Parkside Theater

Page One | Page Two

Taraval Street at Nineteenth Avenue

Opened: December 28, 1928

First film: "Red Lights", starring Charles (Buddy) Rogers.

Closed: September 21, 1976

Reopened with a children's daycare school in the bottom and the theater having evening performances viewable from the balcony. The theater portion closed for good in July of 1988. Like the Coliseum over in the Richmond district, the old theater's shell now holds condominums.

Most people won't recognize the top photo. The sleek renovation shown below may be more familiar. To succeed, movie theaters had to always appear "modern" and many were renovated a number of times to conform to architectural fads.

(Thanks to J.E. Tillmany for most of this information.)

Irene Sullivan Fay: "There were sand dunes on both sides of it (the Parkside Theater). We had to walk quite a ways to get to the movies. I had these new black patent-leather shoes, and we came back and they were dull: all the shine was gone."

There are not one, but two threads on our message board about the Parkside Theater. Read some memories:

Parkside Theater, thread one (started on April 10, 2001)
The smells, the sights, and the Song Remains the Same!

Parkside Theater, thread two (started on June 11, 2003)
Paying for admission with 7-Up bottle caps?

More photos and information on Page Two!

Images: 1) Parkside Theater, Opening Day, 1928. 2) (Parkside) Fox Theater - 1980. Both courtesy of J.E. Tillmany.

Page launched 14 March 2001; updated 5 February 2004

Contribute your own stories about the Parkside!