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Mar 06, 2023

Castro Theatre seats denied landmark in SF supervisors vote

The Castro Theatre at 429 Castro Street in San Francisco on Friday, April 21,

The Castro Theatre at 429 Castro Street in San Francisco on Friday, April 21, 2023.

The Castro Theatre's seats were center stage on Tuesday, but they could soon be gone.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted not to protect the historic theater's seating on Tuesday, capping off months of debate over Another Planet Entertainment's plans to renovate and reinvigorate the Castro.

The updated historic landmark designation narrowly approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors was amended — at the last minute — to exclude a requirement that the theater's operator preserve its "fixed theatrical seating configured in movie-palace style."

Backed by historic preservation advocates, the proposal to protect "fixed theatrical seating" was a direct response to Another Planet's hopes of replacing the current sloped-floor setup with a retractable replacement. The new design would allow the movie seats to be removed to accommodate more patrons during live events, but maintain a sloped floor for optimal movie viewing.

Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who sparked the process of amending the theater's decades-old historic landmark designation last year, lamented that it became a way to "pre-litigate" Another Planet's proposal. The existing historic landmark designation adopted in 1977 addresses the exterior of the building, but the updated version includes its interior.

Mandelman opposed adding fixed seating to the designation, saying he didn't want to kill Another Planet's proposal before it arrived at the Historic Preservation Commission for review.

Supervisor Joel Engardio echoed that sentiment.

"Physical seats are not what brings the Castro to life, people do," Engardio said.

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin fought to include seats in the designation, arguing that The City should not be "beholden to the inertia of one party's investment."

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Supervisors Connie Chan, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton and Peskin voted to preserve the movie-style seating.

Tuesday's vote was wrapped in technical, bureaucratic language, but the fight over the beloved theater is emotional.

The century-old theater is not just an out-of-time movie palace — it's also a bastion of LGBTQ programming in a neighborhood brimming with queer pride. People fighting Another Planet's proposal want it to stay that way.

But those voicing support for Another Planet — including the theater's longtime owners, the Nasser family — have argued that the Castro has to change in order to remain financially viable.

Specifically, renovating the theater in a way that allows for higher capacity and thus more live event, is believed by Another Planet's backers to be the path to success. The retractable floor — which adjusts from a sloped floor into larger tiers — was meant as a compromise, but Another Planet failed to win the support of its detractors.

The weeks leading up to Tuesday's vote have been mired in mudslinging.

The Castro Theatre Conservancy — a nonprofit that formed to preserve the theater as a movie house — pitched a plan of its own to manage the Castro, which Another Planet quickly wrote off as the rehashing of an old plan that never got off the ground.

Another Planet's opponents have also alleged that the company has not lived up to its promises to invest in the city-owned Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, which it has operated since 2010.

The company, which is based in Berkeley and operates several performance venues in the Bay Area, rejected assertions that it hasn't met its obligations at the Bill Graham.

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