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Alcazar Theatre (1885)

former theater (1885-1906) in San Francisco, California, United States

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ4712984 ↗
Source-derived summary

See also Alcazar Theatre (1911) and Alcazar Theatre (1976) for two other SF theaters of the same name.

The Alcazar Theatre was a theatre at 116 O'Farrell Street, between Stockton and Powell, in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1885, the structure served as a lecture and music hall, but soon housed a popular resident stock company, which included Lillian Lawrence and John Craig in 1904; Maude Adams, Harry von Meter (before 1908); John Ince (in 1910); Howard Hickman (in 1910), Grace Travers (in 1910), and Evelyn Vaughan (in 1910). It was under the management of the younger brother of David Belasco, and Fred Belasco (1862–1920).

The Alcazar Theatre was destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1911, another Alcazar Theatre opened one block to the west.

References

Bibliography

Wilmeth, Don B (2007). The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alcazar Theatre (1885)” as former theater (1885-1906) in San Francisco, California, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alcazar, Theatre and former.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1911, 1976, 1885, 1904—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1885-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alcazar, Theatre and former providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alcazar Theatre (1885)”, the useful work is to connect “former theater (1885-1906) in San Francisco, California, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4712984. Authority coordinates are 37.786, -122.407. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911, 1976, 1885 and 1904.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alcazar Theatre (1885)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alcazar Theatre (1885) primary sources, Alcazar Theatre (1885) archive and Alcazar research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alcazar Theatre (1885)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Alcazar Theatre (1885)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.