Chabot Theater

Staff at the Chabot Theater describe a man's laughter carrying through the empty building and shadows moving up and down the aisles late at night. The Chabot opened on 26 April 1950 with a double bill and seated 750 across orchestra and balcony, its entrance walls painted with scenes of the Bay Area. James Toler Sr., a former president of the Chamber of Commerce, owned and ran it until his death in 1976, when it passed to his son Gerald, who kept it going into the mid-1990s; Paul Gunsky of the CineLux chain then managed it for close to twenty-five years. It still operates as a cinema and event venue.