Second Act Celebrates One Year On Haight Street

Second Act Celebrates One Year On Haight StreetPhotos: Amy Stephenson/Hoodline
Amy Stephenson
Published on February 07, 2015

Can you believe it? One year ago this month, the new incarnation of the old Red Vic Theater opened for business. Second Act, as Jack and Betsy Rix dubbed it, housed five stalls of small food-related start-ups. Since then, they've completed their events space, which is put to good use most weekends, and completed the common seating area in the back corner, complete with a kitchenette and mini refreshment counter. 

As you might remember, two of the original stalls, Spice Hound and High Cotton Kitchen, have moved on from Second Act; High Cotton is now catering, and Spice Hound has closed. They were replaced by Crepe La Vie in September, and Burma Bear in October

Since opening, Second Act has gotten nods from SF Weekly, the Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay, and Zagat.

All this, remember, is after a long three years spent undergoing extensive renovation following the end of the famed Red Vic Movie House's tenure. In case you don't recall, the theater, which had been in operation since 1980, closed its doors in 2011 with a farewell screening of Harold and Maude. After that there was permitting, followed by construction, more construction, and even more construction.

According to owners Jack and Betsy Rix, the new space continues to garner interest from local food lovers and event organizers. 

“When we started this project, we were confident that this would be a right thing to do after The Red Vic’s longtime reign in the Haight. What’s more unexpected was the overwhelmingly positive welcome and response from the neighborhood for our ‘Second Act’. We wanted to build something that had not been done before and invite everyone to come in, explore, and enjoy.”

What's next for Jack and Betsy?

“This first year has been really exciting for Second Act”, Betsy said. “The amount of support we've received from the Upper Haight neighborhood has motivated us to continue doing what we do here — eat, drink and gather!”

Jack Rix has also spoken about the possibility of introducing a run of small art and independent film screenings in the back community room. The space has a projector and screen with seating for about 50 people, and the independent nature of the space allows for more flexibility than your regular run-of-the-mill screenings.

Current upcoming events include comedy, a Valentine's Day artisan market, and live music.

And, of course,  on a related front there's the nearly-complete and much-awaited opening of Alembic's expanded dining room, which we'll keep you posted about.

Sláinte, Second Act!