Get people talking about movie theaters, especially old film palaces, and inevitably the conversation becomes nostalgic. Get them talking about the Castro Theatre and the conversation is tinged with more than nostalgia, people remember growth.
Their growth. The Castro Theatre is, for many LGBTQ people with ties to San Francisco, the place they discovered their tribe.The announcement earlier this year that the Castro Theatre would continue business under the new management of Another Planet Entertainment has left many LGBTQ movie fans apprehensive about what direction the historic, 100-year-old theater might go."As a baby gay, I was introduced to both 'All About Eve' and 'The Women' as a double feature," Jim Gibson, who moved to San Francisco 32 years ago, wrote in a Facebook message to the Bay Area Reporter. "I learned so much that night, but not the dialogue of either movie.
The theater was packed and there was a cacophony of sound filling the theater as every member of that audience was reciting every line of both films and it was glorious.
There was so much joy and a sense of community. It was a glimpse into a world that I was just discovering. I will never forget that night.