The Masonic Auditorium

1111 California St. | map |

Opened: September 28, 1958 as the Grand Masonic Auditorium and later called the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. It's on the south side of the street between Taylor and Jones. It's a bit over a block west of the Fairmont Hotel. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing the 1950s photo.

Architect: Albert Roller

Seating: 3,481 was listed as the initial capacity. 3,300 is the current capacity. The permanent seating that was on the main floor has been removed. 

Stage: Originally it didn't have one. The current specs are unknown.  

 

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating this article that appeared in the April 17, 1958 issue of the Chronicle. 

Alfred Frankenstein, the music critic from the Chronicle, went to a dedicatory concert and had some reservations:

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the Chronicle's April 21, 1958 article.

The theatre was used as a venue for the San Francisco International Film Festival from 1965 to 1969. Jack Tillmany comments: 

"The SIFF had been at the Metro from 1957 until the move to the Coronet in 1964 and then to the Masonic in 1965. I fondly recall attending their Bette Davis tribute there 1 November 1969, with a showing of 'All About Eve' and the usual Q&A. In 1970 the SIFF took up residence at the newly refurbished Palace of Fine Arts Theatre."

This venue is now branded, at least for concert purposes, as The Masonic. Live Nation is currently the concert promoter for the venue.

Website: www.livenation.com  The website also has a venue page for more information on the building.

 

 

A 1958 News-Call Bulletin photo in the San Francisco Public Library collection. 

 

 

A 2017 look to the rear of the house from Evanescence on Twitter. 

 

 

A balcony shot from a page about the Masonic on the SF Weekly website. 

 

 

A main floor view after permanent seating on this level was removed. It's a photo on the Heller Manus Architects page about the renovation project.

 

More exterior views:

 

 

An undated photo by Tom Gray that's in the Jack Tillmany collection. 

 

Another Tom Gray photo. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing it. 

 

 

A detail of the frieze. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating this c.1959 image in the Open SF History Project collection. 

 

 

A c.1959 look into the lobby by an unknown photographer. It's a photo appearing on the Open SF History Project website. 

 

A July 1960 photo by an unknown photographer appearing on the Open SF History Project website. They note that we're looking southeast across the California and Jones intersection to a Union 76 gas station on the right and the Hotel Huntington on the far left.

More information: See the page here on this site about the 1913 Masonic Auditorium at 25 Van Ness, now home to the New Conservatory Theatre Center. Wikipedia has an article on this Masonic Auditorium that also mentions the group's earlier buildings.

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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