The Marquee Project is a personal, documentary photo project capturing three-dimensional signs in and around San Francisco.
I had thought they would ALWAYS be there. San Francisco’s vintage movie theater signs in custom shapes, vivid colors, and bright neon had been part of the texture of the city throughout my life… Until the boom-bust cycles of the city, and the costs of maintaining older buildings in an active seismic zone, changed how decisions are made.
I’ll start posts about this series on a positive note, with the Avenue: a movie theater in San Francisco’s Portola District in the southeast. It came to my attention because it’s marquee was abruptly restored: I passed it on a bus and was stunned to really NOTICE it.
The building has been repainted in cream, ochre, and brown; the marquee itself is a deep, dark green. “The Ave” has been written out on the front panel for those standing close to the center.
The letters are in an attractive font, and the protective frames around the neon are pleasantly shape, with perfect curves and sharp corners.
This is one of the taller buildings on San Bruno Avenue’s commercial district (just south of where it is crossed by Silver), and feels like a landmark. It recently served as a church, but now appears disused. I’m hoping that a new tenant will bring some life back to it, and increase its chances of serving as a landmark for years to come.
This is one of my earliest sets of test photos for the series, and I used CineStill 400D film, believing that the yellow-gold tones of CineStill would flatter it. While I’m satisfied with the tones, most of the rest of the series is in Kodak Portra, so I may need to pay the theater another visit to get a consistent look.
This sign is visually satisfying, and I’m thrilled someone showed it so much love.