In 1968 San Francisco started to recognise that certain places within the city deserved the official status of Historic Landmark.
The first building so honoured was The Mission Dolores which, built as it was in 1782is the oldest building here. The most recent addition to the list is the James Lick Peoples Laundry, which received the accolade three years ago, though there are other, more recent decisions still pending.
Number 100 on the list is the truly inspiring Castro Theatre, a cinema built by the Nasser brothers (who produced the first Lucy show) two years before Charlie Chaplin made his film The Gold Rush. This weekend marked the 85th birthday celebration of the event and the cinema hosted a three-day celebration.
On Saturday I rushed through a short stack of hot cakes and maple syrup at the 24-hour café around the corner and went along to the matinee of Bugs Bunny cartoons and Laurel and Hardy’s film Way out West. Entrance price of 25 cents, the original 1922 admission, was payable at the toll house-like box office that stands separate at the centre of the foyer.
Inside the building is breathtaking. It can seat 1600 people, and although it wasn’t full it was close. The ceiling looks as if it is made of leather and the walls are decorated with what look like Greek pillars. The effect is sumptuous, with a small hint of Bordello. There is a stage in front of the screen, it was originally a vaudeville stage, and set into that is a Wurlitzer organ; it is one of the few remaining cinemas equipped to show silent films. Sweeping red curtains fronting the screen, the circle like the bow of a ship and the slope of the stalls to the seats at the front all combine the sense of expectation as you enter the auditorium.
We were treated to a spoken welcome from one of the Nasser family that still own the Castro, a short film explaining the history, a trivia contest and interviews with the current Wurlitzer player; then the cartoons and then the main attraction.
I returned the next day to be sure not to miss the projection of the silent film Phantom of the Opera with live Wurlitzer accompaniment, the film being totally upstaged in my opinion by the Wurlitzer and player rising triumphantly from the orchestra pit to stage level at the finale.
Before the event I had been worrying obsessively about how to complete this alphabetic trip around San Francisco, one or two letters proving stubbornly elusive. U had been one, and I had even considered going to the Ukele exhibition currently in town, or using the fact that the original idea for the United nations was born in this city before visiting the University Botanical Gardens.
This weekend I was able to settle Q.
I was late for the screening of the Phantom and as I settled into a seat in the centre of the third row the last trivia question rang out; What is the name of the last remaining Laurel and Hardy fan club in operation?
Seems I was the only person in the theatre who knew, so I won a Castro Cinema T-shirt.
Q for quiz then.
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