CASTRO THEATRE

Castro at Market St
(415) 621-6120
www.thecastro.com

Even jaded San Franciscans love the Castro Theater. Billed as "the city's movie palace," it really is like going to the movies in a palace, especially compared to today's multiplexes - bland boxes where you can hear the car crashes from the theater next door.

Inside the Castro, 1920's Art Deco meets Italianate excess, and the whole effect can turn a simple movie date into an event. Gilt columns topped with golden urns flank the stage. Enormous murals of what appears to be the Gardens of Pompei cover the walls. And a giant Art Deco chandelier made of angled silver plates hangs above, looking like something out of a Flash Gordon movie.

But nothing can really compete with the Castro's Mighty Wurlitzer.  Five minutes before every show, a large Wurlitzer organ rises up in front of the stage and patrons are treated to stirring renditions of show tunes and themes from old movies. And when organist David Hegart or Bill McCoy launches into the closing number, "San Francisco," even cynical San Franciscans who would rather leap off the Golden Gate Bridge than be caught walking on it, find themselves clapping along.

The programming at the Castro definitely isn't multiplex material either. You aren't likely to catch the latest Julia Roberts movie playing on the theater's wide screen, but you will get the chance to see the latest entries in the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, the director's cut of The Third Man, or a documentary about a Tuvan throat-singer. The Castro is also host to a Jewish Film Festival, a Silent Film Festival, and probably the only theater in the country to show The Bad Seed with special guest appearance by obnoxious child star Patty McCormick, now all grown-up.  The Castro Theater is located in a predominantly gay neighborhood, which makes it the best place see camp classics such as The Women, or Mommie Dearest - films where the audience seems to have more dialogue than the actors. On Christmas Eve, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus performs at the Castro Theater in a musical show that is nearly always sold out.