One of San Francisco's oldest movie houses plans to shut the
lights for good this month.  Landmark Theatres will walk away
from the Clay on Sunday, leaving the Pacific Heights
neighborhood without its single-screen theater.  "Single-screen
movie theaters are a dying breed," said Landmark Theatres CEO
Ted Mundorff. "Many, if not most all, have gone away. We've been
losing a lot of money there for a long time."  Small movie
houses like the Clay, which was built in 1910 as a nickelodeon,
are shuttering as multiplexes such as the Metreon or Century 9
in the Westfield San Francisco Centre swallow business.  Smaller
venues can't vie for the blockbusters, and they don't have
multiple screens to fall back on if a movie bombs.  Even if they
get a runaway hit, they don't have the flexibility to extend the
run because they're locked into a schedule with distributors.
On-demand movies via cable and the Internet add even more
pressure on the remaining few single-screen theaters in San
Francisco.  More than 10 have disapp