The Balboa Theater is looking spiffier these days after the marquee received some much-needed tlc.

It’s the first in a long list of planned improvements at the theater that are being completed with the help of the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, who took over the theater’s lease to prevent it from closing altogether.

Other planned improvements include an all-digital projection system, new wall coverings and new seats (which you can get your name put on if you so desire).

Looking good, Balboa! Just in time for awards season.

Sarah B.

The Internet Archive (Clement and Funston) will be screening two “Lost Landscapes” films in the coming weeks featuring San Francisco and Detroit.

The films are compilations of old footage of each city, compiled by archivist Rick Prelinger of the Prelinger Archives. The films are feature-length compilations of home movies, industrial films, outtakes and newsreels showing each city as it was. All of the footage is pre-1970 and is a fascinating look at an earlier time in these urban landscapes.

First up on January 24 at 7:30pm is “Lost Landscapes of San Francisco Part 6″. I saw this at the Castro Theater in December and I highly recommend it. If you’re interested in San Francisco history or just enjoy seeing old footage of the city, you’ll really enjoy it. See footage of San Francisco’s cemeteries just before their removal, unique drive-thru footage of the Old Produce Market (now Golden Gateway) in the late 1940s, cruising the newly-built Embarcadero Freeway, grungy back streets in North Beach, and newly-rediscovered Cinemascope footage of Playland, the Sky Tram and San Francisco scenes, all in Kodachrome. One of my favorite parts was watching bi-planes take off over the dunes of the Sunset District.

On February 22 at 7:30pm, there will be a screening of “Lost Landscapes: Detroit Part 2″. Most of the material has never been shown publicly, and this year’s show will include a great deal of new footage, including women workers at World War II Chrysler plant, Detroit public school students (1947-48) in class, on the streets, and
on a field trip to the Diego Rivera murals, Detroiters making a pilgrimage to the newly opened Northland Center in 1956, driving down Woodward during the 1950s, in Kodachrome and much more.

To attend one or both screenings, send an email to rsvp@archive.org to reserve your spot. Include your full name, the number in your party and which screening(s) you want to attend.

And don’t miss the 1955 Cinemascope footage of San Francisco at the top of this post. It’s an example of the fascinating kinds of clips that Prelinger has assembled for “Lost Landscapes: San Francisco”.

Sarah B.

Ever since the Balboa Theater got a new lease on life – literally – with the help of the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, lots of improvements are underway.

Director Gary Meyer tells us that new heaters were installed last week, so that means no more chilly shows at night. In keeping with tradition, the new heating system was installed by Atlas Heating, the same company that installed the theater’s original units in 1926.

They also began work on restoring the facade which should be done in a few weeks.

Other planned improvements include an all-digital projection system, new wall coverings and new seats (which you can get your name put on if you so desire).

Last week, 170 people attended a fundraiser at the Balboa to help pay for improvements at both the Balboa and the Vogue Theater on Sacramento, both of which are managed by the SFNTF.

Sarah B.

The Balboa Theater is showing some Christmas classics starting next week.

On Wednesday, December 21 at 7:30pm, stop in for a screening of “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky, filmed at the Royal Opera House.

A magician with secrets, an enchanted gift, a battle with the Mouse King, a guiding angel and a visit through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets: it must be the seasonal favorite, The Nutcracker. The ballet draws on all the imagination and fantasy of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story of Christmas Eve, when young Clara creeps downstairs for one of her presents, but finds herself instead at the start of a night of magical adventures.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children age 11 and under. Advance tickets are available online.

Then on December 23 and 24, the Balboa presents a beautiful, digital restoration of the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart in his timeless role as George Bailey.

George Bailey grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born…

Sure, you can catch it on TV a hundred different times, but this is your chance to see it on the big screen while munching the Balboa’s tasty popcorn! The theater will also be giving away special prizes at each showing.

Showtimes and tickets will be available online soon, or check the Balboa website for more information.

Happy Holidays!

Sarah B.

Now that they’ve established that the Balboa will stay open, there’s still a lot to be done to help it meet the demands of the next movie-going generation.

Next Tuesday night at 7pm, the Balboa Theater will host a special event and auction at the theater to help raise funds for needed improvements (all digital projection systems) and ongoing maintenance at SFNTF theaters. The event will feature a big screen presentation of San Francisco Theatres: Then & Now, an Oscar season preview and a live auction.

The live auction will feature tons of movie themed items and memorabilia including a chance for you and 200 friends to takeover the theater for a night, copies of the recent Playland and Sutro’s documentaries, a HUGO poster signed by Martin Scorcese, a pair of house seats to a Cal Performances concert of your choice, and much, much more.

The SFNTF has also pledged to match any money raised at the benefit, so whatever you donate via your ticket puchase or for auction items will be worth twice as much. Proceeds raised will go towards upgrades at the Vogue and Balboa theaters for new heaters, marquee and façade restoration, plus new seats and wall coverings.

Tickets start at just $35 and can be ordered online at the SFNTF website.

The Balboa is also offering patrons a chance to put their name on the new seats that will be installed sometime in the future.

Sarah B.

The husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames are widely regarded as America’s most important designers. Perhaps best remembered for their mid-century plywood and fiberglass furniture, the Eames Office also created a mind-bending variety of other products, from splints for wounded military during World War II, to photography, interiors, multi-media exhibits, graphics, games, films and toys. But their personal lives and influence on significant events in American life – from the development of modernism, to the rise of the computer age – has been less widely understood. Narrated by James Franco, Eames: The Architect and the Painter is the first film since their death dedicated to these creative geniuses and their work.

This weekend only, the Balboa will also have the filmmakers on hand at select screenings for a Q&A with the audience:

Friday, December 2: Jason Cohn & Bill Jersey Q&A post 7:20, Intro prior to 9:10 show
Saturday, December 3: Jason Cohn Q&A post 1:50 show, Intro prior to 3:40 show

Eames: The Architect and the Painter shows daily at (1:50), 3:40, 5:30, 7:20, and 9:20.

“It all began with a chair…”

Sarah B.

Starting this Wednesday, the 4-Star Theater on Clement Street will present over a dozen new films as part of their week long Chinese-American Film Festival.

The centerpiece of the festival is “The Sun”, a fictional film that follows the struggles of several characters to rebuild their lives after the devastating earthquake that hit Sichuan Province in 2008.

Another notable film being shown is “Shen Zhou 11″, Best Picture Winner at the 2011 Golden Rooster Awards, which tells the story of Chinese astronauts from the spacecrafts Shen Zhou 7 to 11 (think Apollo 13).

The festival also features the animated Kung Fu film, “Legend of a Rabbit”, which judging from the trailer, appears to have taken a page from Kung Fu Panda. Both screenings of the film – 11/19 at 1pm and 11/20 at 1:10pm – are free.

Admission to each film is just $5. To find out more about the films, visit the festival website.

Sarah B.

One of those improvements includes installing new seats in both of the Balboa’s theaters. To aid in their fund raising campaign, the Balboa is offering a Sponsor-A-Seat option for patrons, who can get a permanent nameplate affixed to one of the new seats.

All that’s required is a $500 tax deductible contribution to the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, the non-profit organization that has a history of preserving and maintaining old San Francisco movie houses.

Can you think of a better gift for the movie-lover in your life? No word yet on whether your seat at the Balboa will always be available to you when you go there to catch a flick, but I’m guessing if someone is in your nameplated seat and you flash your ID, they’d probably move…

To find out more about the Sponsor-A-Seat program, download the application form.

Sarah B.

On November 4, the Balboa Theater premiered the new film Sutro’s: The Palace at Lands End to a sold out crowd, setting a house record for a doc screening at the Balboa, and also earning honors as the highest grossing non-studio movie in San Francisco that week.

The Balboa has extended the run of the film for at least another week, and has added special events to accompany it.

This Wednesday and Thursday night at the 5:15pm and 7:15pm shows, Sutro Baths historian Dan Fontes will give a talk entitled “Haunted Sutro’s and Sutro’s History” before each showing.

In addition to the film screening and Fontes talk, visitors can also enjoy a special Sutro Baths exhibition in the theater lobby which includes an original Sutro’s bathing suit, rare “color” photographs of the building inside and out, rare black and white photographs of the building, original Sutro signs entry tickets, and an exact scale model of the Sutro Cliff House.

The film’s director, Tom Wyrsch, appeared on KQED Forum on November 2 to discuss his new film. Listen to the interview below:

Sutro’s: The Palace at Lands End plays daily at the Balboa Theater at 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, and 9:10.

Sarah B.

And to prove their investment in keeping the theater open, the Foundation also announced that it has secured its lease through 2024.

Balboa Director Gary Meyer shared the news in his weekly newsletter this week, and talked about his role in the new partnership:

The Theater Foundation plans to initiate a fundraising campaign immediately to cover the costs of necessary repairs and improvements to the Balboa Theatre. I will continue to operate the theater under the guidance of our General Manager Roger Paul and his terrific staff for the time being but together we will look for someone who can put their full energy into making the Balboa an even better place to enjoy the movies.

As I have stated previously, I cannot do both my full time job at the Telluride Film Festival and all of the things necessary to make the Balboa a continuing success. There is a tremendous amount of “behind-the-scenes” work that goes on to get the films, promote them and oversee the business.

The Balboa Theater opened in 1926 and was built by the Levin Family who operated a network of San Francisco theatres that included the Metro, the Coliseum, the Coronet and the Vogue.

The SFNTF has a history of keeping old San Francisco movie houses going. It purchased the Vogue Theater on Sacramento near Presidio in 2007.

“It’s great to be able to save another of San Francisco’s last remaining neighborhood cinemas, said Alfonso Felder, president of the SFNTF. “Gary Meyer has done an incredible job keeping the Balboa going and providing the Richmond district with an exceptionally well programmed neighborhood theatre. We’re looking forward to working with Gary to establish a plan to keep the Balboa’s marquee lit for many more years.”

On November 5th at 10am, the SFNTF will host an open house at the Balboa. Members of the Theater Foundation’s Board of Directors will be present to answer questions and solicit input. Fundraising efforts will also be discussed.

Hurray for the Balboa and the SFNTF! I’m thrilled that this neighborhood landmark will remain open and provide entertainment for the next generations of movie fans.

Sarah B.