The Cannery Cinema

2801 Leavenworth St. | map |


Opened: September 16, 1971 by New York's Walter Reade circuit. The initial attraction was "Death in Venice" starring Dirk Bogarde. The July 1975 photo by Tom Gray is from the Jack Tillmany collection. Jack notes that "Tommy" was downsized to fit the Cannery after a long and successful run at the nearby much larger Northpoint.



An opening day ad. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it for a post on Cinema Treasures
 
This Fisherman's Wharf area theatre was a basement space on the northwest corner of Beach St. and Leavenworth in a Del Monte fruit and vegetable cannery repurposed as a shopping and entertainment destination. 
 

One long-running booking designed to appeal to the tourists was the 45 minute film "Above San Francisco," narrated by Orson Welles. Thanks to Gerald A. DeLuca for posting this June 1973 ad on Cinema Treasures.

It was a Walter Reade operation until the circuit's bankruptcy in 1978. They closed it on February 28. Mel Novikoff's Surf Theatres then took it over. They exited in 1987, shortly before Novikoff's death in September that year. A March 29, 1988 Examiner article noted Novikoff's operation of the theatre.

It later had a spell as a live theatre venue.

Seating: 296

Projection: The booth had a single Cinemeccanica Victoria 18. 

Closing: 1993

Status: The location is currently a tavern.



The corner in 2019. Photo: Google Maps

More information: See the Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour pages about the Cannery.

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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