'Everyone Was in Tears': Your Memories of Movies, Joy and Community at the Castro Theatre

There are big changes ahead for San Francisco’s legendary Castro Theatre.

Live music promoters Another Planet Entertainment have announced plans to renovate the venue, part of which includes removing many of the theater’s iconic red velvet chairs. Read more about this complex saga from KQED Arts & Culture.

Regardless of what the future holds, it’s the end of an era for the beloved Castro Theatre. So we wanted to create a space to highlight some of your memories.

We asked you: What was your most memorable experience at the Castro? From first dates and childhood memories to unforgettable movies and an overwhelming sense of community, you delivered.

Read on for some of the stories you sent us. And if you didn't get the chance to share your own memories and you want to do so, you can still send us your thoughts on the Castro Theatre here.

These submissions have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Worked at the Castro from 1983-1986. Most memorable experience? Getting married on the mezzanine level in August 1986. Being broke, I approached my manager about getting married in the theater. He agreed as long as we were done before the Saturday matinee. — Linda Absher

Hayao Miyazaki’s "Spirited Away" at the Castro was the most amazing movie experience of my life. The energy was incredible, and I remember how Japanese speakers were laughing before people reading the subtitles caught up. A representative of Studio Ghibli was there, I think it was [Toshio] Suzuki, and I hope he went back and told Miyazaki how much the audience loved his film. — Anonymous

"Fantasia," 1979. The organist played first, then the movie started, and my date brought out a joint! I had never tried marijuana before — I am sure that this "altered" my movie experience! — Anonymous 

I've spent so many nights at the Castro over the decades, but one of the most memorable was a screening of "Milk." Cleve Jones was there along with others from the production and those who informed it. Those of us who remembered Harvey Milk were in the audience wondering whether the Sean Penn portrayal would fit.

Toward the end of the film, there was a scene showing the candlelight march after the assassination moving down Market St. from the Castro. Everyone in the theater was in tears. Including myself.

A room full of strangers together in that space, feeling the same emotions. The Castro Theatre was the center of our experience. It was a moment for our community and in our lives that I will never forget. — Fred Bove

When the "Blade Runner" director's cut [1992] came out, I went alone to see it at the Castro. Rain was just starting when I went into the red-and-gold, well-loved, slightly shabby Art Deco interior. I'd seen the original release and a couple of video versions; this cut's subtle changes made it that much more enthralling.

My head full of neon and rain, and the Bradbury building where Roy and Pris met their ends, I walked out of the theater to find the sky opened and pouring, light and reflections everywhere, water coursing down my trench coat as I walked up Castro Street. My favorite moment of immersive cinema ever. — Alana Dill

In the 1970s and '80s it was wondrous to sit in the Castro Theatre, enjoy the Art Deco artistry and listen to the organ player before the retro movies began. Most of all we relished the feeling of what it must have been like in gone-by eras. Seeing the stage intact below the screen, even though the stage was no longer used, allowed me to imagine what a burlesque hall must have felt like, and how audiences during the early days of film must have felt, experiencing the transition from burlesque to film entertainment.

In our current era we are transitioning yet again, but if we were to radically change the Castro Theatre we would never be able to truly preserve the full legacy of showbiz and we couldn’t physically relive its former eras. If the theater can’t be profitable, let’s establish a fund to subsidize it as we would any important museum or archive. — Marti Schoen

Well. I don't remember which movie it was but I had sex in the balcony once, which I feel quite proud of now! Favorite movie experience was probably "Wuthering Heights." And of course many rounds of Frameline. — Anonymous

As a kid growing up in the Castro (born in 1944) my wife spent Saturday in the theater. Twenty cents to get in, a nickel for candy and two movies, newsreel, serial, cartoons. A day’s worth of entertainment. Family nights in the balcony. Lots of memories, all good. — Rose Shuck 

Highlight: "Nights of Cabiria," the great Fellini movie, with a beautiful print, maybe eight years ago. The whole, packed-house audience almost held its breath at the ending.

Community moments: Lost Landscapes of San Francisco. The first "BAHFest" (Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses) in a science festival. Realizing in an "aha!" moment that the Jewish Film Festival was where I would run into all my Jewish acquaintances and friends if I attended enough shows. — David Grosof

Watching "Miracle on 34th Street" with a sold-out crowd of movie lovers. The way everyone booed the evil company psychiatrist, then the place erupted in cheers when the bags of letters to Santa were poured out on the judge’s desk!

I have been to rock concerts and weddings and whatever else they are thinking this absolutely historic movie theater will be used for, and I have never experienced a thrill like it or a greater sense of shared joy. This place is the heart of a great community and if they tear it up it will be a travesty. — Anonymous

The first feature film I produced premiered at the Castro as part of the Frameline Film Festival. I will never forget my excitement as I watched the historic venue fill up with strangers coming to see my movie. My heart fills with joy thinking about it. — Ashley Hillis 

It was around 1992 and I had just begun a fiery relationship with a woman living in Oakland, while I was living in Berkeley. We met at the Castro Muni station and went to the theater to see the animated film version of "Fritz the Cat," based on R. Crumb's comic strip.

It was my first time to the Castro Theatre and its breathtaking grandeur was matched by my ecstatic joy from having just fallen in love. Frankly, I remember almost nothing from the movie, but the way the theater was so romantic and such a conducive environment for us cuddling in our bliss is indelibly etched on my mind. That romance didn't last the summer, but even 30 years later I remember the magnificence of the Castro Theatre like it was yesterday. — Gifford Hartman 

Several years back, there was a minister in Oakland that announced the end of the world was on a certain upcoming date. Said date fell on the screening of George Cukor’s "The Women" at the Castro.

I thought to myself, "If indeed it is the end of the world, I can think of no better place to be with my LGBT folk." — Carlos Chavarin

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