trying to resolve this situation. We'll keep you posted right here at NBC Bay Area We are celebrating Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander heritage. And tonight I'm going to take you backstage to a nearly 100 year old theater in the heart of San Francisco's Chinatown, in the historic Great Star Theater, located on Jackson Street, is a nonprofit. It's undergone extensive renovations and cleaning since the pandemic. New owners brought the theater back to life, and it's now helping to revive a community. From the outside of the Great Star Theater in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1st May not expect to see this inside. Built in 1925, there's so much history as you walk in old show posters and theater equipment. The 400 plus seats have been re-upholstered, but are still the same frame from nearly 100 years ago. Martial arts legend Bruce Lee used to come here. What I heard is the Bruce Lee's parents used to perform literally on this stage. He used to hang out in the alley or in the backstage waiting for them. Alice Chu and Roger Pinkham own the place. It's also where their relationship started. There's actually a show that I was helping usher at, and I invited her for our first date, and he gave me a tour around the theater. So I feel very special now married with a young child, Alice didn't know that their first date would lead to this new venture. When Roger comes home and tells you, oh, we have this opportunity to sign a lease with this place, what did you what was your reaction? Every time I just pass by, I feel like, oh God, this guy is crazy. I was an engineer. I'm still an engineer. Like how do I run that theater? It was like, too crazy dream for me. But eventually the opportunity arised and he convinced me and we just made the big jump. That big jump came with risks and a lot of doubt. The theater was falling apart. There were rats. There were birds living in the ceiling, crapping all over the seats. There was no heat, there was no hot water. The bathrooms were disgusting. There was mold downstairs. It was it was bad. I cried, it cried. It's too much. It was a lot. So what was the initial investment? You had to do to renovate it? The landlord calls me up in June of 2020 and was like, you know, Roger, you still want the great star. It's been a community effort. You know, we put a maybe $100,000 in. It was a lot of elbow grease and a lot of money. But we made it work. The couple reopened the theater in the summer of 2021. Since then, it's hosted a few hundred different shows like Chinese operas. Those are really cool because they bring a lot of the local Chinatown community in people that used to come to this theater when they were children, and to bring more people into the neighborhood. There's a popular Star Wars burlesque parody which is coming back this summer. They brought 40,000 people into Chinatown over the course of three months. Every day it was sold out and the line was like a few blocks away. And the vertical show a poll, an aerial performance featuring world poll champions is why I'm the producer. I'm the director, and I'm an artist and performer in the show as well. Paulina Volchek, also known as Pink Puma, travels the World performing. She's been back to Great Star Theater six times. A vertical show has been existed for probably five seven years at this point, but we were always looking for a permanent location for this amazing sporting show. I really love the theater. I enjoy the stage, and I think this theater deserves to have much bigger show and bigger opportunities. So this is the backstage. This is stage right? We've got our amp rack over here . This is the rope. So we are a traditional proscenium theater. We've got all the backdrops up there. Wait hand manually. Yep, yep. This is the altar that the Chinese Opera still prays to whenever they come in. This is kind of a makeup area, but the main changing rooms are downstairs. Down here was actually really gross. Alice actually painted this this mural here. Wow. This is more than just a theater. So many people have a story about great star. It's revitalizing a community. People started coming by, you know, like older Chinese people that, you know, they'd be like, oh, I used to. My uncle used to work in the concession stand. I used to come here and watch kung fu movies every day. So it's exciting to be able to balance, you know, giving the community a space for the community and bringing people to the community, which helps everyone else in the community. A love story that has turned into something so much more. Next year, the Great Star Theater will celebrate 100 years, and by the way, Roger works at the theater full ti
