Both of the Chestnut Street movie theaters owned by Lee Neighborhood Theaters, the Marina Theatre and Presidio Theatre, are up for sale, as the Lees are retiring after nearly 60 years of their family operation running SF movie houses.
We’re coming up on the final reel of an SF movie theater mini-empire that dates back to Frank Lee, Sr. opening the Bella Union theater in Chinatown in 1964. Lee would eventually also open the Parkside Theater (Inner Parkside), the Kokusai Theater (Japantown), and the Cannery Cinema (Fisherman’s Wharf), and his son Frank, Jr. was an usher at the Bella Union.
Decades later, a grown-up Frank, Jr. and wife would form Lee Neighborhood Theaters, and acquired the 4 Star Theatre in 1992 — though they eventually put the 4 Star Theatre up for sale. The Lees also bought the Presidio Theatre in 2004 (it was previously operated by Century Theaters), and the Marina Theater in 2008 (it was then called the Cinema 21). But when the Lees managed to sell the 4 Star in 2021, we learned there has been talk of them retiring since even before the pandemic started.
And now this is coming to pass. The Chronicle reports that the Lees have put both the Marina Theatre and Presidio Theatre up for sale, and are indeed retiring. Both theaters are on Chestnut Street in the Marina District.
“It’s been in my mind many years, but I think it’s about time,” Frank Lee, now 70, told the Chronicle. “I’m not getting younger, right?”
Their colleagues in the local movie theater business took a longer view of the news.
“Frank and Lida have entertained multiple generations of San Franciscans at the movies, and they have left a legacy of happy customers,” co-owner of CinemaSF Adam Bergeron, whose organization now runs programming at the 4 Star since its sale, said to the Chronicle. “Here’s hoping their next phase is happy and restful.”
The SFFILM Festival has had screenings at the Marina Theatre the last two years, so that festival would offer a brief tentpole of solid business to any prospective new owner. But the movie house racket is tough these days for small independent theater operators.
Still, the Lees have made accommodations in hopes of drawing a movie theater buyer, having received city approval to convert the ground floor of the Marina Theatre into a restaurant and cafe.
Related: Vintage Ad Shows 40 Movie Theaters That Once Dotted San Francisco [SFist]
Image: Daniel A via Yelp
