We’ve never seen an SF institution offered historical landmark status but then reject the offer, but the SF Catholic Archdiocese is fighting a landmark designation for their Noe Valley church featured in the movie Sister Act.

San Francisco businesses and institutions just love to be honored with historic landmark status, because it honors them as “unique and irreplaceable assets to the city,” and it also makes it far more difficult for landlords to demolish or renovate buildings with landmark status. We are not aware of any occasion where a business or institution has been offered landmark status, but rejected the distinction.

Yet we are seeing this now. The Bay Area Reporter has been following the story of Supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s attempt to landmark several churches and historic buildings in his District 8, particularly before Mayor Daniel Lurie’s “family zoning” upzoning plan kicks in to make those buildings very vulnerable to demolition for redevelopment.

But the latest from the Bay Area Reporter says that the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco does not want landmark designation given to is churches, the most notable of which is St. Paul’s Catholic Church at Church and Valley street in Noe Valley, which was famously featured in Whoopi Goldberg’s 1992 blockbuster comedy Sister Act.

Here is St. Paul’s Catholic Church. Its exteriors were used in several shots in Sister Act, though the interior church shots were filmed at First United Methodist Church in Hollywood. But Noe Valley is all over the movie Sister Act, and the Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub has an absolutely delightful retrospective on how the film’s set designers cleverly made Noe Valley look like a slum for the shooting of the film.

Supervisor Mandelman is not trying to landmark St Paul's because of the movie Sister Act, he's trying to landmark it because it is a historically significant, 115-year-old English Gothic architectural wonder. But the Catholic Archdiocese of SF does not want the landmark status, and had the item taken off the Historical Preservation Commission's agenda this past Wednesday.

“I think they may be arguing we don’t have authority to do this,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter. “[The Planning Deprtment] is going to pull them back and figure this out separately so we can get a handle on them. I will support this because we want to do this right.”

The million-dollar question here is why the Archdiocese does not want the distinction that so many other buildings fight so hard for.

“We object to the landmarking,” Archdiocese of San Francisco Real Property Support Corporation executive director John Christian told the Bay Area Reporter. “Landmarking church properties in California has been settled law for over 30 years as a matter of case law and statutory law.”

He refers to a 1994 law passed by Willie Brown when he was Speaker of the California State Assembly, allowing churches to be exempt from preservation laws if they wanted to destroy or sell their historic properties. That law has taken on a new significance in an era when churches are trying to shield their real estate holdings to avoid paying their sexual abuse victims who’ve won court settlements.  

Which shows we live in a time when large churches are more in the real estate business than the business of, you know, saving souls or promoting scriptural teachings.

Either way, this matter is not yet resolved, and has been currently tabled to the Historical Preservation Commission's February 4 meeting.

Related: Building Where Compton’s Cafeteria Riot Took Place Is Up for Additional Historic Landmark Status [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

The former church on Fillmore Street now popularly known as the Church 8 Wheels was granted landmark status by the SF Board of Supervisors Tuesday, and while the property will be redeveloped into housing, its popular skate rink will reportedly stay intact.

If you’ve ever walked by the Church of 8 Wheels building that holds indoor roller skating parties on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, you may have figured out that the place used to be an actual church. And if you lived in SF prior to 2005, you may recall that Fillmore and Fell streets building was the Sacred Heart Church, which closed in December 2004. But it’s now served as a roller rink for nearly ten years (Caitlyn Jenner even went there once), though its future seemed in doubt when a developer bought the property in 2020 with plans to raze it for housing.

But let the good times roll! While the developer called the Pollard Group still plans to build 41 housing units at 554 Fillmore Street, that developer will apparently allow the Church of 8 Wheels to stay, as the roller rink area will remain an event space. And on Tuesday, the SF Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a landmark designation for that building that aims to keep many of the architectural elements intact.

“It is my understanding that the owners intend to continue this successful collaboration,” with the Church of 8 Wheels, the district’s supervisor Dean Preston said at a March 4 Board of Supervisors committee meeting. “That activation is really a beloved use in the neighborhood.”

And in a statement after Tuesday's vote, Preston's office said in a statement that "With the historic landmarking status of this site, the owners have shared with Supervisor Preston's office their intention to continue this successful collaboration with [Church of 8 Wheels' David] Miles, which means that the church should continue to be a place for beginners and pros alike to put on their skates and groove to disco music under neon lights and stained glass windows."

The Church of 8 Wheels does not own the building, and never has. And the landmarking has nothing to do with the Church of 8 Wheels, and everything to do with the Sacred Heart Church. But the landmark designation status gives the developer city-sanctioned incentives to keep certain physical characteristics in place when the property is redeveloped into housing.

As seen above, the plan retains the church’s nave (what we think of as the roller rink) and well as the bell tower and other unique elements. Large lofts and smaller apartment units are added to other components of the structure, which dates all the way back to 1898.

The landmark designation applies to the whole “Sacred Heart Parish Complex” (546-548 Fillmore Street, 554 Fillmore Street, 735 Fell Street, and 660 Oak Street), which contains the former church, rectory, school, and convent. The designation acknowledges the church's Romanesque revival architectural style, stained glass windows, and bell tower, as well as its association with 1960s and 70s civil rights activist Father Eugene Boyle.

Not everyone was thrilled with the conversion to housing and preservation of a roller rink area.

“The thing I don’t understand is how a church goes from a church where you’re getting on your knees to pray, to falling on your knees on a pair of skates,” former parishioner Bertha Canti said at a February 26 Board of Supervisors committee meeting on the matter. “I think it's sacrilegious for that to be happening at a church.”

But it was the Archdiocese of San Francisco who chose to sell the building, as the Church of 8 Wheels' founder “Godfather of Skate” David Miles, pointed out at the same meeting.

“It was sold, okay? I had nothing to do with that. Whoever was in charge decided to sell it to people to develop it,” Miles said. “When we have people skating, I feel that they are living up to the religious purposes of what the building was for.”

A representative of the developer Pollard Group, Simon Yip, added at the same meeting that “The owner is ready to move forward with continuing to provide a community event space in the building, alongside some much needed housing.”

Obviously, there is going to be a construction phase during which the Church of 8 Wheels will have to skate elsewhere. But once that construction is finished, a rink within the preserved exterior of a church with housing units alongside will be how the Church of 8 Wheels rolls.

Note: This post has been updated with a Tuesday statement from Supervisor Dean Preston's office.

Related: Hallelujah! Church Of 8 Wheels Reopens After Renovations [SFist]

Image: Bruce C. via Yelp

Trouble for Another Planet Entertainment, as the SF Historic Preservation Commission just recommended landmark designation protections for the Castro Theatre’s seats, at a six-hour meeting where both “Save the Seats” and “Change the Seats” factions turned out in force.

More than a year into Another Planet Entertainment’s taking over operations of the Castro Theatre, the Berkeley-based concert promoter has failed to overcome enormous community outrage and distrust that their management would abandon film screenings and LGBTQ programming and just turn the place into a generic, cookie-cutter concert venue. The currently most contentious aspect to all this is Another Planet Entertainment (APE) moving forward with plans to remove the Castro Theatre seats, transitioning to a hybrid model where the orchestra area is standing-room for concerts, and would have temporary seats on tiers for film events. That all seems like cultural sacrilege to many longtime fans of the theater, like “John Waters, who referred to the venue as the ‘Radio City Music Hall for gay people,” according to Planning Department senior planner Alex Westhoff.

Castro Merchants Association board member Terry Beswick argued at a Wednesday meeting that APE’s plans would “basically gut the interior of the Castro Theatre.”

“They plan to add a couple cocktail bars within the auditorium,” Beswick noted. “Their largely straight audience that they expect for nighttime shows doesn’t want to patronize the gay bars in the neighborhood. So APE needs to take out the seats to make room for their in-house full  bars while maintaining the venue capacity.”

“The neighboring LGBTQ bars and restaurants will continue to lose business and all neighboring businesses will continue to suffer due to the many dark days APE plans for the theater,” Beswick said.

One obstacle SF City Hall could place in APE’s way is a protective landmark designation. While the Castro Theatre already has a landmark designation, that designation only applies to the Castro’s iconic neon sign and the exterior features of the Timothy Pfleuger architecture. And so on Wednesday, the SF Historic Preservation Commission considered a revised landmark designation that would extend landmark protections to the theater’s interior, and notably the seats and sloped floor, as “character defining features” of the historic structure.

And after six hours of often-angry discussion from the public, the commission voted 6-0 to recommend that landmark designation. But this is not a final determination, and the ultimate deciding vote will eventually go before the SF Board of Supervisors.

“This is the Castro,” commissioner Kate Black said before Wednesday’s vote “The theater is an extraordinarily revered and beloved movie palace in its own right. For decades, it has been the central feature and organizing element of San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ neighborhood. And it’s been a not-so-silent litmus to community activism related to the AIDS epidemic, gay rights,and  marriage equality.”

“Movies are not APE’s business, music is,” Black added. “My biggest concern gets down to a specific commitment, whether it’s APE or any other operator, to show movies in a significant way.”

The vast majority of this meeting was nearly six hours of public comment (which featured many local notables, like Jello Biafra, DJ Bus Station John, and Donna Sachet).

Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra (who now looks like a Goldman Sachs middle manager?) said during his comment period, “The Castro Theatre, it’s a movie theater, It is not a rock venue, it is not a disco. It is not an EDM, you know, all kinds of weird drugs in you place that they turned Slim’s into or anything like that either. It was built to be, not just any movie theater, but a beautiful and great movie theater.”

DJ Bus Station John said that the Castro has “languished in a perpetual state of disrepair for over a year now,” He asked, “Why would we trust any promise APE makes to preserve any aspect of the theater's interior if they can't even perform basic maintenance on its exterior?,” and added that “APE is not the only game in town.”

But local drag legend Donna Sachet spoke in support of APE “I find the current debate over the Castro Theatre puzzling,” Sachet said. “Another Planet Entertainment is willing to make major and expensive improvements while preserving the most important historical elements of the building, and yet they’re met with objections.”

And the Castro Theatrer’s owners, the Nasser family, sent their attorney Jim Abrams to point out what a massive financial flop then theater’s 100th anniversary had been.  “No more than 35 people attended these showings, with as little as 10 people attending the afternoon matinee.” Abrams said Wednesday.

Noir City producer and host Eddie Muller pushed back on that. “For 18 years I filled that theater, all 1400 seats in the theater, on Friday and Saturday nights.” Muller said. “The success of the festival at the Castro Theatre is known nationally and internationally. And that is a perfectly viable motion picture theater.”

“The Nasser family is being very disingenuous when they said that they cannot possibly show movies there,” Muller added. ”I have done it successfully for 18 years, packing that theater with lines around the block.”

Castro Theatre Conservancy executive director Peter Pastreich pointed out that his nonprofit could make a financially competitive counteroffer. “I’ve been responsible for fundraising for well over $100 million in endowment campaigns and capital improvements  on three concert halls,” Pastreich said, as the public comment section of the meeting went on to its sixth hour,

“This has gone much longer than expected,” commission clerk Jonas Ionin said. “As a result, we’ve gone past our allotted time in this chamber.” The commission had to reconvene in another room elsewhere in City Hall before finishing public comment and holding the vote, because a Police Commission meeting was scheduled in their room.

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APE offered new plans last week for a “motorized raked floor,” which is shown in the Instagram animation above. (It all looks very high-tech, though it may be more manual than depicted.) “This is not only the best, but the only way to keep the Castro open,” APE spokesperson David Perry told the Chronicle.

But the commission’s vote Wednesday puts this revised floor plan very much in doubt.

Not everyone was opposed to APE’s plans. Many supporters of APE’s plans were folks who feel they have a financial stake here, like nearby businesses who hope for more foot traffic, or event producers who think they can make bigger bucks at a modernized Castro Theatre. Notably, Hoodline reported last week the Frameline LGBTQ film festival endorsed APE’s remodeling plans.

“Midnites For Maniacs” host and producer Jesse Hawthorne Ficks, who’s presented 130 events at the Castro, said that “The soul of the Castro Theatre is not the  set-up of the seats," and that "The soul of the Castro Theatre is an audience who actually attends the theater for films and special events.”

And disability advocates argued the current layout of the Castro Theatre was simply unacceptable. “The Castro Theatre, with fixed seating, is not accessible,” Sarah Hoffenberg pointed out. “If someone uses a wheelchair and they’re hard of hearing, or they have limited sight, they aren’t able to access this community space in the way that everyone else can.”

Nonetheless, the commission expanded the landmark protections.

This vote does not change APE’s management involvement in the theater, nor will it affect their programming in any way. Wednesday’s vote simply recommends applying landmark protections to the Castro’s interior seating arrangements. And again, this is not a final call, it’s a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, who will make that final call on the landmark designation.

But it's certainly a sign of momentum going against Another Planet Entertainment’s plans for the Castro Theatre, and this movie probably has a few more big plot twists coming before the final curtain.

Related: Tempers Flare as Castro Theatre Hosts First Public Meeting With Another Planet Entertainment [SFist]

Image: Steven Bracco, Hoodline

What's Disney commercialization of a beloved local landmark and why does it -- what's that word again? Suck. Yeah, anyway, we're a bit late getting around to this Anaheim-based copycat of local treasure Palace of Fine Arts. Local blogger (and SFist commenter) MrEricSir noted the shocking similarities between the local landmark and the new Little Mermaid ride at Disney's California Adventure. (Aside: we can't wait to check it out during our next trip behind the Orange Curtain! Eee!)

MrEricSir tongue-in-cheekily writes:

Disney’s decision to commercialize a scale model of the Palace of Fine Arts must not be tolerated. This move is clearly a middle-finger to San Francisco, a city which is serious about protesting the commercialization of public property. But we do enjoy irony, which is why the Walt Disney Family Museum is located on public land.

I’m calling on all true San Franciscans to march to Disney’s California Adventure and stage a protest at the site of this effigy. Unfortunately it’s not free to enter the theme park. (Wise protesters will bring a coupon.)

In related news, the Disney family owns part of the Presidio. Coincidence?

Perfect for your next Burning Man art car or, well, your next Burning Man art car, the big red tomato that used to siren in customers at the now-closed Vino e Cucina is up for sale. According to the Craigslist ad: "After serving for 18 years as a SOMA landmark for San Franciscans, the giant tomato is available for sale. It is huge and ready to be hung or displayed by the buyer. It is hollow metal and in great condition. Original cost was $5,000. Asking price: $1,500. The tomato is still hanging at 489 Third Street, San Francisco (cross street Bryant). Please call 415-722-9229 if you have any questions or would like to purchase the 'Big Tomato.'" To check out the massive tomato, go to the chronically empty lot at Bryant and Third Street to see it in all its plump, red glory.

Do you remember the Ingleside Racetrack? Since it was in operation for a paltry ten years from 1895 to 1905, probably not. According to the Ingleside Terraces Homes Association's website the track was built out of infamous San Francisco dissatisfaction.

Ingleside Terraces was the site of the one mile oval Ingleside Track where horses raced, with the present Urbano Drive following its course. The story of the development of Ingleside Race Track is a tale in itself -- a story of one Ed Corrigan and his friends, who were not satisfied with the way things were run at the Bay District Track, and, as the Pacific Coast Jockey Club, built a track of their own with bandstand, stables, club house -- everything a race track needed to compete. [Betty Carman, 1968]

Then, after helping lodge patients from Laguna Honda hospital and serving as a camp for refugees after that little known quake of 1906, the race track closed

While a gaggle of houses now stand where much of the track used to be, in 1913 the Sun Dial Park opened, featuring this gorgeous, still-working dial, with a gnomon measuring 28'4" long.

Local photographer BerDerp captured these images of the Ingleside landmark. Enjoy.