El Capitan Theatre and Hotel – Mission Street between 19th and 20th Streets, Mission District, San Francisco, California

Opened on June 29, 1928, the El Capitan was once the second-biggest movie theater in San Francisco. The was a beautiful example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture while the outside was built with a splendid Mexican Baroque facade. The architect, Gustave Albert Lansburgh, was one of the masters of theater design in the first half of the 20th century.

Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture was born as a result of the Panama-California Exposition (held in San Diego in 1915), and became a style movement in the United States from 1915 to 1931. It is a hybrid style based on the architecture from the early Spanish colonization of North and South Americas. It started in California and Florida, which had the ideal climate for Mediterranean-inspired homes and remains popular to this day. The style is usually marked by the use of smooth plaster and stucco walls with cast concrete ornamentation. Other characteristics often include small porches or balconies, tall double-hung windows, canvas awnings, decorative iron, ornamental tile work and arcades. Churriqueresque, or Mexican Baroque was named after Spanish sculptor and architect Jose Benito de Churriquera. The style emerged in the 17th century and is marked by extremely expressive and florid decoration. It is normally found on the main entrance facade of a building.

It was a phenomenal moneymaker before television. But from that point on, the huge capacity of the house – it could seat some 2,500 people – made it a white elephant. Once patrons started staying home more to watch the small screen its days were numbered. It as gutted in 1964. The exterior of the building (shops, a rooming house and the old marquee) are still there. Ever since, motorists can drive through what was once the lobby entrance into a … parking lot.

One San Franciscan remembers it as follows: "We called it ‘The Cap’ and it was a beautiful theater. The marquee flashed in beautiful colors and the sign would spell out the letters of the theater one by one. A tall big guy named Dan Mclean ran the place. He was always dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, greeting you as you came in. I remember his huge black handlebar moustache. My mom thought he was a cutie pie and he would flirt with her. There was a powder room upstairs and my mom had to powder her nose one more time before we left, and she flirted with him on the way out. What I remember about the Cap, were those beautiful curtains on the stage, there were two of them. When the curtains opened there was another one right behind it that started to open and went straight up. The previews would start and on the screen it would say, "Coming Soon to your El Capitan …’ It made you feel like you owned it."