Fox Oakland Theater

1807 Telegraph Avenue,
Oakland, CA 94612

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Showing 1 - 25 of 106 comments

rivest266
rivest266 on August 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

October 27th, 1928 grand opening ad in the photo section.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 7, 2018 at 10:53 pm

1929 photo & copy added courtesy of Philip Duhe‎.

terrywade
terrywade on August 1, 2016 at 12:38 am

If you see a music event here and sit up stairs you won’t see the stage as most people stand up and block the view. The music is way to loud. Bring ear plugs. They even sell them in the lobby at the Fox Oakland Theatre. The manager needs to check all the people smoking up stairs and have them sit down. They were not smoking cigarette’s. A fire danger and the ushers don’t care. No seats downstairs, you pay a high price and have to stand all during the show. Nice job on all the color lights when they have them on. Hope some day they show some movies on 35mm film or DCP and put in a large screen and get the curtain to work. APE the gang that books the place offers nothing for seniors to enjoy. Check the Fox out and take the Bart train to almost the front door. Don’t forget your ear plugs!!!!

Ian
Ian on March 12, 2013 at 2:07 pm

Two photos of the exterior taken in 2000, just after restoration had apparently started, but was not yet visible!

FOX OAKLAND

FOX OAKLAND

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on February 6, 2013 at 1:27 pm

This article about the restoration of the Fox Oakland Theatre is by Kurt Schindler, principal of ELS Architecture and Urban Design, the Berkeley firm that did the plans for the renovation of the theater.

The firm’s web site also offers this page with several photos of the Fox.

In addition to the Fox, ELS has designed the restorations of the Grand Theatre in Tracy, California, the California Theatre in San Jose, and the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, formerly the Portland Theatre, in Portland, Oregon. More recently, ELS handled the renovation of the old AMC Kabuki multiplex for Sundance Cinemas.

HenrySchmidt
HenrySchmidt on July 13, 2012 at 7:49 pm

More photos here: http://www.thefoxoakland.com/gallery.html

Gorgeous theater!!!

Mikeyisirish
Mikeyisirish on June 26, 2012 at 4:30 pm

A 2010 photo can be seen here.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 27, 2011 at 2:51 pm

Thats for the update on the Fox balconyclosed, and hope you had a nice Birthday.

celaniasdawn
celaniasdawn on March 27, 2011 at 10:10 am

Friday was my 70th birthday, and I wanted to see the Fox. My kids took me there. I haven’t been inside the Fox Oakland for 50 years. amd it was just absolutely stunning inside. There were a lot of things missing, like the chandeliers in the ceiling and a mural of the bay bridge, treasure island and the bay when you first walked in. The staff and security was incredible, they were everywhere, and very friendly. The music was very good, a band called OMD, but the acoustics in the theater were terrible. The sounds bounced off the walls like echoing thuds, and it gave me a headache (age I guess), so I went to the mezzanine to relax for a bit. I was sitting there for less than 10 minutes and two different times, staff asked to see my ticket. The security was checking everyones tickets to make sure they were in the section they were supposed to be in. After being asked twice to see my ticket, I got irritated, and they didn’t ask me anymore. I don’t see how these kids can afford the high priced drinks in there, My son got a screwdriver and it was over vodka’d. It was so good to be in there again, it brought back a lot of memories. The audience was good mannered and everyone was having a great time. The staff and security were just wonderful, just pesty and doing their job. I asked if they could get the statues to spew smoke again someday, they didn’t know that it the statues did that. Aside from the terrible sound system, it is just beautiful inside. I sure miss Capwells, Milens Jewelers, and the Newberry’s. But the area sure looks nice and its bustling again.

Brad Smith
Brad Smith on March 4, 2011 at 3:47 pm

Thank you for your good words, Terry. Folks who live in the Bay Area may be interested in a Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association tour of the Fox Theatre on Friday, June 3rd. You can learn more about the tour by clicking here.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 3, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Another great Barto and Mann photo,thanks for posting Brad.

Brad Smith
Brad Smith on February 22, 2011 at 1:47 pm

This photograph of the Fox Oakland Theatre was taken in 1930 by George Mann of the comedy dance team, Barto and Mann.

celaniasdawn
celaniasdawn on February 17, 2011 at 10:20 pm

Went there a few times, all the movies I saw there were widescreen except one time we went in to see The Little Shop of Horrors. The screen didn’t have a black border around the movie, but a projected border that looked like gold squares of the statues on the sides of the stage. Those statues were beautiful, how during the movie they would periodically spew smoke from the bowls and the back would flash green like a little explosion. I would love to see the inside again oneday, if only something decent was there. Terry and Simon were right, they should also show films and have performances for us seniors.

Simon Overton
Simon Overton on January 23, 2011 at 3:54 pm

I volunteer for the restored www.admiraltheatre.org in Bremerton, Washington. This historic theater has such a nice variety of live and classic film events.

The Admiral caters for all age groups and is not just for the great un-shaved/washed/jeans and cell phone brigade… and it works!!!

Oakland… you should really give it a try… please

terrywade
terrywade on December 27, 2010 at 6:59 pm

The people that lease the Fox Oakland are missing out entertainment and movies for the older adult crowd. As they just book rock mainly. To bad, write to them and lets see If we can get them to book some acts that the seniors will enjoy. So easy to just take the BART train almost to the front door. Book in some family shows also.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on December 24, 2010 at 7:18 pm

An article about a man who claims that the actual designer of the Fox has never been given proper credit because he had a criminal past: View link

Paula Wirth
Paula Wirth on February 9, 2010 at 11:54 pm

Took the anniversary tour on Friday night — was happy to see that the restoration was a success, with beautiful painted ceilings, redone plaster bas relief, reproduction lighting and fully restored and working electric and neon marquee. Was sad that showing films is no longer an option (other than digital projection on a tiny screen) and that the Wurlitzer and all original fixtures were sold off to the highest bidders ever so long ago. But the Fox Theater is lovely again. Do wish I could enjoy a historic-style cinema or vaudeville-type experience, instead of a loud rock concert, tho.

(pre- and post-restoration photos taken by Paula Wirth, including night shots of the Fox Theater marquee)
View link

lake95464
lake95464 on August 3, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Was allowed inside to take a look around. Beautiful, but why was there a red curtain put on the stage? The original curtain was green that matched the jade grillwork behind the buddahs. I bought the DVD Nightmare in Blood and a interior shot shows this. I also want to know when the management will start having performance acts that cater to an older audience, so that we can enjoy the theater as well. And what about movies? They just showed the big lebowski, on a makeshift smaller screen. So the Paramount will rule as the big screen theatre in downtown Oakland, and the Fox will be slowly torn apart by 20 to 30 year olds. Wonderful

wurl240
wurl240 on July 16, 2009 at 12:45 pm

A real jewel of a theatre! Even before restoration, the Fox Oakland grabbed attention from blocks away. A “little bit of Bagdad” on Telegraph Ave., as Ben Hall might have said. But—-when do we get
an interior tour…? Any hopes of a tour sans the modern loud musick…?

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on May 3, 2009 at 2:04 pm

Mentioned in NYTimes. View link

nbphoto
nbphoto on March 18, 2009 at 11:12 pm

The Fox Oakland is a jewel again!
Thanks to Jerry Brown, Phil Tagami, Jeff Chew, Patricia Dedekian, the Friends of the Fox Oakland and a cast of 1000’s.

Please see the 100’s of images of the re-construction and galas of this wonderful theater reborn on my community website-
http://www.nathanbennettphoto.com

I think I got the ‘cinema’ bug, I want more
(I just saw the Fox Detroit- wow!)

Cheers- Nate

spectrum
spectrum on February 8, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Here are more of SheffieldStar’s photos of the Fox Oakland grand opening:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3257770250/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3257771808/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3256940755/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3256942417/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3258861154/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonfisher/3258859280/

The official website (www.thefoxoakland.com) has a nice gallery of construction photos. Also, it looks like they’ve got a busy schedule of shows over the next couple months!

spectrum
spectrum on February 2, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Here are three more from the Conclave:

View link – closeup of Fox Office Bldg entrance
View link – Proscenium
View link – organ screen detail

spectrum
spectrum on February 2, 2009 at 6:05 pm

The THSA have a lot of photos of San Francisco area theatres from their 2008 Conclave at:

View link

Here are links to their photos of the Fox Oakland (taken summer, 2008):

They are all of the marquee and vertical sign:

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