El Rey Theatre | |
---|---|
Location | 1970 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, California, United States |
Coordinates | 37°43′34″N 122°27′51″W / 37.726164°N 122.464153°W |
Built | 1931 |
Architect | Timothy L. Pflueger |
Architectural style(s) | Art Deco-Moderne,[1] Spanish-Colonial Revival |
Designated | July 27, 2017 |
Reference no. | 274[2] |
El Rey Theatre is a historic theater building in the Ingleside Terraces neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States. The building is listed by the city as a San Francisco Designated Landmark since 2017.[1][3][4]
The Balboa Theatre (built in 1922) at 1634 Ocean Avenue had preceded the El Rey in the Ingleside Terraces neighborhood.[5]
The Art Deco–Moderne El Rey Theatre building was designed by local architect Timothy L. Pflueger.[1][6] It contains a 150 feet (46 m) tower, and the tower once contained an aircraft beacon, and neon lights.[3][7] The El Rey Theatre opened on November 14, 1931, and had 1,800-seats.[8] The opening show was The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), starring Maurice Chevalier.[9] One of the retail spaces next door to the theater was the first location of The Gap (now Gap Inc.) in 1969.[10] In April 1, 1977, the theater closed.[8][11]
In 2016, the building was sold at auction to the "Voice of the Pentacost or A Place to Meet Jesus" church, which later defaulted on their mortage.[1] Since 2021, the former theater building has been slated for redevelopment into a multi-unit housing building.[1][12]