[Friends of 1800 March 18, 2001 letter to the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors.]
Dear Supervisor
We are writing to urge saving the New Mission Theater.
The needs of City College are real, but we don't see how destroying
a cultural resource facilitates or furthers the purpose of City
College as an institution. Describing this issue as a choice between
education and preservation may have a rhetorical appeal to some
people, but it ignores the other options of having City College
use another site, or of using the New Mission Theater as part
of their new facility.
Recently world leaders and art institutions criticized the Taliban
for destroying part of their own cultural heritage that they didn't
understand and didn't like. It is ironic that here in a supposedly
enlightened country; we still have to the face the same incomprehension
when trying to preserve our own cultural resources. The absolutist
argument of financial necessity is not far removed from the argument
of theological necessity.
When thinking of the New Mission Theater, we ask you to not think
of this as one of many Movie Theaters, one much the same and as
disposable as the others. We urge you to think of the people who
built this theater. The Craftsmen, Carpenters and Plaster workers
who practiced crafts which have almost ceased to exist. The New
Mission Theater cannot be replaced or reduplicated by the building
trades today any more than the statues of the Buddha could. Why
would we even think of destroying the irreplaceable high quality
work of these anonymous workers and craftsmen?
Architecturally, the New Mission Theater is a magnificent work,
the equal of the universally beloved Castro Theater in terms of
the lavishness of the interior detail in the auditorium. The original
Baroque style of the interior is still largely intact along with
the more neoclassical inner lobby. The Art Deco outer lobby is
also striking, and the Art Deco sign is a beautiful and rare example
of this sort of sign.
This theater is an irreplaceable civic asset. It is a neighborhood
landmark in this part of the Mission. It is a reminder of the
many movie theaters that once operated on Mission Street. It is
part of what gives this area its distinctive character.
The New Mission Theater also has great financial value. The detailing
of the interiors and the sign have innate monetary value and would
be extremely expensive to reduplicate today. This represents an
innate worth that is extremely stupid to destroy. As single screen
theaters are rapidly disappearing, we have an opportunity to use
these facilities as meeting halls, live theaters and gathering
places. If City College refuses to reuse the auditorium, and it
were used for theater or dance, the arts groups would not be the
only ones to benefit, the neighborhood would benefit by the influx
of theatergoers who would spend money in the neighborhood.
In closing we strongly urge you to conserve and reuse the New
Mission Theater for the benefit of all San Franciscans, and particularly
for the benefit of the Mission neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Dennis Richards President,
Friends of 1800 Market
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