the 1907 vintage Lyceum Theatre.
A 1979 photo by Tom Gray from the Jack Tillmany collection. It appears on page 70 of Jack's book "Theatres of San Francisco."
A Gregg Mancuso photo from the 1981 book "In The Neighborhoods." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for finding it for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
The two former theatre buildings in 2012. The World Ginseng Center had been the Kearny. Thanks to Bruce C. for this photo he posted on Cinema Treasures.
The buildings in 2015. Photo: Bill Counter
A 2015 aerial view. Washington St. is at the bottom of the image. Photo: Google Maps
A 2018 look at the south end of the block. The building in the center was the entrance to the Lyceum, the 1907 theatre that was the successor on the block to the original Bella Union. See the Bella Union / Lyceum page for data on both. The Kearny is on the right, here with retail tenant World Ginseng Center. Photo: Google Maps
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour pages about the theatre. Both sites list it as the Bella Union.
See the pages here on this site for data about the two other theatres on the block. The Lyceum at 809 Kearny opened in 1907. The Bella Union went through several configurations between 1849 and 1906.
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.
Jack reports on the history of the Interplayers: "The Interplayers, 'a young drama group,' first appeared on the SF scene 10 May 1947 offering an evening of Chekhov at the Friends Center, 1830 Sutter St. The next few years, they seem to have floated around town, making the usual stops at the Marines' Memorial Theatre, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the San Francisco Museum of Art, etc., finally settling in on their own site at 2796 Hyde on 3 December 1949, only to have it shut down the following February by the Fire Prevention Department, but finally re-opening again in November 1950. They later split up into 2 groups; group #1 remained at the Hyde St. site, now identified as The Playhouse, and group #2, using the original Interplayers identity, moved into the Verdier Mansion at 1001 Vallejo."
See the page about the group's home at Hyde and Beach beginning in 1949, a venue that ended up being called The Playhouse. Also see the page about the Interplayers Theatre at 747 Beach Street, the group's home beginning in 1962.
A May 21, 1954 Chronicle article about the Interplayers moving into the Kearny. The author is a bit confused about what happened in his building vs. the older Bella Union. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the article.
Images from the original blueprints in the Gary Parks collection:
A detail from one of the sheets. It's interesting that it is not identified as a stage theatre although they did open with Chinese drama. The stage facilities provided were extremely minimal.
Roof, north wall, and exit passage details.
The facade and pagoda roof.
An entrance detail.
A floorplan of the entrance. That crosshatched wall was a pre-1906 wall getting reused for the new building. No, it wasn't crooked. Gary notes that the plan evidently got wet and dried strangely. On the left we have stairs up to the booth and, perhaps, a men's room. There isn't one shown. We do get a ladies room on the right.
A look toward the standee area at the rear of the auditorium. Note that the architect is calling the wall below the open area a "wind shield." Check out the booth ports. It looks like a change order is necessary.
A section through the auditorium. We're looking at the house left wall.
Another section detail, here we get the front of the auditorium and the stage.
A look toward the proscenium. Gary comments: "Yes, this was a gem. It’s interesting to see how much
cove lighting there was, and such deep light coves! And that proscenium
has so many layers, folds, or ridges, is like the plasterwork
equivalent of an onion slice…almost."
A stage floorplan. In these plans there was no provision for dressing rooms. Perhaps they built out the basement under the lobby and rear of the auditorium. Or excavated a basement under the stage.
The architect's stamp. Thanks, Gary!
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