Historic San Francisco Theaters

There's one fact about the theater industry in San Francisco. Historic San Francisco theaters go all the way back to the gold rush days of the 1850's. Although San Francisco was at one time only a settlement of tents along the sand hills, and a settlement that burned down and rebuilt itself more than once in the 1850's, there was no doubt from the beginning that it's residents, and part time residents wanted entertainment.

Swedish Opera singer, Jenny Lind

The earliest recorded theater in California is Sacramento's "Eagle Theater," which was assembled in October of 1849 out of packing crates and canvas. The Eagle Theater was washed away by river waters in January 1850 reportedly while a performance was going on. Below is a link to an article about the Eagle Theater Flood on our Trips Into History site.

The Theater That Washed Away

The Demand for Entertainment

The first theaters in San Francisco actually sprouted from the saloon/gambling halls. If you look back at any of the gold rush towns, saloons and the gambling that went with it were typically the first real structures. While San Francisco itself was a ways from the Sierra Nevada foothills mining camps, it had enough people arriving there by ship everyday that it grew fast. San Francisco was also the place where a lucky prospector might travel to by steamboat to spend some of that gold dust.

The Orpheum, San Francisco, CA

There was entertainment at the gold rush camps but during the early years it tended to be non-theatrical to say the least. Fights between bulls and bears in a ring were not uncommon. Prospectors would bet on the outcome and in some cases one of the two animals might flee before fighting. It took a few years for the mining camps to have legitimate theater. Acting troupes from San Francisco would tour the camps.

The First San Francisco Theaters

The first theaters in San Francisco were said to have been opened in 1850 by Yankee Robinson and Tom Maguire. Robinson's theater was named the Dramatic Museum on California Street and could seat 200. Maguire opened an 800 seat theater named the Jenny Lind. An interesting side note is that Jenny Lind reportedly never performed in San Francisco and Maguire's choice of her name for his theater has never been fully understood.

Both Robinson and Maguire became fierce competitors, each trying to outdo the other. Yankee Robinson  had the dubious distinction of later building a huge theater on recent land fill which sank two inches during the opening night's performance. It was thought that the weight from hundreds of theater patrons caused the sinking. Building codes were something in the distant future. The story about Tom Maguire is that he sold his third version of the Jenny Lind, under questionable circumstances, to the city for use as a city hall.

The Orpheum on Market Street

The theater sale is often referred to as the Jenny Lind Theater Swindle. City Hall had been in rental quarters and needed a permanent building. The city council overrode the mayors veto and purchased the third Jenny Lind Theater for $200,000 from Tom Maguire. The building was considered poorly built and even the general public was against the sale. Another $200,000 would be required for proper renovation. As it turned out the matter was brought before the Supreme Court who ruled in favor of the sale. That settled the matter and Tom Maguire kept his money. Tom Maguire built the Maguire Opera House in 1856.

The link below is to our Western Trips photo article about historic Nevada City California and it's famous Nevada Theater during the gold rush days.



Also see our Western Trips articles...   Nevada City California

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Today's Historic San Francisco Theaters

Two historic and well known theaters operating today in San Francisco are the Orpheum and the Golden Gate. 

The Orpheum located at Market and Hyde Streets opened it's doors in 1926. The interior of the Orpheum has vaulted ceiling and the building's outside was built to resemble a 12th century French cathedral. Two renovations, one in the 1970's and the other in 1998 helped to make the theater more usable for Broadway shows.  The Orpheum is designated as a San Francisco Landmark.

Golden Gate Theater

The Golden Gate Theater which today has common ownership with the Orpheum was built in 1922. Vaudeville acts first took stage at the Golden Gate and later motion pictures. After the theater deteriorated during the early 1970's it was renovated and reopened in the late 1970's as a performing arts venue. It remains so today. The Golden Gate Theater is located a 1 Taylor Street just a few blocks away from the Orpheum. If you walk east along the north side of Market Street from the Orpheum you'll come across the Golden Gate.

There are some additional theaters that also share a place as San Francisco Landmarks. One is the CastroTheater which was originally built in 1910 at 479 Castro Street. In 1922 a new Castro Theater was built at 429 Castro Street. This is near Market and Castro Streets. The new Castro Theater had an 1922 invitation only gala premiere showing the Paramount movie, Across the Continent. The Castro Theater was also used in the filming of the movie Milk in 2008.

(Article and photos copyright 2013 Western Trips. Jenny Lind photo is from the public domain)