This former movie theater might be one of the Bay Area's most overlooked gems FacebookTwitterEmail HanaHaus is at 456 University Ave. in Palo Alto. The structure, which was completed in 1927, first opened as a single-screen movie theater. Esther Guerrero The Cliff House is arguably one of San Francisco’s most iconic and recognizable buildings. The architects behind its 1909 iteration also designed another historic Peninsula structure that is less known but was once compared to the Louvre. A series of columns, arches and tejaban roof tiles are the first thing many will notice of Palo Alto’s Varsity Theatre. Among the other surrounding buildings on University Avenue, the Varsity Theatre stands out on its own for its ornate architectural design. The building, of course, is a skeleton of its past. Long before HanaHaus, a co-working space by the software and technology giant SAP, moved into the building, the Varsity Theatre attracted a different crowd altogether.