Group 2 Post 2

 

Half of our group was fortunate enough to go on the walking tour of San Francisco Chinatown theaters led by Mr. Lei, where we also got the opportunity to go on a quick tour of the Great Star Theater. It was amazing to be in the physical space and learn more about how the theater is being restored and revitalized to serve members of the community like it used to. The tour was led by executive director Roger Pincombe who gave us some clues as to how the building fared under previous owners and left us with many more questions about the theater’s past role in the Chinatown community and how that experience looks different today. 

The Great Star Theater isn’t meant to be left as a monument to a past age, it is leased with the intention of continuing its great legacy. However, maintaining a building almost 100 years old has many challenges. As with any historic building being used by the public, there’s a fascinating balance that must be found between updating the operation and services for a modern audience while preserving the theater as a historic cultural space. Disrepair from aged materials is inevitable and the tour revealed an interesting combination of the two directions.

At one point towards the conclusion of the tour, Mr. Pincombe (pictured above) described the outer wall tiles which had started to break off. Finding the specific bright blue color and shape of replacement tiles was a long, intricate process delayed even further by outside events. The end result was a restored patch of the wall which blends seamlessly into the existing undamaged tiles. The complexity of the search emphasized the importance of nostalgia and temporality to the restoration of the Great Star Theater. The exterior especially is covered in many bright colors that stand out from the other establishments of the crowded San Francisco street. Recreating the tiles to make the restoration work invisible preserves the physical integrity and keeps the theater recognizable as a historic landmark.

One of the most significant changes made when modernizing the space after so long without use was the new projection setup. The changes were necessary to accommodate modern media consumption: using digital projectors instead of film gives the Great Star Theater the opportunity to host a wider variety of contemporary films including local screenings or festivals and thus cement its place in the current cultural landscape of Chinatown. The place where the old projector used is hidden behind the newer light systems set up on the balcony and the contrast between the old and new technology raises questions of how the theater experience is changing and adapting to different times. Right now the theater is forgoing screenings in favor of hosting live events on the stage. What does this change mean for a space with a rich historical legacy of film? Is the relationship with the surrounding community changing based on the availability of different types of events? Are these changes a deviation from the past, or an inherent effect of a collective cultural space adapting to serve different generations?

Many of these questions are not quantifiable within the scope of the research project, but they are jumping-off points to study the physical changes (and preservations) made to the theater over time and the way each intersects with the local nostalgia of the space. We have reached out to the management about conducting further interviews and hope to connect with some of the patrons who could give us more insight into how the theater has changed within the community. We look forward to diving deeper into the complex history of the Great Star Theater and unlocking some of these answers.