SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — The Castro Theater has seen better days.

Still owned by the Nassers, the family of Lebanese immigrants who built it in 1922, the movie palace dominates the rise where Castro, 17th, and Market streets converge. Its colorful blade neon sign reading, simply, “Castro” rises above the marquee, beckoning locals and visitors alike to the LGBT neighborhood, not, it isn’t too hyperbolic to say, unlike the Statue of Liberty’s torch. The Castro sign has been an assurance to countless tens of thousands that, at last, they were home and safe.

But, like the neighborhood around it, long beset by the issues of skyrocketing rents and increased homelessness, the Castro Theater has seen better days and efforts to revitalize the grand old cinema have been tumultuous at best. After 100 years, the movie house is showing its age and the effects of delayed renovations or, in one case, sloppy preservation efforts have taken their toll on the theater’s unique leatherette ceiling, which is stained and cracked as a result of a misguided attempt to preserve it.

One year ago, San Franciscans were surprised — or alarmed, depending upon your point of view — by the news that management of the cinema had been contracted to Another Planet Entertainment, a concert promoter based across the bay in Berkeley. Already the manager of numerous esteemed venues throughout the Bay Area such as the Greek Theater in Berkeley, the Fox Theater in Oakland, and both Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and The Independent in San Francisco, the addition of the Castro was a big deal for the company .

Entrusted with a building many in San Francisco and particularly those in the Castro regard as a jewel among the city’s collection of artistically notable structures, Another Planet vowed from the outset to restore the beloved theater to its glorious original state. Designed by prominent San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger, whose masterpieces dot the city, the theater is a testament to the Churrigueresque influences on Spanish style architecture proliferating throughout California at the time. Many were already dubious, however, suspicious of the concert promoters’ move into one of the last repertory theaters in town, and the oldest, longest running single screen movie palace.

While the Castro began as a first-run theater, by the time it had hit midlife in the 1970s, it was showing second-run movies. With the influx of gay men into the Castro in the 1960s and ’70s, however, the theater took on a new life. Throughout the following decades, programming at the theater began to reflect the tastes of the LGBT community. Campy old classics like 1939’s “The Women” and 1950’s “All About Eve” (“Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”) found ready audiences. Live performances, through producers like Marc Huestis and Joshua Grannell — better known as the drag queen Peaches Christ — became regular events. In 1990, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus began their annual Christmas performance “Home for the Holidays,” which has become a holiday tradition.

For cinephiles, particularly LGBT cinephiles, a turning point came in 1977 with the groundbreaking documentary “Word is Out,” featuring interviews with 26 gay men and lesbians about their lives, which premiered at the Castro, and established the cinema as ground zero for LGBT Movie. Other films followed: “The Life and Times of Harvey Milk,” “Buddies,” and “Milk.” Most recently, the Billy Eichner film “Bros” premiered there, as well as “The Matrix Resurrections.”

Now, many wondered, what would happen to the Castro’s legacy of film and other programming for its LGBT audience? Another Planet’s renovation plans, submitted to the San Francisco planning department in March 2020, did little to assure their fears.

Save the seats!

Another planet’s plans for renovations, devised by CAW Architects of Palo Alto, California, called for extensive renovations of the entire building, including the installation of an HVAC system and heating (the theater is notorious for its lack of heat), restoration of the murals and decorative features, and numerous other details throughout the building. Recent torrental storms in California flooded the basement, said David Perry, spokesperson for Another Planet, and the roof leaks as well.

One item in particular stood out. Another planet wanted to remove the theater’s raked floor and orchestral seating to make way for tiered platforms which would allow event producers to remove the seats for standing audiences, as well as accommodating other types of events. When the theater showed films, APE insisted, the seats could be replaced.

It didn’t go over well.

Numerous groups voiced their disapproval, including the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District — a quasigovernmental organization which oversees many aspects of managing the neighborhood — various film organizations, and the Castro Conservancy. Founded by former San Francisco Symphony director Peter Pastreich, the conservancy was founded to present a viable alternative APE’s management of the theater, insisting they could run the Castro as a nonprofit.

Months of bickering ensued. In August, Another Planet organized a community town hall, inviting representatives of the Castro Conservancy, the Castro Cultural District, and its own executives and the architects to present their visions for the theater. Packing the Castro, hundreds of people turned up, many holding signs reading “Save the Seats!” A question and answer period devolved into two hours of people venting their frustrations with Another Planet — although a handful of people voiced their support for the renovations too.

Just one of many speakers that night, producer Huestis cried out, “Taking out the seats is ripping out the heart and soul of the theater!”

Notably, the ages of those opposed veered older, prompting Astrid Kane, a millennial newspaper editor in San Francisco to recently quip on Facebook, “You can fill a room with pompous windbag historians yammering about ‘UNESCO intangible cultural heritage’ all you want, but you won’t have Gen Z in there, too.”

Since then, little has improved. A later motion by San Francisco District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro neighborhood, sought to extend the theater’s historic landmark status to the interior of the movie palace beyond its currently protected façade. That’s resulted in delays in hearings at the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, where the plans for the theater must be approved before moving on to the planning commission. After more than three months of delays, the Historic Preservation Commission will discuss extending the landmark status this week.

Members of the commission will also be considering a new proposal from Another Planet. Rather than the tiered platforms the company had proposed earlier, it’s put forward plans for a motorized raked floor which, according to APE’s Perry, will allow both the raked seating and standing room.

Perry described the seating as “a win-win-win,” allowing room not only for concerts, but films and LGBT programming. Even so, not everyone is convinced.

Stephen Torres, a vocal critic of Another Planet Entertainment’s plans, and executive co-chair of the Castro Cultural District’s advisory committee, said the proposed changes at the theater are more than mere renovations.

“People are understandably scared,” Torres said. “This means so much to everyone. Even people who aren’t cinephiles, even they understand how important this space is.”

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San Francisco this week was the last, and perhaps largest, city in the US to ban natural gas in new buildings.

In a meeting on Tuesday, the city’s board of directors passed a law that stipulates the construction of new residential and commercial buildings for the exclusive use of electrical energy, starting with projects that submit permits in the next year. This ordinance will cover about 60% of the city’s current development pipeline to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and tackle climate change, District 8 supervisor Rafael Mandelman said at the meeting.

“San Francisco has long been taking climate change seriously, and today – after another catastrophic fire season, record streak of unhealthy days, extreme heat waves, and even a day when the sun didn’t rise – we San Franciscans have the opportunity to do another incremental but important step to take to save our planet, “he told his colleagues at the meeting.

The board’s unanimous vote concludes nearly a year of deliberations with the Zero Emissions Building Taskforce, said Mandelman, which brought together affordable housing and mixed-use developers, architects and engineers, labor and construction trades and community officials to draft the legislation. It complements the approval of the city’s electrical preference ordinance passed last fall, which calls for higher energy efficiency standards for natural gas buildings, and an ordinance passed earlier this year mandating the all-electric construction of new municipal projects.

The vote also adds San Francisco to the growing list of nearly 40 California cities to enact such ordinances since Berkeley’s historic ban on natural gas infrastructure in July 2019. Experts say San Francisco’s move could carry enough weight to overturn similar laws from cities like Los Angeles, and could even push Governor Gavin Newsom, D, into nationwide action.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is currently considering updates to its Title 24 building energy efficiency standards, Earthjustice Staff Attorney Matt Vespa said. As a former mayor, Newsom has a very special relationship with San Francisco, which could inspire him to follow suit with the city, Vespa said.

“We really expect the governor’s leadership on this issue,” said Vespa. “Hopefully San Francisco is signaling that San Francisco is doing this, the governor, that the time has come to really address this issue as part of their climate agenda.”

Arguments for fully electric construction in California

Residential and commercial buildings are responsible for approximately 25% of California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the California Air Resources Board. Senate Bill 32 requires California to cut its statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels over the next 10 years, and some argue that the building sector should be the primary target of those efforts.

Part of this argument is based on the flammability of natural gas. In an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mandelman and retired fire chief Joanne Hayes-White said there are more than 75 gas leaks or emergencies reported every hour in California, an incredible risk in a state that has seen some of the hottest temperatures.

“Firefighters and first responders know the incredible amount of effort it takes to contain even a relatively small incident. As we face a number of historic forest fires and heat waves, and on top of a global pandemic that is already weighing on our emergency response measures, the last thing we need to be is to add to the threats we face, “it says the contribution.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the utility that supplies almost the entire state of California, is helping the move to all-electric new builds. In a June letter to the CEC, a PG&E executive said the utility “welcomes the opportunity to avoid investing in new gas facilities that may later prove underutilized as local governments and the state work together to set long-term decarbonization goals reach”.

With the CEC considering embedding an all-electric construction mandate in its 2022 update, Mandelman hopes San Francisco can serve as a model to overcome inevitable obstacles such as the transition of plumbers and pipe fitters in the gas industry. Mandelman said he worked closely with Local 38, the regional plumbers and pipeline builders union, to outline a just transition for these workers amid the San Francisco ordinance.

“This commitment will ensure our workforce can look forward to a future in which ongoing environmental initiatives are coupled with opportunities for good union jobs in San Francisco,” he said at the board meeting.

Mandelman also stressed how a move to all-electric building can be gradual to ensure industries don’t become overloaded. The San Francisco ordinance contains two provisions that specifically address concerns about the city’s gastronomy, which is particularly challenged at this time of “extraordinary uncertainty,” he said. These regulations allow projects, including a commercial kitchen space, to submit mixed-fuel building permits by 2022. The regulation also provides for an “ongoing waiver process” for new restaurant buildings where gas is essential or electrical alternatives are not feasible.

“I believe this limited restaurant waiver will allow the continued use of gas in new buildings in the future where appropriate and necessary for a particular restaurant, while ensuring that we are clear and determined about the move in San Francisco start with natural gas. ”said Mandelmann.

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Residents in several Bay Area counties fled their homes on Monday under mandatory evacuation orders as inland temperatures rose above 100 degrees and firefighters battled a string of fast-spreading forest fires sparked by thunderstorms – with the risk of more the way.

The National Weather Service was issuing red flag warnings across Northern California by Monday evening as extreme weather conditions increased the risk of wildfires across the area. A heat warning should remain in effect until Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the state, temperatures reached even more astonishing numbers – in Death Valley temperatures hit 130 degrees on Sunday, possibly the hottest global temperature ever recorded, according to the National Weather Service.

The chief of California’s primary power grid manager warned that rolling blackouts were imminent on Monday, but later said they were not needed. Network operators blamed several factors for the power shortage, most important of which was the extreme and widespread nature of the heat wave, which forces seething households to turn up energy-consuming air conditioning systems.

“We will see more thunderstorms across the region,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist for the agency’s Bay Area unit. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more forest fires, but it all depends on where lightning strikes.”

This video was captured by CHP Golden Gate Air Operations at 6:36 a.m. near Lake Hennessey and St. Helena. A spokesman said emergency calls reporting a fire came almost 10 minutes after that video was recorded. Courtesy of Golden Gate CHP. Video: San Francisco Chronicle

Governor Gavin Newsom said Monday that tormenting temperatures across California have put “tremendous pressure” on firefighters as the state fights at least 15 fires.

However, the governor said firefighters are confident they can tackle smaller fires quickly, while containing some larger fires, such as the River Fire near Monterey, could take longer.

Napa County officials ordered evacuations Monday due to the LNU Lightning Complex fires – a series of more than 60 lightning-induced fires that began Monday. Most were less than an acre in size, but two were large and not contained: the Hennessey and Gamble Fires. In total, the complex had burned more than 3,100 hectares by Monday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Hennessey Fire burned 2,500 acres in hilly terrain about 25 miles northeast of Santa Rosa. The Gamble Fire burned about 600 acres north of Lake Berryessa.

Evacuation orders were also for the Marsh Fire in Alameda County, which burned 1,775 acres by Monday night, and the Deer Zone Fires in eastern Contra Costa County near Brentwood, which burned more than 1,160 acres on Monday evening.

Smoke rises from the #MarshFire burning in the area of ​​the Calaveras and Welch Creek streets in #Sunol. The fire burned 1,775 acres and is 0% contained @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/qfCAN8NNuP

– Jessica Christian (@jachristian) August 17, 2020

In the Marsh Fire, a combination of four bursts of vegetation that began Sunday, residents of about 10 houses on Welch Creek Road near Sunol, about 10 miles south of Pleasanton, were ordered to vacate their homes. No injuries were reported.

Mike Cerny, 74, has lived in one of these 10 houses with his wife for 40 years. On Sunday evening, Cerny watched fire engines park in the driveways of his home and those of his neighbors. Before they were forced to evacuate on Monday afternoon, Cerny said he could see the flames of at least two fires from all the windows of the house.

They grabbed their photos and other irreplaceable valuables and left behind the house Cerny had built, including his wife’s antique Barbie doll collection.

“We could see the flames over the ridge, the smoke,” he said from a parking lot by Jack in the Box, eating his first meal of the day, a Sourdough Jack sandwich, and his first coffee in 24 hours. “I don’t think we were hit as far as what could happen.”

The Deer Zone Fires also broke out Sunday night, and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Deputies evacuated residents along the streets of Marsh Creek and Morgan Territory, southeast of Brentwood and north of Livermore.

The Red Cross placed evacuees from Deer Zone Fires in nearby hotel rooms on Monday, according to a supervisor for Brentwood’s Parks and Recreation Department.

The fire damage along Marsh Creek Road in Alameda County.Sarah Ravani / The Chronicle

Over 20 years and numerous fires, Clint C., 49, and Kirsten C., 45, a couple who live in a RV park on Marsh Creek Road, said they were evacuated only four times, including Sunday night. About a dozen fire engines were on the road while the police drove up and down with sirens, honked their horns and ordered residents to flee.

“You get scared and you get excited,” said Clint. “It was stressful.”

“We were scared this time,” said Kirsten. “We thought something was going to get to our house. This fire is not funny. “

They packed up their two cats and their dog and drove to Clint’s mother-in-law’s house in San Ramon, where they spent the night.

“It was a nightmare to get the pets out,” said Clint.

Much further south, in Monterey County, the fast-growing River Fire east of Salinas hit 2,800 acres on Monday, according to Cal Fire. Five houses were destroyed, 1,500 other buildings threatened and four firefighters suffered heat-related injuries while fighting the fire.