Save us a seat on the aisle for these

We’re taking the Our San Francisco time machine for another spin, this time to tour some of the greatest movie palaces in San Francisco history.

The rules were simple: Our Chronicle DeLorean can go anywhere in time, but we checked old movie schedules to make sure the films played at the chosen theater. We tried to visit theaters when they were close to their prime. Disagree with our picks? Make your suggestions on Twitter with the hashtag #OurSF — make sure you tag @PeterHartlaub.

(We wrote a similar story for The Chronicle last year, looking at theaters in the entire Bay Area. There are only two carryovers: “King Kong” and “Gone With the Wind.”)

“King Kong” (1933) at the Golden Gate Theatre: Our first stop in the time machine (we’re traveling chronologically) is this special effects spectacular, which reportedly led to several fainting episodes from audience members who were stunned by Willis O’Brien’s stop-motion work. We’ll break the butterfly effect rule and carve our name in a seat, to see if it’s there at the next SHN live theater production at the Golden Gate.

“Gone With the Wind” (1940) at the Warfield Theatre: After seeing dozens of live music shows at the Warfield, we’re curious what a movie was like at the Market Street cinema. We’re going big with “Gone With the Wind.” (The “Planet of the Apes” marathon in 1973 was a close second.)

“The Mark of Zorro” (1940) at the Fox Theatre: We wanted to see a film at the Fox when the most beautiful movie palace in San Francisco history was close to its prime. Arriving early to hear the Fox’s Mighty Wurlitzer ...

“The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) at the Alhambra Theatre: This Timothy Pflueger-designed Moorish theater had a rough history on Russian Hill, before transitioning into a Crunch Gym. (Which has done a good job keeping the interior looking nice.) We picked a film from the 1960s, before the owners split the screen down the middle and plastered the ornate ceiling.

“Ben-Hur” (1959) at the Coronet: “Star Wars” in 1977 is the obvious choice, but we’ll go back a little further and see one of the original special effects blockbusters. The Coronet had fairly bland architecture, but we miss the outstanding visuals and sound, which made it a favorite for lovers of big spectacle cinema.

“Cool Hand Luke” (1968) at the New Mission: Good thing I have the DeLorean because BART hasn’t even broken ground yet in the Mission District. The Reid Brothers-designed New Mission, with

more than 2,000 seats in its original incarnation, was a hidden gem.

“Jaws” (1975) at the Geneva Drive-In: Technically outside the San Francisco city limits by a few yards, but we’ve included the Cow Palace in previous Our San Francisco chapters, so Geneva gets grandfathered in as well. Geneva fact: “Jaws” played in a double bill with “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.”

“Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) at the NorthPoint: This was the last large-scale single-screen theater in San Francisco, built in 1967 and closed in the 1990s. It was an ugly concrete slab, but we’ve heard the sound was excellent.

“Die Hard” (1988) at the Alexandria Theater: We want to see “Die Hard” somewhere. The time machine is more likely to find parking in this Outer Richmond theater — which remains abandoned in 2015. Our second choice is an earlier showing of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” when the theater was closer to its prime.

??? (2015) at the New Mission: Don’t need the time machine for this one. The New Mission opens later this year, one of the biggest success stories in recent movie palace history. Whatever they’re showing, we want to be there.