It is host to the City Arts & Lectures series as well as podcast tapings and conversations with notable writers and cultural figures.

Built in 1926 in the Spanish Revival style[1] as a part of the High School of Commerce, it was used as an auditorium for student events and assemblies until it was closed in 1952.

[2] The theater was used intermittently for pageants and live music concerts until 1985 when the auditorium was temporarily converted to a courtroom for a large asbestos exposure case.

It was one of the first “wired” courtrooms with computers linked to a mainframe in Texas used to share documents.

[3] After the end of the trial, it was no longer used as a public venue, serving only as a storage facility for the San Francisco Unified School District for nearly 30 years.