The newest club in San Francisco bustled on a recent afternoon with people of all ages and backgrounds, including a gaggle of young women, a couple from Switzerland and a family with kids. But instead of DJs or dancing, Club Photomatica offers only one thing: photo booths.
“This is just crazy,” co-founder “Dirtbag” Doug Ellington said giddily of the stream of people checking out three booths Photomatica recently installed at a shop on Haight Street.
Though the company’s photo booths have found homes in dive bars, hotels, tattoo parlors and photography stores for about a decade, this is the first brick-and-mortar outpost dedicated to the brand.
Now, three of its machines — two digital and one refurbished booth from the early 1960s — stand under a blinking, rainbow-hued sign by the front window of 710 Collective, a marketplace for local businesses at 1644 Haight St.
“Our vision for the space is to blend the old and new,” said Matt Dewalt, Photomatica’s other founder. The old certainly seemed to be the star of the show Monday, as visitors gushed over photos from the analog “dip-and-dunk” booth, which takes about four minutes to develop its strips.
“I love the old-school stuff,” said Sophia De La Garza, a 15-year-old visiting from Texas who tried out the vintage booth Monday with her group. “It’s fun, it’s different. The whole feel of taking the pictures and the way that they look, it’s just so cool.”
The intimacy and retro allure of Photomatica booths have made them popular in the Bay Area, where people use them to steal kisses or get goofy. TikTok and Instagram have been major drivers to Photomatica’s analog booths in particular: One vintage machine in the Castro has drawn up to 100 people per day.
Typically, the company builds and installs its custom booths for free but takes most of the revenue when a drunk group of friends or memory-minting shoppers pop in to take photos. In the case of the new “club,” it’s paying rent to 701 Collective but keeping revenue from the photo sessions for itself.
Although Club Photomatica’s grand opening isn’t until Thursday, the company made back its rent in its first weekend in operation, according to Ellington.
The launch party aims to celebrate not only Club Photomatica’s opening but the fact that the company survived the pandemic, when the surge in bar-and-retail closures caused sales to plummet. These days, Photomatica’s printing about 20,000 photo strips every month from its 50 vintage or custom-made Bay Area booths.
Having its own storefront is part of Photomatica’s goal to make San Francisco a mecca for lovers of the medium. “It’s a dream come true,” Dewalt said.
Functional analog booths like Photomatica’s are extremely rare, according to Tim Garrett and Brian Meacham, who run an online resource for enthusiasts. They estimate that only 250 to 300 vintage booths remain publicly accessible worldwide.
“It’s a small, tight-knit community,” Meacham said.
For example, he recently met a duo offering analog photo-booth photos on the streets in New York City before realizing they’d bought their booth from Garrett.
“It’s really interesting,” he added. “It’s so fun to see how people, like the guys from Photomatica, are still coming up with new ideas and creative ways to bring photo booths to the people.”