South San Francisco Opera House



In 1888 the Masons completed work on a new Masonic Temple with the South San Francisco Opera House as a part of it. The South San Francisco Opera House, later to become known as the Bayview Opera House, stood adjacent to the Masonic Temple, and was constructed as an amusement center. The 300 seat theatre/auditorium represents the city's first and oldest opera house. Although there were no operas held here, there were a number of dramas and vaudeville acts by well-known actors and actresses in its early history. The most famous of them was David Belasco, who later became famous in New York's theatrical world. There was Pawnee Bill's Medicine Show and several old time minstrels. It fell in to a long period of decline in the 20th Century, until it was saved from demolition in 1968, due in large part to the actions of Ruth Williams, whose name the house now memorializes. Hunters Point.