Alexandria-Ajacent: Proposed Housing along 18th Avenue
Attempts to preserve the Alexandria theater on Geary continue. Richmond SF's been on top of it, but to recap: built in 1923 in the Egyptian mode, only to be remodeled in the early 1940's, and one of San Francisco's few Streamline Moderne buildings. As if Streamline Moderne ever had lotus blossom columns, but nevermind. Post-war it was converted to a 70MM screen where, appropriately, Cleopatra ran for fifty-six weeks. The loge was divided in the mid-1970's into two smaller theaters and the theater's been empty since 2004. Neglected properties, like teenagers, get into trouble, and this was no exception- apparently homeless people moved in. So the current effort is to preserve the building with retail and a smaller second-floor theater with housing over garages in the lot behind the building. No word on who will operate the small new theater, or who will go there, or what the retail will be. But it looks like the parking lot on 18th Avenue is set for more bay windows and brackets as the vogue for recalling late-19th Century's wood commercial buildings continues.
· Latest Plans for the Alexandria Histroric Preservation [Richmond SF Blog]
· Alexandria Theater [Cinema Treasures]
· Alexandria Theater Coverage [Curbed SF Archives]
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