The Chinese Theater

Caught the last part of a KCSM documentary on Chinese American filmmakers and it ended with a 2 minute montage of the Chinese theaters in San Francisco Chinatown.

The Chinese theater is definitely a lost art... a lost piece of culture. 

I still remember growing up in San Francisco that had 5 Chinese Theaters.  My earliest, earliest memory of watching a Chinese movie was watching a black and white movie of the Monkey King at 華星 on Jackson Street.  And kung-fu films which has gone from a comedic parody to a cultural phenomenon. 

There were the glass display cases that had a dozen pictures of the each film.  I can still see myself waiting for dad to buy the tickets while big brother and I studied those pictures, trying to guess what the movie was about.  But the pictures meant absolutely nothing.  Then we go in... and about 4 hours later, we come out and amazingly what was foreign before seems to have been completely re-decorated.  Those pictures now tell exactly what the movie is about. The scene before and the scene after.

There was Golden Pagoda Theater (金都).  .  It was on my way to school so I would purposely stop by and observe the glass cases if I had time.  It was my favorite among the 5 because Golden Pagoda, unlike World (世界) and Great Star(大明星), had a bigger display case that displayed multiple movies.  It was watching the movie...without having to pay.

There were those special days when dad would pick us up from Sts. Peter and Paul and take us to dinner.  We knew those were the special days because we knew that after an early dinner, we were going to watch a movie.  And more importantly, it meant not having to go to Chinese School.  Of course...the next day, dad would have two envelopes on the kitchen table ready for us to take to school -- those were our "excuse letters."  I always wondered what dad wrote in those letters -- and I'm always down-trodden that I can never ever come close to writing one of those letters.

Special, maybe to San Francisco Chinese Theaters, they were always double features.  The new release  was coupled with an older, semi-popular film.  Two instances stand out.  The first one was watching the long awaited 八星報喜, but only to find the accompanying feature more enjoyable.  That accompanying feature - 精裝追女仔.  And there was the other time when 阿修羅 was paired with 奇績.  Two white guys came in there to watch a Jackie Chan movie. When 奇績 was over...they clapped, got up and were about to leave. But they saw that no one else was leaving... so they sat down and was going to watch it again.  Only to find there was the feature was coming up.

Partially melancholic too... because it stirred up memories of those awkward years in my life when I didn't have any friends.  Those times when I went to watch movies by myself.  I can't blame anyone. I was too poor to hang out with English school friends.  Too much of a goody two shoes to hang out with Chinese School friends.  And too much of a little brother to hang out with big brother and his friends.  I've come a long way since... I guess.

Then around the mid 90's, slowly, one by one they closed down.  First the Golden Pagoda.  Then Great Star.  Then World Theater.  I've actually been in Great Star theater twice since it closed.  Both times to watch Cantonese Opera with my mom. 

One can say the theaters are haunted...cuz indeed, there are nothing but the ghosts of the past in these auditoriums of cinema.  But in reality...all is lost.  A piece of my culture...a piece of my childhood... a piece of me.  Gone.... and there's absolute nothing but an empty building today.  And I guess an occasion public television documentary.