Theatres of San Francisco

I have to say that Mr. Tillmany's book on San Francisco theatres finishes in a dead heat with the one about Oakland's theatres. It was very hard to put down, once I started, so I didn't...put it down, that is. Cover to cover in one night, the same with the Oakland book, I kept thinking, "just one more page, and then I'll turn out the light and go to sleep." I rarely lie to myself like that, but I didn't regret going through the book in one sitting. It's a valuable reference that will find a prominent place in my library and gather a lot less dust than most of my other books. --Preston Allison

A welcome addition to anyone interested in San Francisco's past though fans of the heyday of Hollywood's golden era will most likely feel a twinge of melancholy at the loss of almost all of the theatres documented in this excellent history. Sad that today's generation will never experience what it was like to step inside one of these grand theatres and for a couple of hours be transported to another world in an atmosphere that rivaled most real palaces. Even sader that today's theatres are huge multiplexes with high admissions fees showing films on small screens in ugly unadorned "boxes" with an audience that thinks it's acceptable to talk constantly to friends or on a cell phone with no regard to people who actually want to enjoy the film. Thanks to Mr. Tillmany we at least have a history of what the movie going experience was once like. Phil Gray

I didn't see the York Theater in it, but just about every other movie house in the city seems to be here. Lots of information, too, on the ups and downs of these theaters; name-changes, remodelings, changes in ownership, changes in the surrounding neighborhood, and in many cases, dates when the theaters were closed or demolished. A great resource.

Jack Tillmany, the author, has owned and/or managed several movie houses in the San Francisco Bay Area and is perhaps one of the best sources for photographs of theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. This book gives at least one photo of every theater that ever operated in San Francisco (except for "storefront" theaters that was the first public outlets to show hard porn--I felt the Screening Room should have been included for historical reasons). All the Market Street houses, neighborhood theaters, "international" houses (art/foreign films have always been popular here), and even the current multiplexes. A small amount of history is included with each photograph, not an in-depth history, but a nugget of knowledge. (I would love to see a McFarland-type book on San Francisco theaters.) Many great photos, my favorite being the showing of the Howard Hughes production "The Outlaw" at the United Artists on Market Street. Highly recommended!