What became of this building in San Rafael? (house, movie theater)

[monicapies]

In the 1973 movie American Graffiti, set in 1962 and a tribute to 50s culture, a House of Fabrics store can be seen. Not 100% sure but I am assuming this store was in San Rafael, as I definitely remember reading about the JCPenney store in the movie being in that city. Meanwhile House of Fabrics (along with brother chain Cloth World) was bought by Jo-Ann Fabrics in 1994, and converted to their name in 1998. This store seen in the movie however looks quite old, perhaps from the 1920s. Due to its urban location without a convenient parking lot, it perhaps was closed right away when Jo-Ann swallowed the rest of the chain. I am assuming House of Fabrics (or Cloth World or Jo-Ann stores) with this urban format have always been extremely rare, and perhaps this store in the movie was fake, just created for the scene. Movies such as The Blues Brothers and Back To The Future involved creating fake but realistic storefronts, so it makes sense this happened in the filming of American Graffiti too. But I actually am not from California and have never lived there, so maybe fabric stores with this arrangement were once common in CA but not on the East Coast. It seems ironic though that these types of storers would be common on the West Coast but not on the East Coast due to the West Coast being younger and being more ready for suburbanization in the 1950s and beyond. However, Cloth World in the South, Northeast, and Midwest (also perhaps in Canada) replaced a lot of former Woolworth spaces in shopping centers, and traditionally Woolworth stores were in downtowns, as was the House of Fabrics in question.

[CarlosAtun]

The cruising scene in American Graffiti was filmed on the main downtown street in San Rafael, 4th St. Back in the fifties it was a popular thing to cruise 4th St., especially after Friday night football games at SR High School. Penney's was indeed there, housed in what had once been a movie theater in the 1920's and 30's.

That House of Fabrics building (I also remember it as an independently owned store named Kaufman's Fabric Land) was built as a showroom for an automobile dealership by my great uncle, my grandmother's brother. Not sure of when, but he definitely had the dealership in the 1920's. It housed several other businesses over the years, including a roller rink, and you can imagine that the open space of an auto dealership would lend itself well to a fabric store. My great grandparents settled in San Rafael in the 1880's, and although they were gone by the time I was born my grandmother and her brother had lots of memories of growing up in what was then a very small town. Even had wooden sidewalks on 4th St.! Parking was never a problem. Now the Jo-Ann fabric store is a few miles south of San Rafael.

Hope this answers your question. AG also shows a See's Candy shop, a favorite place to make a purchase! Woolworth's was on the same block as See's.

[wardwhirlboromarlpool1955]

What is the House of Fabrics today? And was it ever a Jo-Ann? I am NOT the original poster but I am curious.