02/12/2026
So glad to have this awesome icon theater back!!!
REVIEW: The restoration of the Castro Theatre has not only preserved but magnified its splendor. You notice the change when you spot from the outside the iconic vertical neon CASTRO sign, called the blade or flame, which has been refurbished and upgraded, then relit at last year’s Frameline Juneteenth Block Party. That marquee acts as a kind of welcome symbol in the city similar to the Hollywood sign.
When he entered the interior, arts writer Brian Bromberger felt a vague sense of the familiar as you recognize some of its features, like the swanky new mobile concession stand. But one also feels transported back to 1922 when it was first built, as if seeing this “epicenter of LGBTQ culture in San Francisco and probably the world,” for the first time.
That quote comes from Mary Conde, Senior Vice President of Another Planet Entertainment (APE) and Project Manager for the Castro Theatre renovation project. She enthusiastically led the press tour and is familiar with every bolt, plaster piece, fresco, and system in the building. She’s also very aware of the enormous responsibility the renovation has placed on APE, one the company has met magnificently to the tune of $41 million, working feverishly for two years after the theater closed in early 2024.
Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/163020
