[ New ] Royal Chinese Theatre

836 Washington St. | map | 

Opening: 1877. While it's listed as the Royal Chinese in the Anglo directories it's unknown what name the Chinese used for it. It was on the north side of the street between Grant and Stockton. It was the first building east of the now-vanished Church Court, aka Church Alley. The Royal was just up the block from the Grand Chinese Theatre at 814 Washington.

That 1877 date is the one Morgan G. Boyd gives on page 69 of 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. 

 

Boyd calls this house the New Royal, to distinguish it from the older theatre using the Royal Chinese name at 626 Jackson St. That older theatre is usually in city directories as the Old Chinese Theatre or just Chinese Theatre. 

 

The cooking operation at the theatre was covered in "The Chinese in San Francisco - How They Cook and Eat In Their Theatres," an article in the June 14, 1879 issue of Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. The theatre was employing 94 actors and six cooks. The caption for the illustration: "Cooks preparing supper for the actors in the Royal Chinese Theatre, on Washington Street."

 

 

Thanks to Doug Chan for sharing the article as a comment in a post about the nearby Grand Chinese Theatre on the SF History to the 1920s private Facebook group. He notes that the article was a find by his research colleague Wong Yuen-Ming. Doug comments: 

"A full kitchen was hardly surprising, as Chinese opera performances could last for days (as both of my late parents attested was the practice in the 20th century), and the actors needed to eat. Moreover, the audience would be snacking/eating throughout and having nearby restaurants deliver what they couldn't obtain in the theatre."

Another illustration on the Leslie's Illustrated page. The caption: "Chinese method of hoisting food and other articles from the street to the upper floors of dwellings."

This new theatre was listed as Chinese Theater (Royal) on a page listing amusement venues from an 1882 "Guide Book and Street Manual" that was located by Bob Ristelhueber. The Langley City Directory for 1885 lists the theatre as Chinese Theatre (Royal). The directory is on Internet Archive. 

 

The Royal Theatre building at 834-836 Washington was just east of Church Court. In this detail from an 1885 Sanborn map it's just to the right of Church and identified as "C.(for Chinese) Clothing Factory" and "C. Gen. Merchandise and Tailor Shop." The assumption is that the factory and retail spaces were on the main floor with the theatre upstairs. We're mid-block between Grant and Stockton streets with Grant off to the right.

 

It's a detail from a 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 is on the David Rumsey Map Collection website. 

 

 

In this detail from page 112 of the 1887 Sanborn map the 834-836 building just east of Church Alley is shown as converted to "Chinese Tenements." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the map.  

Page 40 of the 1899 Sanborn map on the Library of Congress website (their image #43 of 118) shows the building adjacent to Church Alley in a similar fashion. They also note "corridors each floor" so there seems to be no possibility of a theatre still upstairs. Thanks to Art for locating this map as well.

Yet it's still listed in the May 1890 Langley's city directory: Chinese Theater (Royal) at 836 Washington. The directory is on Google Books. It could be they didn't send their canvassers to Chinatown very often. 

Closing: Perhaps around 1887. The date is unknown.

Status: The building was destroyed in the April 1906 earthquake and fire. 

 

 

"Chinatown Chinese Theatre." The block after the earthquake and before the fire. The building formerly housing the Royal Theatre is in the center with its facade peeled off. Just this side of it is Church Court. The building at the far end of the block with the peaked parapet is the Grand Chinese Theatre.

 

It's a photo in the San Francisco Public Library collection. Art Siegel notes that it's also on the Digital SF site. Michael Scripps had spotted it for a post on the private Facebook group San Francisco History. There's also a second version of the image, labeled as being from Bear photo, on Calisphere.

More information: See the timeline for pre-1906 Chinatown theatres down at the bottom of the page for the Grand Chinese Theatre. Also included are links to various articles about early Chinatown theatres.

Other pre-1906 venues: New Chinese / Po Hing / Po Ring, 623 Jackson  | Old Chinese / Hung Chien Guen / Royal, 626 Jackson | Shanghai + Son Son Fong theatres - Dupont St. | Globe Hotel Chinese - Dupont at Jackson | Union/New Idea Theatre - Commercial St.

| back to top | pre-1906 theatre list | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | home |