814 Washington St. | map |
Opening: Sometime around 1880, listed in Anglo directories as the Grand Chinese Theatre. It was on the north side of the street just west of Grant Ave., then called Dupont St. In this undated UC Berkeley Bancroft Library photo on Calisphere we're looking up Waverly Place toward the theatre. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for working on the image. At the entrance in the left bay of the building note the banner saying "Grand Chinese Theatre."
It was also known as the Donn Quai Yuen (丹桂院), also
spelled Tan Kwai Yuen. It's referred to as the Dangui or "Red Cassia" theatre in the 1984 Dover book "Genthe's Photographs of SF's Old Chinatown," photos by Arnold Genthe, text by John Kuo Wei Tchen. There's a preview on Google Books. Tchen noted that this theatre was:
"...one of two
active Chinese theaters, each of which seated several hundred people.
Traditional Chinese operas would go on for several nights in a row.
Choice box seats were reserved for merchants and their families, while
most workers sat on plain wooden benches... The theater was a very
important social and cultural institution in Chinatown. Some theater
owners paid regally for well-known actors from China to perform on their
stages..."
It's listed as Chinese Theater (Grand) on a page listing amusement venues from an 1882 "Guide Book and Street Manual" that was located by Bob Ristelhueber. It's similarly listed in the 1890 city directory: Chinese Theatre (Grand) at 814 Washington. In the 1898, 1901, 1904 and 1905 city directories it's just listed as Chinese Theatre, again with the 814 address.
While earlier there had been many venues, by the 1890s the Chinese drama scene was reduced to just two theatres. This one on Washington and the Po Hing/Po Ring (aka New Chinese Theatre) on Jackson St. That latter venue was usually listed in the Anglo city directories as the New Chinese Theatre. 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 notes that at the time of his visit the theatre was owned by Cheong Kam Tong and leased to the Lung Koo Sing company.
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.
Jesse Brown Cook (1860-1938), reformer, once chief of police,
mentions the Grand Chinese in memoirs from the June 1931 issue of the
San Francisco Police and Peace Officers' Journal reproduced on a page of
the website of The Museum of San Francisco titled "San Francisco's Old Chinatown." He talks about underground tours given tourists:
"Perhaps
it will surprise you to know that there is no such thing as the
underground in Chinatown. True, you could go from one cellar to another,
but that is all. In order to deceive the people, the Chinese guides
would take them in on Grant Avenue, between California and Sacramento
Streets, going down into a cellar. From this they would go downstairs
into the next cellar, and so on, sometimes going into six or seven.
These basements, however, were all connected with the stores on
Sacramento Street.
"Should you go from any one of these basements
toward Sacramento Street, you would, of course, come to the cellar of
some Sacramento Street store, and all you had to do was to go up one
flight of stairs to Sacramento Street. The guides naturally would not
allow anyone to do this. They would bring the people back the same way
that they came and tell them that they had been down six or seven
stories. The people of course believed them, but at no time were they
ever over one story below the street.
"The Chinese Theatre was
also a good place to take tourists. The guides would take them in the
entrance on Washington Street and from there down into the basement.
This basement led down into another cellar where the guides would tell
the people that they were now two stories under the ground. At this time
they would show them the Chinese actors' dressing rooms and sleeping
quarters. Had the door at the end of the room been opened, the stage of
the theatre would have been seen. The people had been told they were two
stories under ground, however, and they believed it."
Note the stage indicated, with dressing rooms upstage, per Chinese custom. They show a lot of gambling going on but are less than informative regarding the auditorium layout. Presumably the theatre was upstairs. Dupont, on the right, is the present Grant Ave. Across from the theatre at the bottom center of the image that's Waverly Place, heading south from Washington.
It's a detail from an 1885 map in the David Rumsey collection "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 1887 Sanborn map gives a better much better indication of the balcony layout. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.
Image 41 of the 1899 Sanborn map also shows the Grand Chinese. It's on the
Library of Congress website as their image 43 of 118. The map included these notes about the theatre: "Lights gas - No foot lights - No scenery - Family lives in part of attic...Wood truss roof..." Thanks to Art Siegel for finding the map.
An ad that appeared on page ten of a c.1903 publication by the San Francisco Tourist Agency titled "
A Short Story About Chinatown." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on the HathiTrust site where you can page through its 28 pages of text, ads and illustrations.
Closing: The building was destroyed by the April 18, 1906 earthquake and fire.
Interior views:
A c.1885 photo by Isaiah W. Taber that's on
Calisphere from the UC Bancroft Library collection. Taber or someone at his studio mis-identified it as Jackson St.
The photo appeared in an 1897 newslettter captioned "Panoramic Series, Plate 53; with S.F. News Letter March 13, 1897. Picturesque San Francisco. Scenes in Chinatown - Interior of Chinese Theatre, Showing Stage Arrangement." This version is on
Calisphere from the San Francisco Public Library.
The Taber photo (with mis-identification as a Jackson Street theatre) appeared with a May 1898 Strand article by Arthur Inkersley. The article and the illustrations that appeared with it are reproduced as "Chinese Theater Chinatown...," a 2011 post on the site Digital History Project. Among the other illustrations are several from the Po Hing/Po Ring Theatre/New Chinese Theatre on Jackson St., labeled by the magazine as Washington St.
Judy Yung uses the photo on page 28 of her 2006 Arcadia Publishing book "San Francisco's Chinatown"
but she follows the Bancroft's caption and also identifies the Donn
Quai Yuen as being as being on Jackson St. She notes that the banner
above the stage reads "When ideals are in harmony, the sounds that ensue
will be elegant." There's a preview for the book on Google Books.
A stage view from the
California State Library collection. It's indexed as part of a set of two images, their #01377161. The other photo is of the Crocker and Colton mansions. Thanks to Art Siegel for searching for an updated link to the set.
A view from the 1st balcony. Note the added paintings over the two stage entrances and on the front of the "V.I.P. boxes" that overlook the stage. It's a UC Bancroft Library photo appearing on
Calisphere.
Another view, this time with performers. It's a photo appearing with the eight page article "
The Chinese Drama" by Frederick J. Masters in a 1895 issue of "The Chautauquan." It's on Google Books. He discusses the Chinese theatre scene in San Francisco at that time as having only two venues, the Tan Quai Yuen on Washington and Po Hing on Jackson St.
More exterior views:
A c.1880 image on a card published by the Schoene Co.
The theatre is the third building in. We're looking west from Grant Ave., at the time called Dupont. This card can be seen with four other 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. Doug Chan includes this one in his "Through a Chinese American Lens" Tumblr post "
The Grand Chinese Theatre."
A closer look at the entrance. It's an undated photo on
Calisphere from the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library. The Library also has several very similar views in their collection:
take 2 |
take 3 |
A c.1900-1905 photo by Arnold Genthe from the Library of Congress collection titled "New Year's Day Before the Theatre." Thanks to Doug Chan for locating it for his 2022 article "
The Grand Chinese Theatre,"
part of his "Through a Chinese American Lens" blog on Tumblr. He also used the photo in a
post about the theatre on the private Facebook group
San Francisco History to the 1920s. Doug notes that it's a rare self portrait of Genthe -- that's him on the right.
"Fleeing from the Camera." The theatre entrance is seen in the upper left of this c.1900-1905 photo by Arnold Genthe from the Library of Congress collection. Thanks to Doug Chan for locating it. The two children in the foreground are crossing Waverly Place.
A c.1900 view looking up Waverly Place toward the theatre. The photo had a caption at the bottom that said "The Theatre, Chinatown." Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding the photo in the
Open SF History Project collection.
A c.1900 photo from Dupont St./Grant Ave. On the left we're looking west on Washington with the theatre on the far left. It's from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection and appears on the
Open SF History Project website. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it in the collection.
A c.1900 view east toward the theatre. It's on
Calisphere from the California Historical Society.
A 1901 image, half of a stereo card by C.H. Graves. We're looking east on Washington with Portsmouth Square and the Hall of Justice in the distance. That building had opened in September 1900. Thanks to Doug Chan for locating this on the
Open SF History Project website. He notes that the cluster of men are probably looking at the playbill posted at the entrance of the Grand Chinese Theatre.
The block after the earthquake and before the fire. The theatre, with its peaked parapet, is down the block on the far
right. Presumably the building in the center with its facade peeled off
was the
Royal Chinese Theatre, 836 Washington St.
Post-1906 views of the site:
A c.1938 view down Waverly Place that gets the buildings to the west of the Grand Chinese site but, unfortunately, misses the post-1906 building on the theatre site itself. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for spotting the photo on the
Open SF History Project website. He notes that these two straight ahead conveniently placed the dates of construction on their parapets. The four-story building in the center at 834 Washington dates from 1920, the three-story on on the right at 826 Washington was constructed in 1910.
A 1960 view north. To the right of the three-story building straight ahead we get a sliver of the replacement building on the Grand Chinese site. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for finding this photo by an unknown photographer in the
Open SF History Project collection.
Looking north from Waverly Place in 2018. The building on the Grand's site is the one behind the street lamp. Photo: Google Maps
Art Siegel notes that the
San Francisco Property Information Map says the replacement building on the Grand's site was built in 1907. Search for 816 Washington then click on the Assessor Summary link.
A view toward Grant Ave. There's been a little smushing around with the addresses since 1906. The building on the far left, dating from 1910, uses an 826 address. The Grand Chinese Theatre's replacement, in lovely yellow-ochre and orange, uses 822 and 818 addresses. Just beyond, the slender building housing Fashion Express, is at 814. Then there's one more building right on the corner. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
Looking up from Grant. On the far right it's a partial view of the building on the corner. The Fashion Express building at 814 is on a lot that probably used an 806 address pre-1906. Photo: Google Maps - 2019
The pre-1906 Chinatown Theatre Timeline:
American Theatre, Sansome & Halleck
-- Chinese opera was done at the theatre c.1852
Shanghai Theatre, Dupont near Union
-- Opened c.1853
"Chinese Theatre," 727 Commercial St.
-- Opened around 1852, south side of the street between Kearny and Dupont St.
-- Chinese troupes began to use it in March 1865 -- in the 1871 city directory as "Chinese Theatre."
-- See the page about the
Union/New Idea Theatre
Chinese Theatre, Globe Hotel Building, NW corner of Dupont and Jackson
-- Opened in June 1865
1867 -- The city directory lists two as "Chinese Theatres." They have
one on the east side of Dupont between Clay and Washington (the
Son Son Fong Theatre) and the other as the NW corner of Dupont and Jackson (the
Globe Hotel Chinese). The
Union/New Idea is in the directory as the New Idea, but not as a Chinese venue.
Son Son Fong Theatre, south side of Dupont St. between Clay and Washington
-- opened c.1867.
-- taken over in 1870 by the Quong Soon Tong
-- It's in the 1871 city directory as "Chinese Theatre"
Old Chinese Theatre / Chinese Theatre / Hung Chien Guen / Royal Theatre, 626 Jackson St.
-- Opened in 1868, closed by 1890
-- The Great Star was built on the site in the 1920s.
1871 -- The city directory lists two as "Chinese Theatre." One on the
south side of Commercial between Dupont and Kearney (the
Union/New Idea), one on the east side of Dupont St. between Clay and Washington (the
Son Son Fong Theatre)
New Chinese Theatre / Po Hing / Po Ring, 623 Jackson St.
-- Opened 1874, closed before 1906.
Royal Chinese Theatre, New Royal Theatre 836 Washington St.
-- Opened 1877, closed perhaps around 1887.
The Grand Chinese Theatre, 814 Washington
-- Opened around 1880
-- It's discussed here on this page.
1882 -- The "
Guide Book and Street Manual" lists four theatres: the Chinese Theatre at 626 Jackson, the Chinese Theatre (New) at 623 Jackson, the Chinese Theatre (Grand) at 814 Washington and the Chinese Theatre (Royal) at 836 Washington.
1885 -- The
Langley City Directory for that year lists the same four theatres as in the 1882 guidebook. The directory is on Internet Archive.
1890 -- In the
Langley City Directory listings for this year we're down to three venues. Nothing is listed for the "Old Chinese" at 626 Jackson. The three we get are the New, the Grand, and the Royal. But the Royal may have already closed. It's shown as tenements on an 1887 Sanborn map.
1895 -- "
The Chinese Drama," an article by Frederick J. Masters in the "The Chautauquan" magazine notes that there are only two theatres left doing Chinese opera, and these operating with reduced companies and playing alternate weeks. The venues he lists are the Tan Kwai Yuen (Grand) on Washington and the Po Hing (New) on Jackson St. The article is on Google Books.
1896, 1898 -- The Grand is the only theatre listed in these city directories. They have it as Chinese, 814 Washington.
1898 -- A May article in Strand magazine by Arthur Inkersley lists only the Grand and the New in operation. He draws heavily from the 1895 article by Masters. The article is reproduced as a post on the
Digital History Project site. Presumably the "large new playhouse" that Inkersley refers to here is the Grand. He notes:
"In the bonanza days of California there were several Chinese theatres in San Francisco, but the keen competition among them for Mongolian patronage gradually crushed all but two of them out of existence. Then a large new playhouse was built, and a company of actors of high reputation imported from Pekin. The success of this venture was so great, that one of the old theatres was closed and the other nearly ruined.
"At the present day the population of Chinatown, San Francisco, is estimated at 40,000, whose amusement is catered to by two theatres, the Tan Kwai Yuen on Washington Street, and the Po Ring on Jackson Street. As long as Chinamen were freely admitted to the United States, the Chinese theaters did an excellent business, but since the passing of the Exclusion Act, their revenues have been much diminished."
1904, 1905 -- Again the Grand is the only theatre listed in the directories: Chinese, 814 Washington.
1906 -- The Grand Chinese closed due to earthquake damage.
An image of an unidentified Chinese theatre:
A stage view of an unknown theatre. Thanks to Art Siegel for finding this one on the site
Card Cow. Their copy was postmarked in January 1906 from San Francisco but it's unknown if it's actually a San Francisco theatre.
More information:
See John Metcalfe's 2013 Bloomberg CityLab article "Mapping San Francisco's Chinatown Before it Became a Tourist Hub." He references an 1885 map in the David Rumsey collection "prepared under the supervision of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors" that identifies certain properties as opium dens, etc. A high resolution image of the map is on the David Rumsey Map Collection website.
Photos from the Arnold Genthe Collection appear on the Library of Congress website. From that intro page you can browse through the 16,000+ images.
Chinatown theatres are discussed in Morgan G. Boyd's 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.
See Doug Chan's 2022 article "The Grand Chinese Theatre," part of his "Through a Chinese American Lens" blog on Tumblr. Also see a post about the theatre he did for the private Facebook group San Francisco History to the 1920s.
Early Chinese theatres are discussed in Krystyn R. Moon's book "Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance."
It's behind a paywall but perhaps of interest: "The Production and Consumption of Chinese Theatre in Nineteenth-Century California," an article by Daphne Lei in the October 2003 issue (Vol. 28, issue 3) of the Cambridge University Press publication Theatre Research International. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on the Cambridge site.
A 175 seat nicklelodeon called the Grand Theatre was operating in the 1907-1909 era at 822 Washington, putting it in the west bay of the building that replaced the pre-1906 theatre.
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.
| back to top | pre-1906 theatre list | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | home |
No comments:
Post a Comment