Save the Clay

Save the Clay

Help preserve our neighborhood.

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The owner has applied for a Change in Use to allow him to lease the Clay Theater to general retail use. On Fillmore, this means another fashion boutique. If this is allowed, the Clay will never be a movie theater again.

Neighborhood Theaters are viable. The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation has spearheaded the preservation of the Vogue, 4-Star, Presidio, Marina, Balboa and Opera Plaza theaters. The Landlord will never negotiate with a new buyer until the Planning Commission says "No Conversion."

Letter to Planning Commissioners

• The Clay Theater is an irreplaceable cultural and entertainment asset and helps to make San Francisco a diverse, lively and fun place to live.

• Cinema is the most popular artform of our time. Neighborhood theaters are viable. The Vogue, 4-Star, Presidio, Balboa, and Marina are proof that neighborhood theaters can be successful.

• The owner of the Clay Theater purchased the Clay and the “Alice & Olivia” buildings in a single transaction in 2008 because they occupy the same lot and the seller required that they be sold together. The current owner has said that he never intended to buy a theater.

• When the owner purchased the Clay Theater, he knew it was subject to use restrictions from an ordinance passed in 2004 to protect historic neighborhood cinemas.

• Even though the Clay Theater has not been a big money-maker, a fact the owner knew when he purchased the building in 2008, his investment has still been profitable because the “Alice & Olivia” building has done reasonably well.

• Now the owner is claiming financial hardship because, he says, he could make significantly more money if he could rent the Clay Theater space to a retail tenant. Helping investors to make windfall profits should not be the goal of the Planning Commission.

• In January 2020, the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation offered the owner $3.5 million for the theater, several times what it was worth and twice what the owner originally paid, but the owner turned down the offer. He then demolished the seating and boarded up the building. The Clay Theater has been boarded up for 4 years.

• Tell the Planning Commission to reject the owner’s Conditional Use Application seeking a “change in use.” We need your help to make our case for community support for the Clay.