Tamalpais Theater

Tamalpais Theater

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What movies do you remember seeing at the Tamalpais Theater in San Anselmo?  Any favorite memories from going there?  Please discuss in the FORUM or in the Facebook Group!

154 thoughts on “Tamalpais Theater”

  1. steven_preader

    In the mid sixties, I was six yrs. old, and lived on Tunstead. Every Saturday, my mother would give me .40 cents for the matinee. I would walk to Home market for penny candies, and proceed to the theater. There, I would pay my quarter admission for a cartoon, travelogue, and double feature. I saw literally hundreds of movies at the Tam.

  19. William Thall

    Does anyone remember one titled “The Incredible Shrinking Man” ? In it he had shrank so small the house cat thought he was a mouse and was reaching into a doll house where he took cover and then this Big old Hairy Spider shows up and he ends up harpooning it with a Saftey Pin that he had straightened out and killed it.I’ve been afraid of spiders ever since !!!

  21. Rob Lee

    Many Saturday matinees there. The couch against the wall is missing and the Belfast Sparkling Water clock in the theatre that we would glance at to make sure we weren’t late! I saw Rodan and Godzilla there and also CinderFella with Jerry Lewis!

  24. Kelly Wheeler

    if you saw “blazing saddles” on the first night it was shown…I and my friends streaked it…bob alderson, jay cleland, robert cox, john langhoff…nine guys and two girls (they wore bra and panties)…we went up on the stage and did an impromptu can-can…it was hilarious. ..

    • lemo

      Going to the Tam was a big deal, sometimes the folks would take us and drop us off, sometimes we took the bus from Kentfield. The old train and Greyhound Depot was mysterious, realized in later years it was a dump, as were all the buses, too. I remember seeing Dr. No there, countless and nameless other films, and, when home on leave, Yellow Submarine. oh mannnnnn.

  43. Tad Alvord

    Sure do. A summer night there on a double date. We had all been drinking. A San Anselmo cop asks my buddies date what was up. Without a word…..URP, SLOP, she puked all over him. A fun night goes BAD.Off to to police station, irate fathers picking the girls up. We couldn’t see the girls for a month. But the cop, long retired is still my buddy.Now a funny memory, but not that night.

  47. Deb Heaphy

    Here’s a good trivia bit. Back in the late 50’s/early 60’s, Congregation Rodef Sholom now located near the JCC, had no religious school facilities, so they rented space above the Tamalpais theater for their classrooms. At that time religious services were held in a space belonging to the Marin Military Academy (possibly called Marin Academy now) I remember my parents schlepping me to religious school in San Anselmo.

  49. James Claxton

    I am not sure what movie it was, I think it was Blazzing Saddles, but it was during the time of streaking. In the middle of the movie, the whole place started to rumble and all of a sudden the doors burst open and streakers came running down from both aisles and all the way to the screen, and stage danced around for a few minutes and left.

  53. Bonnie Orendorff

    ‘Carrie’, ‘The Blob’, The Tingler, Journey to the Center of the Earth:most favorite. Thirteen Ghosts (given 3D glasses to see them!), Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven; The story of Ruth; Pollyanna (& any movie-Haley Mills fluffy stuff), Any Disney movie. Ten Commandments ..um might have been at the Fairfax. 25c to get in. Imagine that!! Fun times! Throwing Jujubes.

  55. Douglas Sederberg

    The old Tamalpais had its candy counter straight back against the wall of the auditorium, not at the side. I remember the Saturday contests as well. They got about 6 volunteer kids on stage and gave a free ticket to the one who could eat a bag of popcorn fastest. They also called out a number and if that matched the last one on your ticket you got free popcorn, which I remember as a dime, 20 cents for buttered. I remember liking to sit in the wide aisle about halfway down so I could stick my legs out. Spent many an hour in there.

  60. Janet Morrison Minto

    Greg Colson – I grew up in Kentfield in the 50’s — I stayed until about 1966, then moved to NYC and upstate NY until 1971 when we moved back to Fairfax from Woodstock, NY. I stayed in Marin for 12 more years before moving to L.A. where I am today. 🙂

  68. Janice Richey

    Oh, wait, speaking of second base, our class from 3R saw Romeo and Juliet there!!!! OMIGOD! As a seventh grader (I think) I LOVED it. Later I was scandalized… later I loved it again!!!! Leonard Whiting was the cutest thing ever…

  73. Bob Davis

    2001 Space Odyssey, Beatles movies. I had free passes for crossing guard duty at Wade Thomas, remember going to Journey to the Center of the Earth , sat through it twice, lost track of time , hustled up Oak Ave fast in the dark and got in trouble for being late . But in my young eyes that movie was incredible.

  78. Lisa Aronson

    I remember that my horse would escape fairly regularly and walk all the way over the hills from Sleep Hollow to end up at the Tam theater! No idea why he chose to stop there, but I had to go pick him up several times. The employees thought it was hysterical.

  86. Nancy Smith

    I worked at Tam Theater 1973-75 selling popcorn & tickets. Chuck Vagera (owned the Fairfax 5 & dime store), he was the Manager at the time. I worked w/Cindy Urquhart…. Blazing Saddles was the big hit movie. We also played the” Neil Young movies” at the midnight shows….. I had to be the usher that told customer to please put out their pot. Anyone remember the haunted room above the stage?? Thanks Jason for the memory lane stroll!

  102. Bryan Carroll

    Planet of the Apes. Tora! Tora! Tora!. A comedy with John Astin called ‘Viva Max!’ I thought it was a huge kick when I was a kid. Watched it again on Youtube in the last few years, and wondered what I saw in it- LOL. Never went to the theater in any season other than the summer.

  113. Sherry Giannini

    OMG..I loved going there and sneaking up to the balcony..which I always remember being closed? There was such a huge space between the screen and first row that my girlfriends and I would do cartwheels and dance around before, during or after movies…if nobody else was in the theater of course…Then going shopping at Macy’s.

  118. Kristi Hein

    I just added The Moonspinners to our Netflix queue, and it popped up Toby Tyler. I specifically remember that one, because the only seats left were in the front row, and the movie opened with a carousel spinning by. Instant dizziness. Never sat in the front row (or any rows that close) ever again.

  124. Mary L Black

    I was at the theater with my family to see Gone With The Wind when the Navy Depot at Port Chicago in Contra Costa County blew up. The building shook, the exit doors swung in and out, and we thought it had been bombed. Everyone left the building, but I don’t recall panic. This would have been mid 40’s. I don’t recall the date exactly. I spent many Saturday mornings there. Always a couple of cartoons, a serial (Don Winslow of the Navy was my favorite), the feature film, a newsreel, and games and prizes at intermission. Oh, and I got my first kiss there!!

  135. Michael Farey

    I didn’t get there until 61 but boy did I raise hell in that place. Saw some 007 films Born Free, Hatari, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, A Hard Day’s Night, Jerry Lewis flicks, Elvis, White Christmas, so many others. One year, they had a Halloween costume contest, it was 63 or 64. I won first prize which was a large piece of playground equipment, which spun and made my little siblings sick.

  138. Kristi Hein

    Oh, so many Saturday matinees. Kids throwing Root Beer Barrels and Jujubes. There was a host who came out in front of the curtain and did raffles or prizes or something. This is 1950s. I recall seeing “The Red Balloon,” and “The Brave One,” and always a cartoon beforehand.

  140. Kristi Hein

    Oh, so many Saturday matinees. Kids throwing Root Beer Barrels and Jujubes. There was a host who came out in front of the curtain and did raffles or prizes or something. This is 1950s. I recall seeing “The Red Balloon,” and “The Brave One,” and always a cartoon beforehand.

  141. Chris Jannes

    I miss that theater. I remember the back 1/3 of the theater had larger reclining chairs. I also remember the mirror behind the snack bar. I was told when I was a kid that that mirror was installed when by the Disney company when Snow White premiered in the theater. I hope it got saved!

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