Built in 1967 and recently remodeled, the Lumiere's always fun to visit. The best thing about the more alternative movie houses is that people will talk less, pay … attention more, and enjoy the film without screaming at the screen. The Lumiere is one of the best places in the city to see a foreign and/or indie film; they'll even play some of the bigger guys when they can. Plus, you've gotta love a brick theater.[link]

Built in 1939, the Bridge is one of San Francisco's most well-known single-screen movie theaters. Named after the Golden Gate Bridge -- which was built two years prior -- … the house plays independent films, foreign films, and blockbusters alike. It's tough to call the Bridge "small," as its huge auditorium seats many; and yet, the beloved theater is independent to its very core, even if it is owned by Landmark.[link]

A little thing, the Opera Plaza Cinemas has the best line on its website: "Popular independent and foreign films often move here for one last engagement before leaving … the city altogether." And while that sounds romantic, it describes the tiny theater to a tee: quaint and everybody's last stop. Owned by Landmark -- which makes it a habit of collecting all the little guys -- the Opera Plaza Cinema isn't a great theater, but it's fun to stop in once in a while.[link]

One of my favorite movie theaters in the city, the Embarcadero Center Cinema, owned by Landmark, is located in beautiful downtown San Francisco in the Embarcadero One … building. With restaurants and shops galore, the location is superb. Many a film festival stops at the Embarcadero Center Cinema, and movies that are a little bit out of the mainstream, a little bit odd, and/or a little bit foreign can almost always be found here.[link]

A mainstay of the Richmond District, the privately-owned Four Star Theater is a tiny little space with a tiny little screen that plays tiny little movies. In fact, coming … November 8-18, the Four Star will play host to San Francisco's 10th Asian Film Festival.
(photo)[link]

Owned by the same family that owns the Four Star, it was touch-and-go with the Presidio for a moment there, but now it's back. The Presidio is funny in that, by the … looks of it, its movies should be in French and concern a girl looking for her balloon. But instead, it plays big budget movies like "I Love You Man," that seemingly have no business at this tiny movie house. But the Presidio Theatre just doesn't care, because dammit, that's how they roll.[link]

The Castro Theatre, built in 1922, is not only an official San Francisco landmark, but one of the few remaining movie houses from the 1920s that's still operational. The … beautiful theater -- much like the other movie houses on this list -- plays everything from local to foreign to indie films.[link]

As hip and indie as Haight Street -- where it makes its home -- the Red Vic Movie House is hip, strange, and one of the best alternative movie houses in the city. At the … Vic, the audience can sit on comfortable couches, eat organic treats, and watch everything from big blockbusters, to independent films, to films so independent they haven't even left the city of San Francisco yet. The Red Vic is the model all indie houses strive for.[link]