I walk by this every day and can see it getting closer. The marquee, however, seems to be making faster progress than the inside.
Inside, there is still a ways to go. But it will be very cool to have a theater in the neighborhood again. If you want to read more on the New Mission theater’s history, check out Dan Hirsch’s piece.
Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019 when I retired. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still there.
As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.
Right now I'm trying to figure out how you make that long-held interest in local news sustainable. The answer continues to elude me.
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If you ever saw the interior of the theater before the work began you’d know why it’s taking a while!
I wandered in one cold, rainy January day about four years back when it was a cheap furniture store.
No one cared where I was so I took advantage and really explored. What a mess! The rain was actually coming down inside the building. It was mildewy and moldy, and termites had eaten their fill over the years.
It was so surreal because the gaudiness of the theater still showed through despite the disgusting condition and the cheap furniture!