Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre in San Francisco anchors The Castro business district.
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| Location | 429 Castro Street San Francisco, California, USA |
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| Coordinates | 37°45′43″N 122°26′06″W / 37.7620°N 122.435°W |
| Public transit | Castro Street Station |
| Owner | Nasser Brothers |
| Type | Indoor theater |
| Seating type | Orchestra, Balcony |
| Capacity | 1,400 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1922 |
| Architect | Timothy L. Pflueger |
| Website | |
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The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window surmounted by a scrolling pediment framing a niche—to the recently rebuilt basilica of Mission Dolores nearby. Its designer, Timothy L. Pflueger, also designed Oakland's Paramount Theater and other movie theaters in California in that period. The theater has over 1,400 seats (approx 800 downstairs and 600 in the balcony). The theater's ceiling is the last known "leatherette" ceiling in the USA & possibly the world. Another "leatherette" ceiling was unfortunately demolished just a few years ago. To achieve the ceiling's look as though it is leather requires a special technique regarded as "lost" today.
The Castro Theatre originally opened at 479 Castro Street in 1910. It was subsequently remodeled into a retail store (currently occupied by Cliff's Variety, since 1971) in the mid-1920s after the larger Castro Theatre was built at 429 Castro Street, its current location, only a few doors up from the original theatre.
The New Castro Theatre opened on June 22, 1922 for an invitation-only screening, with local luminaries such as Mayor James "Sunny Jim" Rolph in attendance, of the Paramount Pictures release Across the Continent (1922), starring Wallace Reid. The new Castro Theatre opened the following day to the general public.
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