The historic Castro Theatre was spared during a weekend fire at a bank next door in San Francisco's LGBTQ neighborhood.
The San Francisco Fire Department contained a fire Saturday, August 10, at the US Bank branch at 443 Castro Street, a spokesperson told the Bay Area Reporter.
"This fire is now contained as of 1633 hours [4:33 p.m.] with no extension to any additional buildings," SFFD Lieutenant Jonathan Baxter stated in an August 10 email. "This is next-door to the historic Castro theater. The Castro theater is safe and NOT damaged and was NOT affected."
Baxter continued that there were no reported injuries; as of August 12 the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
As a cloud of smoke wafted above the Castro's Victorians, rumors swirled in the neighborhood that afternoon that it was the historic movie house that was on fire. The Castro Theatre is in the midst of a renovation and restoration project spearheaded by Another Planet Entertainment, which took over management of the space in early 2022.
David Perry, a gay man who is a spokesperson for APE, is thankful the theater was unharmed.
"We want to thank our wonderful San Francisco Fire Department for their efforts," he stated August 10. "Luckily, there was no damage to the Castro Theatre following a fire in a building next door today. We have had our restoration team do an assessment. They will do final analysis tomorrow. We ran negative air pressure for several hours to mitigate any smoke odor."
Bob Bragman posted to Facebook that he was sitting at the Castro Coffee Company with friends when "a woman came running out of the nail salon nearby, saying the Castro Theatre is on fire."
"We could see smoke," he stated. "I walked over to a gate between the theater and the salon and could see big flames. Several people were on their phones calling 911. Within a few minutes I could hear sirens."
The bank "sustained significant damage," he reported.
US Bank did not return a request for comment August 12 as to whether it has ascertained the cause of the fire, how long it will be closed for, and where its customers should seek banking services. The nearest branch to the now-damaged Castro Street location is at 2001 Mission Street.
The blaze was a one-alarm fire, which means it was the most basic response to a fire alarm.
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