In addition to hosting major film festivals like the San Francisco International Film Festival and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the venue has long been a bastion of queer cinema and community events. Highlights include the first-ever public screening of the 2008 film Milk, about pioneering openly gay politician Harvey Milk, the annual Frameline Queer Film Festival, and a plethora of drag performance nights.
“The Castro Theater is like a sacred temple for the community,” said Jesse Sanford, board member of the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District. “Here we gather to laugh together, cry together, learn our history and mourn our losses.”
But the recent purchase of the theater’s lease by Another Planet Entertainment, which operates a handful of primarily music-focused venues and festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area, has sparked a battle over the theater’s future.
“The Another Planet plan will mean that films will be screened infrequently and community events will be infrequent,” Sanford said.
Conservationists are fighting back
The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District is one of several local groups opposing Another Planet’s plans to refocus the venue’s programming and undertake major renovations.
“This is a hundred year old theatre. You can’t just alter it any way you want,” said Peter Pastreich, executive director of the Castro Theater Conservancy, a group formed three years ago to address growing concerns about the building’s dilapidated condition.
Castro Theater Conservancy executive director Peter Pastreich at the Castro Theatre. (Chloe Veltman/NPR)
Pastreich said his group welcomed some of the proposed upgrades, such as adding wheelchair access and a new HVAC system, as well as touching up the interior’s large murals, chandeliers and leather-effect ceiling. He estimates that the theater would cost between $20 million and $30 million to renovate.
“We’re not against Another Planet or anyone who’s going to renovate the theater and keep it open,” Pastreich said.
It all depends on the seating
The activists’ main point of contention is the tenant’s plans for seating in the theatre.
“The plan is to remove the seats and level the floor, which would make the theater unsuitable for movies,” says Pastreich.
Thousands of people, including many celebrities such as Francis Ford Coppola, Alice Waters and Tilda Swinton, have signed the Conservancy’s petition to stop the renovations of Another Planet from proceeding.
The building is already partially protected. The City of San Francisco granted the exterior landmark status in 1977. Now these activists are trying to get the city to extend the designation to the inside of the building. In this case, it will be much more difficult for the leaseholder to rip up the theater’s 1400 seats and level the ground.
“Changing the seating is a big deal,” said Matt Lambros, a Boston-based photographer of historic cinemas who has written several books on the subject. “You could ruin the sight lines.”
There are a few thousand old single-screen movie palaces like the Castro still operating in the US today, compared to tens of thousands in their pre-WWII heyday.
Lambros said that for these theaters to survive, the seating needs to do more than accommodate moviegoers.
“There is interest in restoring these sites,” he said. “The problem is that you have to find something that attracts people. Unfortunately, for the most part, a 1500 or 2000 seat cinema showing films is just not viable.”
Those wishing to keep the theater’s seating plan intact point out that the Castro has hosted all manner of non-movie events over the years.
“It’s possible that theater can be conducive to movie and concert visits, comedy and spoken word presentations, and community gatherings,” said Anita Monga, director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. “All of this is possible with the existing seats and the same configuration.”
Another planet is pushing ahead
Another Planet spokesman, Alex Tourk, said that despite its plan to remove the movie-style seating, the company feels an obligation to honor the theater’s legacy. “They’re dying to keep showing movies,” Tourk said. “They have committed to ensuring that 25% of programming is dedicated to the LGBTQ community.”
He said the company was shocked by all of the setbacks, given its solid reputation as a concert and festival producer and its plan to allocate $15 million to the theater’s renovation. “Another Planet expected resistance,” he said. “But the vitriol level was beyond pale.”
Tourk said even if the nomination of the landmark for the theater’s interior comes next year, Another Planet won’t be deterred, at least for now.
“Another Planet will continue to work with the city to find consensus and move the vision forward.”
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