{"id":26851,"date":"2023-06-07T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=26851"},"modified":"2023-06-07T12:00:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T19:00:31","slug":"hold-off-on-the-seats-castro-theatre-chairs-not-deemed-historic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/hold-off-on-the-seats-castro-theatre-chairs-not-deemed-historic\/","title":{"rendered":"Hold off on the seats: Castro Theatre chairs not deemed historic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jun 6, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a019 hrs ago  (sfexaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/8\/df\/8df76f40-e307-11ed-a012-5b7c4d5c13d8\/64472b2e6d866.image.jpg?resize=400%2C267\" alt=\"Castro Theatre interior lower level right side\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>The Castro Theatre at 429 Castro Street in San Francisco on Friday, April 21, 2023.\u00a0Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Castro Theatre&#8217;s seats were center stage on Tuesday, but they could soon be gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted not to protect the historic theater&#8217;s seating on Tuesday, capping off months of debate over Another Planet Entertainment&#8217;s plans to renovate and reinvigorate the Castro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The updated historic landmark designation narrowly approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors was amended \u2014 at the last minute \u2014 to exclude a requirement that the theater&#8217;s operator preserve its &#8220;fixed theatrical seating configured in movie-palace style.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/fix-is-in-castro-theatre-advocates-hope-to-save-the-seats\/article_e502bb5c-d30b-11ed-8e90-339e98481011.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Backed by historic preservation advocates<\/a>, the proposal to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/fate-of-castro-theatre-could-hinge-on-this-historic-question\/article_3dca96dc-dd3f-11ed-988f-9f29f0f24f28.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">protect \u201cfixed theatrical seating\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;was a direct response to Another Planet&#8217;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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who sparked the process of amending the theater&#8217;s decades-old historic landmark designation last year, lamented that it became a way to &#8220;pre-litigate&#8221; Another Planet&#8217;s proposal. The existing historic landmark designation adopted in 1977 addresses the exterior of the building, but the updated version includes its interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandelman opposed adding fixed seating to the designation, saying he didn&#8217;t want to kill Another Planet&#8217;s proposal before it arrived at the Historic Preservation Commission for review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supervisor Joel Engardio echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Physical seats are not what brings the Castro to life, people do,&#8221; Engardio said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin fought to include seats in the designation, arguing that The City should not be &#8220;beholden to the inertia of one party&#8217;s investment.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supervisors Connie Chan, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton and Peskin voted to preserve the movie-style seating.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuesday&#8217;s vote was wrapped in technical, bureaucratic language, but the fight over the beloved theater is emotional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The century-old theater is not just an out-of-time movie palace&nbsp;\u2014 it&#8217;s also a bastion of LGBTQ programming in a neighborhood brimming with queer pride. People fighting Another Planet&#8217;s proposal want it to stay that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But those voicing support for Another Planet \u2014 including the theater&#8217;s longtime owners, the Nasser family \u2014 have argued that the Castro has to change in order to remain financially viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, renovating the theater in a way that allows for higher capacity and thus more live event, is believed by Another Planet&#8217;s backers to be the path to success. The retractable floor \u2014 which adjusts from a sloped floor into larger tiers \u2014 was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/surprise-compromise-offered-in-castro-theatre-renovation\/article_4a4609e2-a0f3-11ed-8944-530e32c4f8b2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">meant as a compromise<\/a>, but Another Planet failed to win the support of its detractors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weeks leading up to Tuesday&#8217;s vote have been mired in mudslinging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Castro Theatre Conservancy \u2014 a nonprofit that formed to preserve the theater as a movie house \u2014&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/castro-theatre-plans-ready-to-launch-anti-ape-group-says\/article_a3e8befc-e614-11ed-8c87-934d2110213c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pitched a plan of its own<\/a>&nbsp;to manage the Castro, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/castro-theatre-dismisses-nonprofit-s-takeover-proposal\/article_8ba77b32-e9d2-11ed-a534-373689d3a6c4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Another Planet quickly wrote off<\/a>&nbsp;as the rehashing of an old plan that never got off the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another Planet&#8217;s opponents have also alleged that the company has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/the-city\/does-another-planet-still-want-the-castro-theatre\/article_50df3154-9395-11ed-a3ae-0f1a14b3e820.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">not lived up to its promises<\/a>&nbsp;to invest in the city-owned Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, which it has operated since 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company, which is based in Berkeley and operates several performance venues in the Bay Area, rejected assertions that it hasn&#8217;t met its obligations at the Bill Graham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/avatars\/7\/0e\/fc3\/70efc372-d70d-11ec-981c-577dc43f214f.9cd60a12d877dd1bb0b7132c1d69ee33.png?_dc=1654126500\" alt=\"Adam Shanks\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Adam%20Shanks\">Adam Shanks<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Castro Theatre&#8217;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&#8217;s seating on Tuesday, capping off months of debate over Another Planet Entertainment&#8217;s plans to renovate and reinvigorate the Castro. The updated historic&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/06\/07\/hold-off-on-the-seats-castro-theatre-chairs-not-deemed-historic\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[359],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26855,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26851\/revisions\/26855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}