Japantown's AMC Kabuki Theater Closed In the Middle of Screenings Tuesday

[Harold Hallikainen]

https://sfist.com/2022/04/13/japanto...abuki-theater/

Japantown's AMC Kabuki Theater Closed In the Middle of Screenings Tuesday Due to Electrical Problem

If you were planning to go see The Lost City at the Kabuki Theater this week, you may want to seek out showtimes elsewhere. The theater is closed "until further notice."

The AMC Kabuki 8, the cinema that has gone through a couple changes of ownership and brand names in the last couple decades, suddenly closed in the middle of operating hours Tuesday. The reason, as the Chronicle reports, was the failure of a generator that powers the theater's emergency lights, which come on in case of a power outage.

A sign posted outside the theater now says it is "closed until further notice."

A company rep, who for some reason had to speak anonymously to the Chronicle, says, "It’s just one of those things where you know the odds that the actual lights would go out are slim to none, but when you don’t have the emergency lighting available, you don’t want to take that chance."

So, out of an abundance of caution, the theater is closed while the generator is either fixed, replaced, or another solution is found.

Two years ago, the AMC Kabuki had a spate of trouble with fire alarms going off during screenings, and people getting evacuated and handed movie vouchers to come back another time. The reason, the company said at the time, was likely people vaping in the theater and setting off a very sensitive smoke detection system.

It's not clear whether Tuesday's issue with the emergency lights interrupted anyone's movie-watching. The Chronicle only reported that the theater closed "abruptly" in the middle of the day or evening.

Sidebar: There's some notable history with this theater, which before being converted to a movie house in the 1980s was an actual, traditional kabuki theater showing Japanese dramatic productions, and then was used as a music venue. When they were on their Murmur Tour in 1983, REM performed there, and there's a sweaty photo below from backstage.

Update: An SFist commenter who was at the theater Tuesday says, "It absolutely happened mid-movie to ALL screens with hundreds in the audience. We were an hour and ten minutes into 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' when the screen went dark. I don't trust their explanation. When I stepped out thinking 'well, I might as well pee now,' a staff member told me there was a mechanical failure that shut down ALL the screens in every theater. All the other electrics were woking. I don't imagine a failure of a backup generator would stop all the projectors."

[Marcel Birgelen]

Why would you need an emergency power generator to be able to operate a theater in the center of San Francisco? With this whole pandemic thing, it's been a while I've been there, but has the Bay Area now officially joined the third world?

[Randy Stankey]

Sounds like a lot of bullshit, doesn't it?

I don't know of any movie theater, anywhere, that ever needed to have an emergency generator. Unless there are critical systems like elevators, I can't imagine why one would be needed. I can't remember ever being in a theater that had an elevator that would be used by the public. Freight elevator, yes. Public elevator, no. Even if there was an elevator, it's no cause to shut down the whole place. Just shut the elevator down. That's what the "Fireman's Key" on the control panel is for.

I have worked in places where generators were used to keep elevators working in an emergency. The responsibility to make sure that they came on when needed would have fallen to me and my coworkers if necessary. If the electricity goes out, the transfer panel will turn the generator on. If it doesn't work within such-and-such time, press the reset button. If that doesn't work, call the electricians. If there are people stuck inside an elevator, call Otis Elevator or the fire department, in that order. Still, there's battery powered emergency lighting for everywhere else beside the elevators.

Somebody vaping sets off a fire alarm? Yes, it can happen. I have seen it happen. Again, from my own working experience, fire alarms don't work that way.
If somebody was in a closed area and blew out a cloud of vapor near a detector, it certainly can set off a detector but a person sitting in a theater or walking down a hallway likely would not set off an alarm. Not even a 2% per foot sensitivity, optical detector. I was trained in operating fire alarms.

Long story...I know... but point is that, from my experience, if the lack of an emergency generator doesn't shut down a high-rise hotel, why would it shut down a theater? A malfunctioning fire alarm would have made it so that people would not even be allowed to enter the building in the first place. I smell bullshit.

Why do people think that they can spout so much that is obviously bullshit and have people believe them?
Why not simply say "technical difficulties" or "public safety" issues and leave it at that? Or, even just "closed for repairs."

This is San Francisco... More likely that some code enforcement officer came to the theater and shut the place down.

Why else would a "company representative" have to speak on condition of anonymity?

[Marcel Birgelen]

The only times I've seen elevators in cinemas for the public is to be able to transport disabled people to a certain floor. For normal traffic flow, you'd use escalators, simply because of capacity issues with elevators.

Around here, you're allowed to operate elevators even without backup generators, as long as there is a mechanical way to get them to the ground floor safely.

Regarding emergency lightning: All emergency lightning here is required to continue to operate for at least one hour with no power input and I'm pretty sure the code in San Francisco will have similar requirements. So, usually that means it's battery backed. Some "glow-in-the-dark" solutions also seem to conform to specifications.

[Stefan Scholz]

I had supported theatres that had mandatory alternators for backup of critical systems in case of power loss. Elevators are one thing, but normally there has to be an elevator ward, that could free people by cranking the cabin to the next opening. Within reach during operation times, andin a public building, that's not the phone line to Otis or Schindlers elevator service.
In these projects, the Diesel was mandatory to keep the emergency ventilation during a fire alive. There could be critical functions like de-smoking ventilation, fire brigade elevators, etc., which are checked by government officials occasionally. And if you don't have service and maintenance records on hand, these people have the authority to immediately shut the operation down, and evacuate the building.
I assume that happened.

[Sam Chavez]

I know this place well. Started out as AMC in 1984, then Sundance, then Carmike of all things. Surprised they didn't have outhouses.
Then back to AMC. They have twin escalators that break all the time and a tiny elevator. Other than that I not be knowing.

[Jim Cassedy]

The AMC/Sundancde/Carmike Kabui building has its' own diesel generator back-up power
system, which supplies emergency lighting and some other power to both the theater and
several attached businesses in the same building. It's a huge power plant located, surprisingly
(to me anyway) on one of the top floors of the building. >>> ACTUAL PHOTOS BELOW! <<

This big friggin' generator is at least the size of a Volkswagen bus! There's a main
fuel tank located at ground level, from which fuel is pumped up into the smaller tank
which is surrounded by a 'spill/leak enclosure' on the right side in this photo.
Gen-1.jpg

Here's another side view. I know from a test/maintenance log book I saw
hanging nearby, that they fired this thing up several times a year for testing.
Gen2.jpg

It looked like most of the circuits which could be powered by the generator 'looped' through
power panels in an adjoining room, where switching between utility & emergency power
sources was handled by a combination of mechinacal & solid state relay switches.
PowerPanel.jpg


The house-lights in each auditorium were connected to a relay, which would
basically bypass the dimmer(s) and connect the house lights directly to the
emergency generator system, should The City power fail.
RelayBox.jpg

I believe the EXIT signs were the usual battery-back up type. I also recall seeing some of the typical
small 2-headed battery powered emergency lighting boxes located in some of the interior hallways
that were only acessed by employees, and I also think there were some in the emergency exit fire
stariways, as sort of a 'back-up' /extra safety precaution to the generator powered lights there.

The Kabuki's semi-central location in SF makes the roof of the building a popular spot for the
cell phone carriers to plant their huts and rooftop antenna farms. There's a wholebuncha them
up there. There is a 2nd generator to supply back up power to the cell sites, as well as an
auxiliary portable generator connection on the property. (but not owned/operated by AMC)

The big theater I'm currently assigned to also does not have any of those usual small wall mounted
battery powered emergency lights. Instead there are several huge racks of sealed batteries back
behind the main stage. The batteries directly power some DC emergency lights mounted throughout
the building, and some of the battery juice goes to a big inverter, which I think powers some of the
lights and other equipment f that couldn't be hooked into the DC system.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The AMC/Sundancde/Carmike Kabui building has its' own diesel generator back-up power
system, which supplies emergency lighting and some other power to both the theater and
several attached businesses in the same building. It's a huge power plant located, surprisingly
(to me anyway) on one of the top floors of the building. >>> ACTUAL PHOTOS BELOW! <<

This big friggin' generator is at least the size of a Volkswagen bus! There's a main
fuel tank located at ground level, from which fuel is pumped up into the smaller tank
which is surrounded by a 'spill/leak enclosure' on the right side in this photo.
Gen-1.jpg

Here's another side view. I know from a test/maintenance log book I saw
hanging nearby, that they fired this thing up several times a year for testing.
Gen2.jpg

It looked like most of the circuits which could be powered by the generator 'looped' through
power panels in an adjoining room, where switching between utility & emergency power
sources was handled by a combination of mechinacal & solid state relay switches.
PowerPanel.jpg


The house-lights in each auditorium were connected to a relay, which would
basically bypass the dimmer(s) and connect the house lights directly to the
emergency generator system, should The City power fail.
RelayBox.jpg

I believe the EXIT signs were the usual battery-back up type. I also recall seeing some of the typical
small 2-headed battery powered emergency lighting boxes located in some of the interior hallways
that were only acessed by employees, and I also think there were some in the emergency exit fire
stariways, as sort of a 'back-up' /extra safety precaution to the generator powered lights there.

The Kabuki's semi-central location in SF makes the roof of the building a popular spot for the
cell phone carriers to plant their huts and rooftop antenna farms. There's a wholebuncha them
up there. There is a 2nd generator to supply back up power to the cell sites, as well as an
auxiliary portable generator connection on the property. (but not owned/operated by AMC)

The big theater I'm currently assigned to also does not have any of those usual small wall mounted
battery powered emergency lights. Instead there are several huge racks of sealed batteries back
behind the main stage. The batteries directly power some DC emergency lights mounted throughout
the building, and some of the battery juice goes to a big inverter, which I think powers some of the
lights and other equipment f that couldn't be hooked into the DC system.

That back up gear is similar to what's up on Farnsworth Peak to keep 12 TV stations on the air. This UPS and Gen set is 1.25 mega watts. The UPS is mainly so they have a few minutes to warm up the generator before they transfer the full load over to it. I think the UPS gave them 10 to 12 minutes of run time.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

This is start up of the generator. Ear covering required!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Getting back to AMC, from what I've seen of them around here... They are the new Carmike!

[Marcel Birgelen]

Why, in the age of cheap, battery backed emergency LED lightning would you want a huge, centralized system for your emergency lightning?

[Sam Chavez]

That generator may precede the cinema as it was a live venue with adjoining businesses and a car park in the same building. And those pesky escalators as the various screens are on 3 different levels.

[Randy Stankey]

The generator in Jim's pictures is similar to the one in the hotel where I worked. The only difference that I can tell from memory is that ours was Ford Blue.

Memory fades but, as I remember, we had to fire it up at least once every ninety days. I don't know if that was code or whether it was company policy. I remember because, on one occasion, I was told to go down to the generator room and start it up so that it could warm up before the building Electrical Engineer came down to take readings and fill out log sheets. On another occasion, there was a power failure and I was told to go down to check to be sure it was running. Basically, all I had to do was check to be sure that the gauges were all in the "good" zone and that there were three green lights on the transfer panel.

There were three sets of elevators. One from the lobby to the mezzanine levels. One that went to the guest floors. One for employees and housekeepers.
The lobby/mezzanine elevators were hydraulic. If there was a problem there, the building Engineer could open a relief valve to bring the cars to the ground then there was a mechanical release that could open the doors once they were down. The other elevators were cable hoist. They were over ten stories tall. If there was a problem on those, we could go up to the penthouse and reset them but, if that didn't work we had to call Otis. If there was a real emergency, we called the fire department.

Fun Fact: Many of you might already know... I was puzzled as to why elevator cables have to be greased. The reason wasn't intuitive, to me.
But... as the wire ropes go around the sheaves and drums, the braids of wires that make them up flex and rub together. If they aren't lubricated, they'll wear prematurely and break. The Engineer showed me the lubricator when I was getting trained. Basically, that meant to check the indicator lights on the control panel and press the reset button. If the lights don't turn green after the reset cycle completes, it's time to call a repair man.

The point I'm talking about is that I understand how things like generators, elevators and fire alarms can be very complex, even if it's just from a security guard's perspective where he only needs to know the basics. Since I have also worked in theaters, I understand how proverbially dumb most employees are. There's likely to be a big gap between what people might need to know about emergency systems and what they actually know. Being the devil's advocate for the theater, I can see how things can go wrong.

However, knowing what I know and reading between the lines, there seems to be a lot of BS being shoveled around. I can really only come to the conclusion that the City shut them down for some reason. It's my guess that some inspector found a violation and issued a warning which wasn't corrected. I'm betting that, on subsequent reinspection, the inspector got fed up and shut the place down.

Given that the place has changed hands, as Sam mentions, from AMC to Sundance, Carmike then back to AMC, and knowing the reputations of some of those companies, I can certainly imagine how something like this can happen.

Here's the thing that really concerns me. Whether I'm right or wrong. Whether I missed some piece of information or if I mixed up some facts, why do people feel the need to throw around so much bullshit? That kind of crap throws up red flags with me. It makes me think twice about patronizing such a company.

Why, in times like these, when the movie theater industry as a whole is having such difficulty even keeping their doors open do people see the need to cut their own throats? They could even be cutting the throats of other theaters. You know how the public thinks. People don't usually make distinctions between companies. One big mega-corporation is just the same as all the others in most people's eyes. If one mega-corp is full of lying weasels, it's easy to see where people would think that they all are. That just makes people stay away from movie theaters even more than they already have been.

[Leo Enticknap]

I don't know why, but all the theaters (cinemas) I worked at in the UK had battery bank systems for the primary maintained lights, but many of those I've worked at and/or serviced in the USA have generators. I can only presume that local government regulation was the reason for this.

At the British cinemas, testing the PMLs was something that typically took place on a Friday morning while getting the new week's films ready. I had to run the emergency lights on the battery for 90 minutes, per the regulations, and then the battery system had to be fully charged again before we could open to the public (took around three hours). To allow time for that, we started the test at 7am. I had to sign a book to certify that the lights remained on for 90 minutes, and that the battery system indicated a full charge before we opened to the public.

There was no requirement for generator testing at the Egyptian during my time there (at least, not that I was aware of: if it was done, it was not done by the projection staff or when we were in the building, and testing and maintaining it was not within our job descriptions). I experienced one power outage in the middle of a show during my time there (2014 to '17): the generator didn't work, the whole place went black, and we had to escort customers out using flashlights. Thankfully, it was a sparsely attended show, with only around 50 customers in the main house and no show in the little house. I remember thinking at the time that a battery-based system would have been preferable.

[Rusty Gordon]

Getting back to AMC, from what I've seen of them around here... They are the new Carmike!

Passed by the dilapidated former Carmike, Now AMC Hickory 8, complete with half-burnt-out AMC signage yesterday and the now defunct Belle Forge 10 which is now an Islamic Center of Tennessee LOL.