Farewell Favorites: Neighborhood Cinema

The Castro
The Alhambra Theatre on Polk Street at Union was among the last great movie palaces in the City. The former movie theatre is now a gym. Already in decline since the advent of television, single screen movie houses continued to disappear in the 1990s. In addition to the Alhambra, the Royal, Northpoint, Cinema 21, Pagoda Palace in North Beach, and Regency I & II also closed during this period of economic prosperity. These lost movie houses join several Mission District theatres as symbols of San Francisco's vanishing Neighborhood Cinema.

The following venues carry the mantle for independent or single screen movie houses in the City: 

4 Star Theatre, 2200 Clement Street, (415) 666-3488
Balboa Theatre, 3630 Balboa Avenue, (415) 221-8184
Bridge Theatre, 3010 Geary Blvd., (415) 751-3212
Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, (415) 621-6120
Clay Theatre, 2261 Fillmore Street, (415) 352-0810
Embarcadero Center Cinema, 1 Embarcadero, (415) 352-0810
Empire Cinema, 85 West Portal Avenue, (415) 661-2539
Lumiere, 1572 California Street, (415) 885-3201
Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Avenue, (415) 352-0810
Presidio Theatre, 2340 Chestnut Street, (415) 776-2388
Red Victorian Movie House, 1727 Haight Street, (415) 668-3994 
Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th Street, (415) 863-1087 
UA Alexandria, 5400 Geary Blvd., (415) 752-5100 
UA Coronet, 3575 Geary Blvd., (415) 752-4400 
UA Metro, 2055 Union Street, (415) 931-1685
UA Vogue, 3290 Sacramento Street, (415) 221-8183


Copyright 2002 Hank Donat
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