The Playboy Club Theater

736 Montgomery St. | map |

Opening: The theatre opened in 1971. The club had opened November 13, 1965 on the southeast corner of Montgomery and Jackson St. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this 1971 photo by Tom Gray that's in his collection. Jack comments:

"The Playboy Club Theater [sic] was an unfortunate decision to add a 16mm mini-theatre to their venue. As expected, it opened with "Gone With the Wind," in order to secure their license. Who, exactly would want to sit through four hours of "GWTW" in 16mm at the Playboy Club is a good question. I suspected they intended to go 'ADULT' once the dust settled, but I don't recall they even got that far. It came and went in 1971, just long enough for Tom Gray to knock it off for posterity."

 

Seating: 124

 

Projection: 16mm via a periscope from the floor above. 

 

We get an interior view in this clipping from Jack's collection. 

 

A closer look at the entrance. They were running Pierre Adidge's 1971 film "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" with Joe Cocker and Leon Russell. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for sharing this Tom Gray photo from his collection. 

Closing: Evidently 1971 was the only year of the theatre's operation. The club itself closed in 1976.

Status: The building survives but has been remodeled.

 

 

 

Across Jackson it's the former Playboy Club. On the right we're looking south on Montgomery toward Market St. Photo: Google Maps - 2022

 

A view north on Montgomery toward Jackson St. That's the former club in the center of the image. Photo: Google Maps - 2022

More information: 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.  

Wikipedia has an article on the various Playboy Clubs. 

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