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December 23, 2005
Is the 4 Star Theatre (the last US Chinese theater) doomed?
At Asia Pacific Arts, Brian Hu offers a personal reminscence of the 4 Star Theatre in San Francisco, the nation's last Chinese movie theater, as its legal woes are mounting. "When I moved to the... Bay Area five years ago, the 4 Star Theatre in the Richmond District became one of the real pleasures for a young film lover... As the only remaining theater in the United States playing new Hong Kong films, the 4 Star represented a universe of filmgoing that existed in Asian-American communities before I was old enough to know who Wong Fei-hong or Asia the Invincible were.
"Attending 4 Star screenings of new and classic Hong Kong cinema showed me that while my many friends and family preferred their Asian cinema on bootlegged VHS and VCD, there was still a stronghold of fans—Asian and non-Asian alike—who made it a principle to see Hong Kong films on the big screen with a group of fellow cinemagoers... The 4 Star is facing eviction from the Canaan Lutheran Church, which purchased the property in 2001 and has waited for the 4 Star’s lease to run out so they can move in. Frank and Lida Lee, owners of the 4 Star, are suing the church, claiming that such an eviction violates a city ordinance which prohibits theaters from getting shut down because cinemas bring business into the surrounding area. Neighborhood businesses have petitioned, expressing their support for the 4 Star... I respect the Canaan Lutheran Church and I wish them luck in finding another piece of property in San Francisco. But to convert the 4 Star into a place of worship is counterproductive: the community has been worshipping the movie gods there for a century now, and it has no intention of stopping." [History and lots of cinephilic feeling at the link.]
Posted by pride at December 23, 2005 05:41 PM
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