| Clay Theatre | |
| Location: | 2261 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, California, United States |
| Designation1: | San Francisco |
| Designation1 Date: | May 6, 2022 |
| Designation1 Number: | 302 |
Clay Theatre is a historic 1913 single screen theater building in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States.[1] It was formerly known as The Regent, The Avalon, The Clay International, and Landmark's Clay Theatre. It has been listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark since May 6, 2022.[2]
It was founded in, as The Regent, a nickelodeon-style small movie theater often showing Mary Pickford films. It later became The Avalon in 1931.[3]
In 1935, it opened as The Clay International under the leadership of Herbert Rosener, and was focused on showing foreign films.[4] It was the first theater in the city dedicated to foreign film. The Song to Her (1934), and Goodbye, Beautiful Days (1935) were shown here in 1935.[5]
In the 1950s, the building exterior was greatly modified, including moving of the ticketing booth and a change to the shape of the entrance (formerly an archway).
In modern-day, the single screen theater held 325 seats. Filmmaker John Waters had remembered early showings of Pink Flamingos (1972) at the Clay Theatre.[6] It was also known for midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), after the film release and a decade after.[7] [8] The Clay was part of a chain of indie theaters across the United States owned by Landmark Theatres starting in 1991 (and sometimes called Landmark's Clay Theatre).
In late January 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Clay Theatre was closed by Landmark Theatres. In 2021, the owner removed the seating from the theater and filed an application to covert it to retail use.[9] The local community rallied in hopes of the building re-opening as a movie theater, and in May 2022 it was designated a city landmark. In February 2024, it and the adjacent store were sold.[9]