88-year-old Bay Area movie theater to permanently close
An 88-year-old movie theater in the East Bay is set to permanently close on Thursday, just two days after Cinemark announced the shuttering of its theater in Westfield San Francisco Centre.
The Albany Twin, a two-screen theater at 1115 Solano Ave. operated by Landmark Theatres, initially served as a meeting hall and dance hall with live music when it first opened in the 1920s. It transformed into a movie house in 1935, when the Albany Theatre moved in from its original 1913 location about a block away, according to its website. The balcony was converted into the second screen in 1979, but the theater largely stayed the same for decades, recognized for its glowing marquee that lit up the night sky and intricate terrazzo that greeted moviegoers as they walked in.
A spokesperson for Landmark Theatres confirmed the news to SFGATE on Wednesday afternoon. “Landmark Theatres is constantly evaluating its business strategy and has decided to close the Albany Twin,” the spokesperson said. “We are proud to have served its community over its many years of operation.”
David Curran/SFGATE
Notes were taped to the windows in front of the theater as the news spread. "We'll miss you Albany Twin," one read. "Albany will not be the same," read another.
After Thursday, the national movie theater chain will be down to 33 locations, with just three theaters left in the Bay Area — the Aquarius in Palo Alto, the Opera Plaza in San Francisco, and the Piedmont in Oakland. Landmark’s Embarcadero Center, which was housed in the same complex famously featured in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 mystery thriller “The Conversation,” closed in 2022 due to the landlord’s alleged decision not to extend the lease over unpaid rent.
But the Landmark spokesperson said the chain plans to expand its footprint, adding an unspecified number of new theater locations including the Sunset, which is slated to open Thursday in Los Angeles.
The spokesperson declined to comment on how many employees at the Albany Twin will be affected by the closure, or whether they can relocate to other theaters. The last movies to be shown at the Albany Twin include Nicole Holofcener’s “You Hurt My Feelings,” Paul Schrader’s “Master Gardener” and Zachary Wigon’s “Sanctuary.”
The news was another blow to arthouse film fans after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors earlier this month voted not to protect the Castro Theatre’s orchestra-level seats. Activists fear their loss will have a trickle-down effect that could wipe out the movie palace’s historic film- and LGBTQ-centered programming; a joint hearing between the SF Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission on Thursday will decide how far operator Another Planet Entertainment can go in its proposed changes to the theater.
Also this year, the 14-screen CGV San Francisco announced its closure and no longer shows movies daily, though it served as a space for SFFILM Festival screenings in April. And the last movie theater in downtown Berkeley, the Regal UA Berkeley, shuttered in January after Cineworld, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It had been in operation for 90 years.
Source: SFGATE
