SF Throwbacks
San Francisco’s oldest movie theater: The Roxie
The art house cinema screens a diverse range of independent, foreign, and cult films, operating since 1909.
This article is part of SF Throwbacks, a feature series that tells historic stories of San Francisco to teach us all more about our city’s past. It’s also an excerpt from Alec Scott’s book, Oldest San Francisco — with a few additions from The Bold Italic.
By Alec Scott
“The Roxie has had more lives than a cat,” says Lex Sloan, the executive director of the nonprofit that owns and runs the cinema. “It has nearly died many times.” And it has also had many names.
The Roxie is one of the oldest continuously operating movie theaters in the United States. It was founded in 1909 under the name The Poppy by a jeweler with a handle out of Raymond Chandler. Philip H. Doll had a yen for show business, but not much knack, and seems to have fled town to duck out on the theater’s creditors.
The 300-seat movie house then became the New 16th Street, the Rex, the Gem, the Gaiety, and finally, in 1933, the Roxie — probably after New York’s grand movie palace, the Roxy with a “y,” which opened in 1927.
Some time in its early years it acquired a Deco marquee from a car dealership in Oakland, to which it added a neon version of its name. Unusually, there is no space on the sign above the door to list the movies it is showing.
“It was then — and is now — this neighborhood place where people walk by, check out the film, and then maybe come in,” Sloan says. The films in its first couple of decades were silents, and then it (and the pictures) got sound.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Roxie gained a reputation as an art house cinema, screening a diverse range of independent, foreign, and cult films. It became a favorite spot for cinephiles looking for something different from the typical Hollywood fare.
Over the years, the Roxie has also served as a community hub, hosting film festivals, special events, and screenings that celebrate the diverse cultural heritage of the Mission District and San Francisco as a whole. In 2003, the Roxie Theater added Little Roxie, a smaller theater space adjacent to the main theater. The Little Roxie was created to provide a more intimate setting for screenings and to accommodate the growing demand for independent and niche films in San Francisco.
Today, the Roxie Theater continues to operate as a vital part of San Francisco’s cultural landscape. It remains committed to showcasing a diverse range of films and events that reflect the spirit of the city.
As the Chronicle’s longtime film critic Mick LaSalle once wrote: “This is the theater where San Franciscans long gone went to see two-reelers, discovered Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, and, later, Clark Gable and Bette Davis.”
Alec Scott is an award-winning journalist, with features in The New York Times, Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, Los Angeles Times and Sunset.
Learn more about Oldest San Francisco, his latest book with stories of the institutions that helped make San Francisco the place it is today.
The Bold Italic is a non-profit media organization that’s brought to you by GrowSF, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. Donate to us today.
