An article in the April 6th San Francisco Chronicle concerning the restoration of the old Clay Theater on Fillmore Street, refers to the Clay as the oldest theater in San Francisco. I didn’t know that! There seems a little controversy concerning this; Wikipedia and AI state that the Clay theater opened in 1913, which would make the Roxie Theater in the Mission District, opened in 1912, the oldest movie theater in San Francisco. However, Cinema Treasures states the the Clay Theater opened in 1910, which backs the Chronicle’s claim. Anyway, I’ve never been to the closed up theater so, I took Muni #1 out to Fillmore Street today to take some pictures of the historic movie house. (Thumbnail images)
Firemen on the roof of the Clay Theater after a fire in the building in October of 1940: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)
The entrance to the Clay, showing the ‘Queen of Destiny’, aka ‘Sixty Glorious Years’, starring Anna Neagle, in September of 1940: (opensfhistory.org)
A view from the corner of Clay and Fillmore Streets of the fire damage to the Clay Theater: Opensfhistory.org states that the fire was in September of 1940, not October of 1940. I don’t know about that either.
The Clay Theater in June of 1964: (San Francisco Library Digital Archives)
People buying tickets to a foreign film showing at the Clay in July of 1996:
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 