ALAMO SQUARE / Developers, activists debate theater's worth / Neighbors divided on plan to raze movie house to build condos

ALAMO SQUARE / Developers, activists debate theater's worth / Neighbors divided on plan to raze movie house to build condos

Just to throw it out there, if they need anybody to run this thing, I can think of at least one person who would be interested and could do a bang up job :)

ALAMO SQUARE
Developers, activists debate theater's worth
Neighbors divided on plan to raze movie house to build condos
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 14, 2005


Printable Version
Email This Article




In a battle familiar to many San Francisco neighborhoods, the 79- year-old Harding Theater near Alamo Square is caught in a tug-of-war between the developers who are planning to raze it for condominiums and the preservationists hoping to raise its curtains once more.

The Planning Commission approved a plan to demolish the theater last month, but neighbors have appealed the ruling with signatures from Supervisors Tom Ammiano, Michela Alioto-Pier, Ross Mirkarimi, Chris Daly and Aaron Peskin, so the issue will now go before the full Board of Supervisors. The hearing will be either Jan. 25 or Feb. 1.

"It's a beautiful, viable old structure," said David Tornheim, a Western Addition neighborhood activist who's leading the appeal effort. "There's no need to tear it down. It could be used for films, live theater, opera, meetings, classes, a church. To suggest it has no use as a theater is just not true."

Developers Michael Klestoff and Patrick Stack plan to tear down the 12, 000-square-foot theater at Divisadero and Hayes and build 18 condominiums, 18 parking places and 5,000 square feet of retail space. The development would be divided into three four-story buildings.

Next door to the theater is the Independent, a music club, and the rest of the area is a mix of shops, offices, cafes, restaurants and housing. It's sort of between neighborhoods -- some call it Western Addition, or the Panhandle, or Alamo Square.

The Harding is boarded up and splattered with graffiti these days, but in its heyday it was a thriving entertainment hub. Built in 1926, the 1,250-seat Harding is designed in a subdued gothic revival style and has a large Moorish- type plaster carving on the facade. Its grand marquee, as well as some of the original light fixtures and signs, are now gone. It was designed by Reid Brothers, the same architects who designed the New Mission, Alexandria and Balboa theaters, the Fairmont Hotel and Grand Lake Theater in Oakland,

The first movie shown there, in 1926, was "Irene," starring Colleen Moore, and movies continued to be shown until at least 1960, when the Lamplighters, a Gilbert and Sullivan theater troupe, took over. The Lamplighters performed there until 1968, and for the next few years it hosted rock concerts.

The Harding looms large in Grateful Dead lore. According to numerous Deadhead Web sites, two of the best shows of the early 1970s were played at the Harding, on a weekend in 1971. Jerry Garcia sang "Hideaway" for the first time there, and performed new lyrics to "Comes a Time." For at least 20 years the building has been used as a church, most recently by the Berean Christian Fellowship Baptist Church. The developers bought it from the church for $1.6 million, and the church moved out in September. The theater has been vacant since then.

The theater may not be the spectacular architectural gem it once was, but many believe it deserves to be saved and restored.

"It's extremely disappointing what the developers have proposed," said Alfonso Felder of the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation, a nonprofit group that seeks to preserve the city's older movie houses. "It was designed by the Reid Brothers, and is a valuable and valid part of the urban fabric. What they've proposed doesn't pay respect to the historic or architectural significance of what was there."

In reviewing the developers' plans, the city planning office decided the building did not have enough historic or architectural value to merit protection, said city planner Geoffrey Nelson.

"I got very little public input about the issue, which is a sign to me that there's not a groundswell of public support for the theater," he said. In the past few years, neighborhood groups, preservationists and movie fans have argued against the loss of the city's single-screen neighborhood theaters, which they say add character and history to the city. Many of the theaters have been lost to multiplexes or housing, although there have been some victories -- the Presidio, for example, reopened on Christmas Day.

Felder said that the Harding has been wrongly overlooked, by the public and the city, because it's not as majestic as other older movie houses and no one has seen a movie there in decades. But that shouldn't change its value to the city, he said.

"People have forgotten it's there," he said. "It's like the old Winterland -- it has this great history, but you go by it today, and there's nothing there. It would be too bad if we lost yet another piece of the city's history."

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, whose district includes the Harding, agrees.

"Divisadero is a main commercial strip, and we need to make every effort to fight the erosion of architectural, aesthetic and historical character there," he said. "Saving the Harding Theater is a step in the right direction."

If the supervisors grant the appeal, Mirkarimi hopes they can work out a compromise with the developers to preserve the building for movies, live theater, live music or other entertainment.

The developers don't see the Harding's value in the same light.

"This is not your gem in the rough," Klestoff said. "I agree, some of these old theaters are in pristine condition and should be preserved. This is not one of them."

Mark Topetcher, the architect working on the condo plan, said the Harding would need seismic work and major structural repairs if it were to be maintained as a theater. He also said the interior has been mostly stripped, and the seats are in poor condition. Nonetheless, he does plan to use some of the carvings and other artifacts in the new buildings' lobbies.

But that's not enough, said architectural historian Katherine Petrin, who sits on the Neighborhood Theater Foundation board.

The city is being shortsighted by allowing housing to replace historic structures, particularly one designed by the Reid Brothers, she said.

The neighborhood appears split on the issue. One group, Alamo Square Neighborhood Association, of which Topetcher is past president, endorsed the new plans. Central City Progressives is spearheading the appeal, saying that they would have protested earlier but didn't know about it.

"Every single person whom I've talked to is bummed about the theater being torn down," said Leila Fakouri, who owns the Madrone Lounge down the block. "There are so many young, vibrant people around here -- this neighborhood could definitely support an independent movie theater. People would love that."

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.