Alcazar and United Nations Theaters

Above: The Alcazar Theater on O'Farrell Street c1944. Photo courtesy of John Chappell.

The original Alcazar Theater opened in 1907 at the corner of Sutter and Steiner Streets. On December 23, 1911, however, it opened at its new location on O'Farrell Street between Mason and Powell, where it operated as a legitimate theater until 1943. In that year, Fox Theaters leased the building and renovated it. On may of 1945, it reopened as the United Nations Theater.
The original Alcazar theater at Sutter and Steiner eventually became the Uptown Theater.

The United Nations Theater c1944. Photo courtesy of John Chappell.

The United Nations Theater was not long lived. Before the building was torn down in 1962, the theater spent at least five more years as the Alcazar Theater, once again presenting stage productions.
By 1963, this location was home to the Handlery Motor Inn. Today it goes by the name Handlery Hotel at Union Square and is connected to the original Handlery Hotel, formerly the Stewart Hotel, which fronts on Geary Street.
The Spaulding Hotel which is prominent in the photo of the Alcazar Theater is also still there and still in business.

This is the Alcazar Theater of 1957. The marque of the former UN theater is still in place, minus the name, and the Alcazar sign is actually just a cloth banner. Photo courtesy of John Chappell.

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