San Francisco movie theater falls to wrecking ball

This Noe Valley building, nicknamed the "Blue Church," was originally
built as a movie theater in 1916.

By Thomas Gladysz
SF Silent Film Examiner

A couple of days ago, in San Francisco, the wrecking ball fell on nearly 100 years of history. The deed is done. And a building which entertained a neighborhood for nearly half a century is gone.

The building, located at the corner of Church and 28th Street, was the familiar Noe Valley landmark known as the “Blue Church.” It was razed to make way for condominiums. Pictorial coverage of the building’s demise can be found at http://burritojustice.com/2009/10/12/church-st-blues/

However, before it became a church, it was a movie theater not unlike dozens of other small neighborhood theaters which once dotted The City. In fact, it was one of 5 neighborhood theaters within a walking distance of less than 25 minutes.

Chances are you’ve never heard of the Searchlight Theater, or of one of the many other names which once adorned its modest marquee. The Searchlight, later the Empress, the Lux, the Princess, the Rita, the Del Mar, etc…, never made much of an impression. In Jack Tillmany’s otherwise comprehensive pictorial history, Theater’s of San Francisco (Arcadia), this Noe Valley building is one of the very few movie houses in The City of which no picture has been found of it in use as a theater.

Until a couple of days ago, 1596 Church Street was considered one of the older theater buildings still standing in San Francisco. Certainly, it was the oldest such buildings in this part of town. Passing by its frequently open front doors, one could still see rows of plush dark red seats.

Admittedly, in recent years, the building wasn’t much to look at. Painted bright blue, some neighborhood residents considered it an eyesore. And by all appearances, the building seemed to be in poor condition.

Here’s its story. The Searchlight Theatre opened in 1916. Admission at the time was 10 cents for adults, and 5 cents for children. Its August 5th Grand Opening advertisement (reproduced in Tillmany’s book) boasted a “New Theatre, Good Pictures, Latest Music.” The ad went on to state “We are installing one of the latest models of the AMERICAN PHOTOPLAYER, with all the Orchestral effects at a cost of $5000. Be sure to see and hear it.” That was big money during the early silent film era.

Never quite successful, this single screen, 400 seat theatre changed names a number of times. It was known as the Empress Theatre from 1918 to 1927, then the Lux Theatre, the De Lux Theatre, the Isis Theatre, the Princess Theatre, the Church Theatre, and, finally in 1945 the Rita Theatre. Reportedly, soldier and sailors on shore leave saw films in this venue during WW II. The Rita lasted till 1961, when an entrepreneur took over and ran it as the Del Mar Theatre for nearly four years. In May of 1965, the building was sold to a church group, the Holiness Temple in Christ. Though nicknamed in recent years the “Blue Church,” it had officially been known as The Church at San Francisco Where Jesus is Lord.

Like the dozens of other neighborhood theaters located around San Francisco, the Searchlight didn’t show first run films (those were largely reserved for the movie palaces on Market Street), or in its case, even second run features. As records are sparse and the theater seemingly didn’t advertise in local newspapers, it might be guessed that its programs were likely made up of independent releases from small studios, instructional films, and later, foreign films from Europe shown without English sub-titles. (Noe Valley once had a considerable German immigrant population, and Tillmany has written that the theatre showed both German and Russian language films.)

In 2007, the neighborhood newspaper, the Noe Valley Voice, reported that the San Francisco Planning Department had evaluated the historical status of the building and found it had been substantially altered over the years. It was determined that the building did not retain sufficient architectural characteristics of a movie theater to warrant denial of a demolition permit.

However, the same article noted that a "Historic Resource Evaluation Response" from the Planning Department suggested placing a plaque on the building "acknowledging the historic, neighborhood-serving use of the original building."

It was suggested the marker read: "Original site of the Searchlight Theater, a neighborhood-serving single-screen movie theater, which opened in 1916. Subsequent names for the neighborhood movie theater that operated on this site until 1965 include the Empress, the Princess, the Rita, the Lux, the Church, and the Del Mar. Neighborhood theaters such as this one provided motion-picture entertainment within walking distance for residents and contributed to the unique character of San Francisco's neighborhoods."

That plaque was never placed. 
 

[ The local Noe Valley Voice has covered the Blue Church and some of the issues surrounding it in recent years. Articles from the neighborhood newspaper dating from May 2006, October 2006, July 2007, September 2009 and October 2009 can be found online. The SF Weekly also wrote about the church in December 2006.]