Tiniest cinema in the world has Californians clamoring to sneak a peek

A tiny hidden movie theater behind a peephole in San Francisco has become a beloved neighborhood secret.

Built into the exterior wall of a home at 536 Waller Street in the Lower Haight neighborhood, the miniscule cinema plays silent films 24 hours a day.

Sam Goldstein, who describes himself as the “Official Unofficial Mayor of Waller Street,” created the installation in 2024 during the 10th year of a citywide scavenger hunt.

He described how he created the teeny-tiny theater, by drilling a hole in the wall outside the home and installing a screen behind it.

“During The SF Hunt, players visited the peephole cinema and watched a video that contained a riddle answer,” he explained of the scavenger hunt he launched in 2014.

“The peephole has been there ever since, playing my dad’s favorite silent films from the ’60s.” 

The tiny hidden cinema on Waller Street is the second of its kind in the city.

Tucked away in 280 Orange Valley in the Mission District neighborhood, Peephole Cinema was built in 2013 by artist Laurie O’Brien.

Unlike Goldstein’s theater that shows full-length silent films, Peephole Cinema features short and silent works curated by local artists.

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While it was temporarily decommissioned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the tiny theater re-opened in 2025.