Balboa 100th Anniversary Celebration (4/13 - 4/19)

Balboa Theater celebrates 100 Years with weeklong film series spotlighting the work of the famed costume designer Aggie Rodgers

The Balboa Theater, the historic neighborhood cinema on Balboa Street between 37th and 38th Avenues in San Francisco’s Richmond District, will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a week of special screenings and events April 13–19, 2026.

The centennial program highlights the work of Oscar-nominated costume designer Aggie Rodgers, whose credits include “American Graffiti,” “The Conversation,” “Return of the Jedi” and “Fruitvale Station.” The celebration will also feature the unveiling of a new mural by California artists Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet titled “A Century of Filmmaking in San Francisco.”

Opened in 1926, the Balboa is one of San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating movie theaters. Theater operator Samuel Levin commissioned architects James and Merritt Reid to design the “New Balboa” in a Spanish Mission / Alhambra style that blended into the surrounding neighborhood.

Across the past century, the Balboa has adapted to every era of cinema—from silent films to sound, black-and-white to Technicolor, and mono to Dolby surround sound—while remaining a beloved cultural anchor in the Richmond District.

In 2025, the theater began transitioning to nonprofit ownership under CinemaSFBay, which also operates the Vogue and 4-Star theaters. Today the Balboa presents more than 500 films annually across its two screens.

"As a native San Franciscan and filmmaker, who went to The Balboa growing up and now date nights with my wife, I’m so happy to help CinemaSFBay keep this historical theater vibrant for the next generations of moviegoers,” said Robert Mailer Anderson, CinemaSFBay’s new board president.

“The Balboa Theater is a perfect example of how a neighborhood and a business can become synonymous with one another. It is truly a community space,” said Adam Bergeron, who co-directs the theater activities with his wife and partner Jaimi Holker.

Each anniversary screening will feature special guests and surprises. The celebration culminates on Saturday, April 18, with a fundraising event including the unveiling of the Birk/Pignolet mural and the presentation of the first annual Balboa Award to Aggie Rodgers. The week concludes with free community programming on Sunday, April 19.