New Chinese Theatre

623 Jackson St. | map | 

Opened: 1874. The location was on the south side of Jackson St. just west of Kearny. It was across the street from the Old Chinese Theatre, also known as the Royal Chinese, at 626 Jackson. The Carlton Watkins photo, half of his 1874 stereo card #3754, was labeled "Chinese Theatre, Jackson St., S.F." It can be seen on the site CarltonWatkins.org.That's the Yen Nem Restaurant on the right.

Various newspaper articles refer to it as the New Chinese Theatre or the Sam Yup Theatre, after the name of the members of the company (one of Chinatown's Six Companies) that controlled it in its early days. Later it was called the Po Hing Theatre or Po Ring Theatre. It was also known as the Jackson Street Chinese Theatre.

The theatre building was nestled in the middle of a block. The auditorium itself was on the second floor with retail spaces underneath. There was an entrance via steep stairs up from Jackson St. There was also a passageway from Washington Pl. (an alley now known as Cooper Alley) with the entrance to that being between 633 and 635 Jackson and heading south. It was a passage known as "Fish Alley." The Chinese called it "Tuck Wo Guy," after a store on it. It's now called Wentworth Place.

 

 

A closer look at the facade with potential customers at the theatre entrance reading about the offerings. The double doors farther right display a 625 address. It's an undated photo published by the Schoene Co. Thanks to Doug Chan for locating it for his 'Through a Chinese American Lens' Tumblr post "When the New Chinese Theatre Came to Jackson Street." He comments: 

"According to the Bishop directory of Chinese businesses in 1875, two businesses shared the address, i.e., 'Sue Lee, fruit and nuts,' at 623 Jackson, and 'Sam Yung, tea and rice' at 623-½ Jackson St. The next address, slightly up the incline of the street, was the 'Ong Wo & Co., general merchandise' business at 625 Jackson. 627 Jackson served as the address and entrance for the 'Fook Yul, boarding,' 'Kwong Yue, opium,' and 'Wung Yu, tea and rice' operations."

Art Siegel notes that Herman Schoene is discussed in the "The Early Photographs of San Francisco" chapter of Anthony W. Lee's book "Picturing Chinatown: Art and Orientalism in San Francisco" (University of California Press, 2001). It's on Internet Archive. Art also located a photo on the Open SF History Project website of Herman's studio at 3rd and Market, complete with a mock camera on the roof. 

Looking west on Jackson with the theatre building in the center of the image. It's another Schoene card located by Doug Chan. This view, along with the image above, can be seen as a group of five Schoene cards on the Sotheby's page "Select Cabinet Cards of San Francisco's Chinatown," part of a 2023 auction of items from the Pilara Family Foundation. 

The theatre was also called the Sing Ping Yuen. Lois Foster, in her unpublished 1943 manuscript "Chinese Theatres in America," discusses the opening on page 64:  

"In the spring of 1874, certain affiliates of the Sam Yup group in Chinatown at last challenged the dominance of the Royal Chinese Theatre [across the street at 626 Jackson] by erecting a rival house, the Sing Ping Yeun, which was thrown open to the public on June 20, 1874. 

 

"The owners of the new theatre, said to have cost $50,000, were: Dr. Li-Po-Tai; Ah You, ex-Inspector of the Sam Yup Company; Ho Man, of the firm of Kum Wo; Ah Jarok, of the firm of Yee Tuck, and Ah Yung, agent for Dr. Li-Po-Tai. The elegant and superior members of this organization called themselves the Bo Fung Lin Company."

In this quote used by Morgan G. Boyd, note that the name was spelled "Sing Ping Yeun" rather than the more commonly seen "Yuen." It's unknown whether this was Fosters' spelling or a typo by Boyd. He cites the passage in the "Theatre Rivalries" chapter beginning on page 67 of his his 2012 thesis "The Gold Mountain Theater Riots: A Social History of Chinese Theater Riots in San Francisco during the 1870s and 1880s." It's a PDF from San Jose State University's ScholarWorks. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. 

The Sing Ping Yuen name for the theatre appears on page 260 of William Hepworth Dixon's 1874 book "Reign of Anarchy." Thanks to Doug Chan for locating the mention via Google Books. In a walk down Jackson St. Dixon encounters both the old theatre, the Royal, as well as the new house: 

"... Here, rich in red and black flags, and musical with gongs and cymbals, stands Yu He Un Choy, the royal theatre, in which a grand historical play, a chronicle of the Ming Dynasty, has been going on for three weeks past, and is to run on briskly for about nine weeks yet to come. In front of us, hardly less rich in red and yellow paint, hardly less noisy with shawm and tom-tom, rises Sing Ping Yuen, the new theatre, in which lighter pieces are performed, not lasting more than thirty or forty nights...."

The new theatre got a listing in Bishop's New City Annual Directory 1875: "Sing Ping Yuen, New Chinese Theatre, 623 1/2 Jackson." Thanks to Doug Chan for locating the listing via Internet Archive.  

This theatre and its older rival across the street both figure in "Mongolian Theatricals: The Police Pounce Upon The Royal China Theater," an October 25, 1875 article in the Chronicle that was about theatres violating a 1 a.m. curfew. Both theatres figure in the story:

"Last night at 12 o’clock, Captain Douglas detailed about a dozen police officers to meet at 1 o’clock on the corner of Jackson and Kearny streets, to be in readiness for a raid on the theaters if they should remain open longer than 1 o’clock. At that hour a single file of officers stole silently up Jackson street in the shadow of the buildings under the leadership of the corpulent Captain and took up their places in a capacious doorway adjoining one of the theaters [the old, or Royal, Chinese Theatre]. All was silent on the street, except one or two jabbering heathens who were holding excited converse with each other across the street in their native tongue, calmly heedless of police surveillance.

"Suddenly a low shrill whistle was heard in an alley adjoining the new Chinese theater [emphasis ours], and simultaneously a chorus of yells emanated from that building itself, followed immediately afterward by a scrambling of the audience, which had been panic-stricken by the warning whistle and were crowding and rolling down stairs from the second and third stories in wild confusion and to the imminent danger of the lives of most of them. Many crawled through narrow windows in the third story, and getting on the roofs of the adjoining building, hurriedly made their escape in the gloom. When they reached the pavement they crowded in front of the door, blocking up the street and wondering what had caused the stampede. 

"The Captain glanced at his watch and remarked, '1:15, and still open. Come on boys.' He followed up his remark by darting into the long hallway leading to the [old] theater, followed by his officers. When they reached the door the cry was raised and a rush was made for the door, but two stalwart policemen closed and barred them tightly, and the audience found themselves prisoners."

The Chronicle article is cited by Morgan G. Boyd on page 28 of his 2012 thesis "The Gold Mountain Theater Riots..." 

On page 70 of his thesis, Boyd mentions an event in 1878 involving members of the Royal across the street protesting the New Theatre's practice of stealing performers by blocking its entrance. An October 19 Chronicle article titled "Almost a Celestial Riot" discussed tactics:

"These fellows were in the employ of the Royal Chinese Theater, and last evening they took up their positions in the doorway of the new Chinese Theater opposite, which opened a night or two since to the lovers of the Celestial drama and refused to allow any one entrance. A posse of policemen charged them with clubs, and they would scatter and return again to their positions. During the melee bricks and cobbles were freely used by the Mongols, and an incipient riot was only averted by the arrest of the thirty-three prime movers in this Mongolian project."

It's listed as Chinese Theatre (New) on the Amusements page of an 1882 Guide Book and Street Manual that was located by Bob Ristelhueber. In the 1890 city directory it's again listed as Chinese Theatre (New). 

 

 

 

It's called the Jackson St. Chinese Theatre on the left in this detail from an 1885 map in the David Rumsey collection. The map was "prepared under the supervision of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors" that identifies certain properties as opium dens, gambling halls, etc. A high resolution image of the map is on the David Rumsey Map Collection website. 

 

 

 

The "Chinese Theatre" is seen on the right a bit above center in this detail from an 1887 Sanborn map. That's Jackson St. on the right with the theatre entrance at 623. At the lower center note the Bella Union. Portsmouth Square is out of the frame to the left. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the map on the Library of Congress website. He notes that the theatre again appears as active on an 1899 Sanborn map. 

While earlier there had been many venues, by the 1890s the Chinese drama scene was reduced to just two theatres. This one on Jackson and the Grand Chinese on Washington St.  For a fine discussion of the production style and the theatres see "The Chinese Drama," an eight page article by Frederick J. Masters from an 1895 issue of "The Chautauquan." It's on Google Books. Masters refers to this house as the Po Hing and notes it had 500 or 600 seats and was running on alternate weeks.

Also of interest is an article by Arthur Inkersley from the May 1898 issue of Strand magazine. That piece, including Strand's mis-labeled photos, is reproduced as a 2011 post on the Digital History Project site.

It was just listed as Chinese Theatre in the 1901 city directory. It still gets a listing in the 1905 edition of the city directory. 

Closing: The were evidently closed by 1905. The 1906 earthquake finished off the building.   

Interior views:  

 

An undated stage view from the UC Bancroft Library appearing on Calisphere. The legend under the photo just said "Stage - Chinese Theater."

 

 

 

An 1878 drawing by Walter Yeager with the configuration of the balconies matching what's in the view above. It's on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. The illustration appeared in Leslie's Illustrated but they don't want to tell us that. Taking a bad cue from Leslie's, they mis-identify the venue as the Royal China Theatre. But that was a name used, at least by Westerners, for the Old Chinese Theatre theatre across the street.  

 

 

Another version of the illustration above. The image is one of two that appeared on page 421 of the August 24, 1878 issue of Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper where they get the theatre name wrong. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating these on the site Prints Old & Rare. The caption: "Interior of the Royal China Theatre during a performance. California - An evening in the Chinese quarter of San Francisco...from sketches by H. Ogden and Walter Yeager."

 

The second of the illustrations from the August 24, 1878 issue of Leslie's. Their caption: "The all-night supper spread in the dressing room of the Royal China Theatre." 

 

 

 

"'The Coming Man.' Scene in the Principal Chinese Theatre, San Francisco, California, during the performance of a great historical play." It's another illustration from Leslie's that's on Calisphere from the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library. They don't give us a date but credit Joseph Becker as the artist, Davis & Speer as the engravers and Frank Leslie (1821-1880) as the publisher. Becker nailed the balconies but took a few liberties with the architecture onstage. Thanks to Arthur Dong for finding this on Calisphere. 

Arthur Dong is the author of the books "Hollywood Chinese: the Chinese in American Feature Films" and "Forbidden City U.S.A: Chinatown Nightclubs 1936-1970," which cover theatres, performance spaces, and entertainers in San Francisco Chinatown’s past. He also directed the related documentaries "Hollywood Chinese" and "Forbidden City, USA.," available on Amazon. 

"The Green Room in the Chinese Theatre on Jackson Street." It's a photo by E.W. Jensen. Thanks to Bob Ristelhueber for locating this image of the cover of the January 16, 1897 issue of The Wave in the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library collection for a post on the BAHT Facebook page.

 

 

 

A photo from an 1898 Strand magazine article that's reproduced on "Chinese Theatre, Chinatown..," a 2011 post of the Digital History Project. The magazine credited the photo to the Pacific Illustrating Bureau and mis-identified it as the "Stage of the Washington Street Theatre." Note the view of the second balcony at the top of the image. If we were at the Grand Chinese on Washington there would be a "V.I.P. box" on the level below that.

 

 

 

Another photo from the 1898 Strand magazine article.

 

 

Even better, the Strand image above appears as a colorized postcard from the Britton & Rey Lithographers. Thanks to Arthur Dong for sharing this copy from his collection. Note the theatre's address at the bottom of the card. Art Siegel found another copy of the card on Card Cow.  

 

 

 

Another Britton & Rey card. Thanks to Arthur Dong for sharing this copy from his collection. Note that this copy says "Chinese Theatre, San Francisco" but gives no address. Art Siegel located a copy of a slightly different version in the Cornell University collection with a July 1906 postmark that says "Chinese actor impersonating a female character, Chinese Theatre, 623 Jackson Street, San Francisco."

 

 

 

This stage view is on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library. They identify it as from 1880s taken at the Royal China on Jackson St. The street is right but not that Royal China name. That one was across the street. And as far as the Chinese name, they also mis-identify it as being the Donn Quai Yuen, the theatre on Washington St. that was also known as the Grand Chinese.

 

 A card postmarked July 15, 1907 with the note on it that the theatre "burned down during the fire after the quake." Thanks to Cezar Del Valle for sharing the card from his collection as a post on Facebook. Note that the card has the address: 623 Jackson St. 

 

 

A last map:  

 

 

Although it still says "Chinese Theatre" in the street in front of this 1905 Sanborn map, the theatre was unused by this time. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the map. 

 

 

  

"Stage & Audit'm Dismantled." It's a detail from the 1905 Sanborn map. Thanks again to Art Siegel. 

More information: See the timeline for pre-1906 Chinatown theatres down at the bottom of the page for the Grand Chinese, a venue on Washington St. 

Other pre-1906 venues: Old Chinese / Hung Chien Guen / Royal, across the street at 626 Jackson | [New] Royal Chinese, 836 Washington | Grand Chinese - 814 Washington St. | Shanghai + Son Son Fong theatres - Dupont St. | Globe Hotel Chinese - Dupont at Jackson | Union/New Idea Theatre - Commercial St.

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