Update: the hearing referenced below has been postponed, to Monday, April 3. In the meantime, please do continue to write letters to the committee members.
On Monday, March 13, the Land Use and Transportation Committee will meet to discuss the future of the Castro Theatre. We hope that they will endorse the findings of the Landmark Designation Fact Sheet that the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission approved on February 1, 2023. However, we are asking the committee to clarify some vague wording regarding the seating.
The Castro Theatre Conservancy and fellow supporters are requesting that the Draft Ordinance properly identify the character-defining features outlined in the Landmark Designation Fact Sheet. The Fact Sheet states, “The seating constitutes a defining characteristic of the space as a historic cinema, configured in classic movie palace fashion in gently curved rows,” and further expresses that the raked floors and sloping aisles in the orchestra mark the Castro Theatre as a classic movie palace.
Given the significance of the orchestra configuration and the movie-palace seating for film heritage and LGBTQ intangible cultural heritage, and to properly reflect these findings, we are asking the Committee to clarify the language in the Draft Ordinance: replace “presence of seating” with the words “fixed theatrical seating configured in movie-palace style.”
We need your help: Please send letters to President Peskin, Supervisor Melgar and Supervisor Preston to express support for the Draft Landmark Designation Ordinance for the Castro Theatre and request this update in wording.
With this change, the Committee can further the protection of the Castro Theatre as both a historic movie palace and a site of international significance for LGBTQ intangible cultural heritage.
You will find a sample letter and the Supervisors’ email addresses here.
PLEASE NOTE: contributions solicited with your signature on the petition do not go to the Conservancy, but rather to Change.org, a corporation that manages petitions.