Friday, February 6 The Castro Theatre 429 Castro Street at Market
5:40pm: “San Francisco Open Your Golden Gate” sung by Beach Blanket Babylon alum Ruby Day 5:44 District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelmann — 3 min 5:47 CA State Supervisor Scott Wiener — 3 mins 5:50 San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie — 3 mins 5:53 APE CEO/Founder Gregg W. Perloff — 3 mins 5:56 Ribbon cutting 6pm: LGBT Marching Band performs
Ruby Day
Ruby Day
Ruby has performed as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, and was a back-up dancer for Belle and Sebastian at Radio City Music Hall. Commercial and voice-over work: Apple, Uber, Logitech, Zoom, and Hers.com, among many other companies.
Ruby is dedicated to her work as a private vocal coach, and teaching artist for SFArtsEd, Pacific Singers & Actors Workshop, and A.C.T. Check out her band: Ruby Day & The Knights @_therubyday_
The Two Faces of the Castro Stage: Castro’s Guardians of Emotion Since 1922
If you’ve ever looked closely at the stage of San Francisco’s landmark Castro Theatre, you may have noticed two striking painted roundels flanking the proscenium—quiet, luminous figures who seem to watch over every performance. Installed when the Castro opened in 1922, these images are far more than decorative flourishes. They are allegories—visual poetry expressing the very purpose of theatre.
Together, they represent the emotional duality at the heart of live performance.
Two figures, one idea:
At first glance, the paintings appear similar: idealized female figures framed within circular medallions, rendered in warm tones with flowing hair and classical serenity. Look again, though, and their differences emerge.
One figure gazes outward, eyes open, head turned slightly to the side. She appears alert, receptive, ready. The other bows her head gently, eyes closed, absorbed in thought or feeling. One is outward-facing; the other is inward-looking.
They are best understood as complementary muses of drama—embodying the twin emotional states that theatre invites us to inhabit:
• Anticipation and engagement: the alert presence of comedy, vitality, and immediacy
• Reflection and depth: the inward gaze of tragedy, memory, and emotional resonance
Rather than literal theatrical masks, these figures portray states of mind—how performance is both offered to the world and received within the self.
A movie palace as a modern temple:
When the Castro Theatre was built, it was conceived as a movie palace: a civic monument to storytelling at a time when cinema was emerging as a transformative art form. Architects and designers of the era frequently used classical symbolism to elevate popular entertainment, borrowing visual language from Renaissance medallions, Byzantine halos, and Beaux-Arts ornamentation.
The circular frames surrounding these figures give them a near-sacred quality, suggesting that what happens on this stage is worthy of contemplation, reverence, and emotional investment. Cinema and live performance were not meant to distract—they were meant to move.
Emotion over narrative:
Notably, neither figure holds a prop. There are no masks, no instruments, no overt symbols. This was a deliberate choice, and a modern one. The emphasis is not on story or character, but on feeling. These muses don’t tell us what kind of performance we’re about to see—they remind us why we came in the first place.
Every laugh, every tear, every hush in the audience is contained between them.
Silent witnesses:
For more than a century, these figures have watched generations gather beneath them—for films, concerts, community moments, activism, celebration, and remembrance. They are the quiet constants in a space defined by change.
One looks outward, toward the stage and the world beyond.
The other looks inward, toward the heart.
Together, they remind us that theatre is a shared act: what is performed and what is felt. And that every time the lights dim at the Castro, we step—willingly—into both.
Building Builder & Owner: Bay Properties / The Nasser Family
Date theatre opened: The historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco opened at 429 Castro St. on June 22, 1922, featuring an invitation-only screening of Across the Continentwith Mayor James Rolph in attendance. Designed by architect Timothy L. Pflueger for the Nasser brothers, this Spanish Baroque-style venue opened to the public the following day.
The murals flanking the audience are “sgraffito”: a decorative technique involving scratching through a surface layer of slip, glaze, or plaster (in this instance clay) to expose a contrasting color underneath, derived from the Italian sgraffiare (“to scratch”).
Current Castro Management, Programming & Operations: Another Planet Entertainment who have an exclusive longterm lease.
Date Another Planet took over management in January 2022.
Last pre-renovation performance: “Victor / Victoria” February 4, 2024
Ribbon Cutting post renovation: February 6, 2026
First public event: “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” benefit screening for nonprofit Castro Community Benefit District February 6, 2026
First musical artist: Sam Smith, 20 performance residency February 10 – March 14, 2026
March 17, 2026 new Castro organ debuts: the largest digital theatre organ in the world, designed to the specifications of longtime Castro organist David Hegarty.
Venue capacity: 1385 / 1150 seated
Number of onsite staff: 20 – 30 depending upon event type
Fresh popcorn will be popped onsite
Two concessions will provide lite snacks (peanuts, candies, etc) and alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.
The theatre orchestra level. stage & backstage are fully ADA accessible.
Due to historic preservation requirements, the balcony level is only accessible by stairs.
Venue will host events of all types including concerts, podcasts, comedy, special events, private functions and its traditional schedule of films including Frameline, the International LGBTQ Film Festival, SF Film Festival, Berlin & Beyond, Silent Film Festival, movie sing-a-alongs, and neighborhood and LGBTQ community events.
Ahoy! Movin’ on up to opening day! Count down ‘til this Friday’s ribbon cutting with Mayor Daniel Lurie, SF Board of Supes President Rafael Mandelman, State Senator Scott Wiener for the Castro Theatre following its $ 41 million renovation, restoration and revitalization by the Bay Area’s Another Planet Entertainment!
First public event: a screening of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” benefitting the nonprofit Castro Community Benefit District! www.TheCastro.com
Happy Birthday Gertrude Stein, Rainbow Honor Walk honoree
Today on the anniversary of her birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946).
A towering figure of literary modernism, Stein was a poet, novelist, playwright, and cultural catalyst whose Paris salon helped shape 20th-century art and literature, championing voices such as Picasso, Matisse, and Hemingway. Living openly with her lifelong partner Alice B. Toklas, Stein defied convention and expanded the language of identity, desire, and selfhood—leaving an enduring imprint on both modern letters and LGBTQ+ history. www.rainbowhonorwalk.org
At the link below, read historian Bill Lipsky’s tribute in SF Bay Times.
