Opened: It was open by May 1916 or a bit earlier. Jack Tillmany notes that the theatre would have been running by May to get into the June telephone directory that year. It's listed there as the M&F Theatre. This Noe Valley house was on the south side of the street between Noe and Castro. The location is just down the block from the Noe Valley Bakery.
The 1926 photo looking west toward Castro St. appears with "Movie Palaces of 24th Street," a 2003 Noe Valley Voice article by Paul Kantus that discusses the neighborhood's theatres. It's also on the Cinema Treasures page about the Palmer. Kantus notes that the M & F was named for the owners Muzio & Faro.
Seating: 500
Architect: Emory M. Frazier, who also did the Jewel/Strand Theatre on Market St. Three images from the blueprints for the theatre from the Gary Parks and Jack Tillmany collections are lower on the page.
It got the Palmer Theatre name very soon. It's identified as such in this item from the June 17, 1916 issue of Moving Picture World announcing a takeover by Ford & Myers. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it. The Acme, the first theatre in the neighborhood, was just down the block at 4083 24th. The Vicksburg was at 3867 24th.
Closing: The Palmer was closed by 1938. The opening of the much larger Noe Theatre a half block away in 1937 didn't help.
Status: The building now houses a Wells Fargo Bank branch and a title company office.
A trade magazine photo with the theatre advertising "Fighting With Buffalo Bill," a 10 episode serial from Universal out in the summer of 1926. The photo is included in Charmaine Zoe's Vintage Cinemas: California album on Flickr. There's also a cropped version of the photo that she found.
The repurposed theatre building. Photo: Google Maps - 2015
An aerial view. Note the stagehouse in the lower center if the image. Photo: Google Maps - 2015
The lobby, boxoffice, and two storefronts.
Images from the blueprints in the Gary Parks collection:
The lobby, boxoffice, and two storefronts.
The stage end of the building. On the house left side is a dressing room. On the house right side near the exit was a ladies toilet room. Onstage the architect shows the footlights and 24 sockets around the proscenium. It looks like it's already time for a couple of change orders. There are no stairs (or even a ladder) to get to the booth and no men's room for either employees of the public.
Gary comments: "Set #14 in the collection of prints I acquired from Gary Goss was consisting only of floorpans, and labeled as 'Market St. Theatre' and E. M. Frazier, architect. He had mislabeled the drawings. Based on cross referencing seating capacity, the fact that there was a narrow pedestrian alley to the left of the front, the date of the drawings, the location of storefronts, and the fact that the drawing states that the rear exit empties onto Jersey St., I came to the conclusion that these drawings are of the Palmer. There are no dates on the sheets I have."
A facade drawing from the Jack Tillmany collection:
Jack comments: "I don't remember how or where I got this, but I can guess. There was a rail fan named Richard Schlaich who lived on Hoffman near 24th Street, who was a real nice guy and loved to share his photos with me. Theatres really didn't interest him, but he was very locally oriented, and the Palmer was high on his most-wanted list, as was also the Vicksburg. He died years ago."
Gary Parks adds: "Yeah, it’s grainy, but it is clearly one of the Palmer sheets that’s missing from my three sheets of that theatre’s plans. The facade matches the old photos on the Palmer page, except it’s clear the marquee got beefed up pretty early on. At some point—perhaps in the construction, the decision was made to move the centrally-located door of the left storefront to one side, rather than having the store entrance centered in the bay."
A facade drawing from the Jack Tillmany collection:
Jack comments: "I don't remember how or where I got this, but I can guess. There was a rail fan named Richard Schlaich who lived on Hoffman near 24th Street, who was a real nice guy and loved to share his photos with me. Theatres really didn't interest him, but he was very locally oriented, and the Palmer was high on his most-wanted list, as was also the Vicksburg. He died years ago."
Gary Parks adds: "Yeah, it’s grainy, but it is clearly one of the Palmer sheets that’s missing from my three sheets of that theatre’s plans. The facade matches the old photos on the Palmer page, except it’s clear the marquee got beefed up pretty early on. At some point—perhaps in the construction, the decision was made to move the centrally-located door of the left storefront to one side, rather than having the store entrance centered in the bay."
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.
See the Cinema Treasures page about the Palmer.
| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | home |
No comments:
Post a Comment