The Great Star Theatre

636 Jackson St. | map |

Website: GreatStarTheater.org | Great Star on Facebook |

Opened: 1925 as the Great China Theatre, a venue for Chinese Opera. One of the backers was allegedly the Kuomintang, a Chinese nationalist party. The building is on the north side of the street between Kearny and Grant. The pre-opening photo is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. It was a donation to their collection from May's Photo, the studio that took the photo.

Seating: Perhaps 900 originally, down to 540 in recent years.

There was an earlier Chinese theatre on this site beginning in 1868, called the Royal Chinese. See the timeline of other pre-1906 Chinatown venues on the page about the Grand Chinese.

Paul Nathan, operator of the Great Star for several years, comments: 

"A bit of fun history. The Mandarin (later called the Sun Sing Theatre) opened just a few months before the Great Star (then the Great China Theater). The Great China was going to open first but the Mandarin pulled out some backdrops and put them on the facade of the building so they could open first. They were rival political factions so it was a big deal to be open first." 

A projection booth was installed in 1940 and films were then part of the programming.  It became the Great Star Theatre sometime around 1960.  

Stage information: The proscenium is 32' 6" wide with 14' of wingspace SR and 13' 6" SL. Stage depth is 24' from the smoke pocket to the face of the backwall columns. It's one of the few surviving theatres in the country with a raked stage. It's about 8" higher upstage. It's a hemp house with a steel grid using, except for several sets, wood loftblocks and headblocks. Grid height is 42'. There are flyfloors both stage right and stage left as well as an additional pinrail at stage level on stage right.

The asbestos operates stage right, the movie screen is a wire guide counterweight set operated stage left. The projector is a  Barco R6+. An improvised corridor serves as dressing rooms behind a temporary wall upstage. Others are in the basement. All loading is through the house or via narrow exit passages on either side of the building. There's no rear access. 


A June 7, 1961 flyer for the theatre. It appears courtesy of Arthur Dong, author of "Hollywood Chinese: the Chinese in American Feature Films," which includes more Chinatown theatre flyers from his collection. Arthur's also done a "Hollywood Chinese" documentary, a two-disc set available on Amazon.


A November 13, 1961 flyer. It's another from the Arthur Dong Collection. Thanks, Arthur. He's also the author of the book "Forbidden City U.S.A: Chinatown Nightclubs 1936-1970." It's available on Amazon. Also available is his 1989 documentary "Forbidden City USA."

Around 1970 the theatre got a new marquee and, later in the decade was acquired by Hong Kong producer Run Run Shaw to show his product. It closed as a film house in the 1990s but continued to be occasionally used for Chinese operas.

It had been dark for about a dozen years when George Kaskanlian and Ken Montero stumbled across it and got a ten year lease. See "Great Star Theater preparing to rise again," Sam Whiting's March 2010 SF Gate story about what they had planned for the theatre. They didn't stick around long.

In 2014 Harris Rosenbloom had the theatre and was envisioning a remodeling program that was outlined on Kickstarter. Rosenbloom's tenure came to a bad end when the body of a 31 year old woman was found in the theatre. SF Gate had that story in May 2015. The venue was taken over in 2015 by Paul Nathan who upgraded the facility with new sound, lighting and projection equipment. He then mounted a strong program of legit offerings, cabaret shows and occasional films.

The theatre closed in late 2017 with Paul Nathan operating it at the time. The closure was due to problems with Julia Lee, an uncooperative landlord. The story was covered in a January 2018 story on Hoodline.

Status: It reopened in 2021 and is now a non-profit operation. The Chronicle had a June 2021 story about the theatre's reopening: "Historic S.F. theater, where Bruce Lee used to watch opera, reopens..." Alice Chu and Roger Pincombe are the new operators. See Roger's website: RogerPincombe.com

It was announced in November 2020 that Pincombe had signed a ten year lease on the building. He offers a season of locally produced shows. Former operator Paul Nathan is also part of the management and occasionally produces shows himself. 


Lobby views:


A 2017 lobby shot by Priscilla L. on Yelp.  



One of the theatre's projectors on display in the lobby in 2017. It's a photo by Priscilla L. on Yelp



A men's room sign at the Great Star. It's a photo by Rebecca A. McBride from the book ""Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres" by McBride with Julie Lindow. The photo appears on a 2010 post about the book on the blog Mubi


The auditorium: 


A 20s photo taken by Brooks. It's on Calisphere from the collection of the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.



A busy night in 2013. Thanks to Eric Tay for his photo, one appearing on Yelp.  



Looking toward the stage in 2016. Photo: Bill Counter  



The 1925 vintage painting on the asbestos. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



A view to the rear of the house during a March 2015 showing of Arthur Dong's 1989 documentary "Forbidden City, USA." Thanks to Arthur for the photo. His book "Forbidden City USA: Chinatown Nightclubs, 1936-1970" was published in 2015.



A view to the rear after some side wall draping. Photo: Andra Young - 2016 



A look along the house right wall. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



A proscenium view from a video on Kickstarter for an unsuccessful 2014 campaign by Harris Rosenbloom to finance a remodeling.



A balcony view. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



A view from the booth. Photo: Andra Young - 2016


Backstage:


The pinrail stage right at stage level. The ladder at the left gets you up to the flyfloor above, not used much in later years. It's a photo by Rebecca A. McBride from the book ""Left in the Dark: Portraits of San Francisco Movie Theatres" by McBride with Julie Lindow. The photo appears on a 2010 post about the book on the blog Mubi.



Another pinrail view. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



Dressing areas along the upstage wall. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



A basement dressing room stage left. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



Drawings taped to a dressing room wall showing layouts for Chinese opera scenery. Photo: Andra Young - 2016



A view off right toward the flyfloor. Photo: Andra Young - 2016. Thanks Andra!



Looking downstage on the stage right floor. The ropes at the left are going down to the pinrail at stage level. In the upper right of the image there's a bit of the back of the movie screen. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



 Looking out from the flyfloor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016


 
A downstage view to the backwall and across to the stage left flyfloor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



Looking upstage on the stage right flyfloor. The ladder on the back wall gets you to the grid. Note a single wire-guide counterweight set near the back wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



An upstage view across to stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



 Looking across the grid from downstage right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



A closer look at several of the wood loft blocks. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



Looking upstage along an array of hemp headblocks stage right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



A hemp headblock downstage right with the metal headblock for the asbestos beyond. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016



A closer look at the headblock for the asbestos. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016


More exterior views: 


An October 9, 1920 view west on Jackson from Kearny. The squat building on the site before the theatre arrived is on the right. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting the DPW/Horace Chaffee photo on the Open SF History Project website.



A detail from the pre-opening photo at the top of the page. It's on Calisphere.  



The theatre had a float in the September 12, 1925 parade for the California Diamond Jubilee celebration. The photo appears in a scrapbook of Hamilton Henry Dobbins that's in the California State Library collection. 


 
The theatre in 1949 during the run of "Mad Fire Mad Love." The photo appears on a Columbia University Women Film Pioneers Project page about filmmaker Esther Eng.
 
 

A shot from the 50s travelogue "Along El Camino Real." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for spotting the film on YouTube and getting this screenshot for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.
 

A 1950s view appearing as a post on the Facebook page Historic San Francisco.  Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting it. 
 
 

A 1955 view from the Facebook page Vintage Kodachrome Slides. Thanks to Lily Castello for sharing it on the BAHT Facebook page.



A 50s view from the Glenn Koch collection. It's one he shared in a post on the BAHT Facebook page


 
A late 50s view by an unknown photographer. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this version of the photo from his collection. He notes that it's 1956 Packard in front of the theatre.
 

A photo taken in 1959 during a visit to the city by Hong Kong resident Kitty Lee. Thanks to Richard Wheeler for sharing this and two other Chinatown images from her scrapbook as a post for the San Francisco Remembered Facebook group. And thanks to Art Siegel for spotting the post.


A 1960s photo taken by Jack Tillmany.



A June 1964 photo by Alan J. Canterbury from the San Francisco Public Library collection.



A c.1968 photo featuring the new marquee taken by Tom Gray. It's in the Jack Tillmany collection.



A 1976 photo by Tom Gray from the Jack Tillmany collection.



A Peter Perkins photo appearing in the 1981 book "Chinatown, San Francisco." Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for spotting the photo for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.  



A 2005 view west from Kearny from Jeterga on Cinema Treasures



A 2014 photo from an unsuccessful campaign on Kickstarter.



A view east on Jackson in 2015. Photo: Bill Counter



A closer look at the entrance. Photo: Bill Counter - 2015



Thanks to Gary Parks for his 2016 photo of the vertical sign. 



A detail of the top of the sign's east side. Photo: Gary Parks - 2016 



The top of the west side. Photo: Gary Parks - 2016. Gary's three photos originally appeared as a post on the BAHT Facebook page. His guess is that the sign dates from the 30s or 40s. 



Looking north from Kearny. Photo: Bill Counter - 2016

More information: See many photos on Calisphere of various productions staged at the Great Star.  The site Cinema Treasures has a page about the theatre. The Cinema Tour page on the Great Star has some 2005 and 2007 exterior views. The Yelp page on the theatre has photos and some discussion.

Chinese films and moviegoing in Chinatown are elegantly discussed in Arthur Dong's 2019 book "Hollywood Chinese: the Chinese in American Feature Films." He's also the author of the book "Forbidden City U.S.A: Chinatown Nightclubs 1936-1970." It's available on Amazon. Also available is his 1989 documentary "Forbidden City USA."

Also see Kim Fahlstedt's "Chinatown Film Culture: The Appearance of Cinema in San Francisco's Chinese Neighborhood," a 2020 book from Rutgers University Press. It's available on Amazon and there's a preview on Google Books.  

Ruby Yang's 2010 documentary "A Moment in Time" tells the story of Chinese residents of San Francisco by discussing the movies they watched in Chinatown's theatres. 

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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1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the wonderful photos! A history of the Great China Theater can be found in the book, Chinatown Opera Theater in North America. Parts of it is available on Google Books.

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