Arlington Theatre

Check their website with your valid question in the “mail” section.

The Fox-Arlington is thriving in a city that appreciates this house.

While in S.B. in March we noted that the fabulousl old Granada Theatre had been “saved but destroyed!"
What I refer to is that the outer shell of the building remains while the original auditorium has been pulverized like a bomb went off -nothing left of the stage but a vast hole in the ground with a gaping hole allowing in the sunlight.
The sidewalk display of the Granada’s "new” future will resemble an open style boxy-looking, boring-to-look-at stage. I forget what the auditorium’s new look will offer because I was so dissapointed that the past was NOT preserved for future generations to come… How sad!

The last time I saw the VARSITY in Palo Alto it was being converted into a book shop. The marquee was still in position and the auditorium had not been chopped up.

If you are interested in “courtyard” theaters, have a look at the current restoration of the FOX in Fullerton. That place will be magnificent when completed. Plaudits for Fullerton!

Lots of good info here about the Arlington. I remember as a kid when FOX was not only visible, but NEON. Can’t remember when they took the neon down, but they did. One of my favorite memories of the Arlington was seeing the first STAR WARS there back in `76 (I think). Anyhow, I hadn’t heard a thing about the movie when we went to see it. Imagine the opening scene when the ships come from over top your head, and you’re in a theatre that appears to be under the night sky! It was awesome!!

This is indeed a wonderful theater! I worked there on occasion in the early 80’s and met a lot of famous people who played there. The coolest thing about the decorations is the Trompe l'oeil mural work around the proscenium. It looks three dimensional until you get a few feet away. Mind boggling. If you visit, be sure to walk all the way up to the front.

There was a rumor that there was a tunnel leading from the box office to somewhere inside the theater, like some banks have from the ATM islands to the bank itself, but I never got a chance to look.

Two things the Arlington taught me:

Always check the door of the restroom you are going to enter. During some rennovation work, they swapped the men’s and women’s restrooms, with the predictable results from long-time patrons.

You can’t judge greatness by the size of the show. Linda Ronstadt showed up with busloads of crew, hundreds of lights, speakers, amps, and her own generator to power all the junk. They repainted parts of the proscenium so the color would look better on TV. You could hear the show for blocks around, and we had lots of trouble with drunks, gate crashers, pushy fans, and general hassle. When Andre Segovia played, he showed up with his assistant, his guitar, and his stool and footrest. He did not use a mic, and the acoustics in the Arlington let even the last row hear perfectly. Of course, you could have heard a bee sneeze during the performance. The audience were perfectly behaved. I never saw Linda Ronstadt through her wall of bodyguards; Segovia stopped on his way out to shake my hand.

Interior photo:
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The Arlington was supposed to have an organ installed when it was built. Meanwhile, the depression intervened, talking pictures arrived and it never happened. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s that the Arlington finally got it’s organ….the Wonder Morton from Loew’s Jersey. I had a chance to hear it being put through it’s paces by the crew working on it while on a whirlwind trip through Santa Barbara. I wish I’d had more time. The theater is fabulous.

The faint white letters spelling “FOX” vertically against a reddish-brick color on the spire’s cylinder were only painted over within the past year. I am a resident of Santa Barbara, and I kept hoping that the letters would reappear, but, alas, they are not there.

It should also be added that the part of the tower that had the FOX lettering used to turn.

some excellent modern photos of the Arlington are at http://www.quovadimus.org/sbarlington03/thumb.html

Not listed in city directories until 1932, the Fox Arlington Theatre became the Arlington Theatre in 1961.

The Arlington Theatre was never a hotel. It was always built to be a theatre, with retail around it. However, the site was once the location of the earlier (19th Century?) Arlington Hotel.

The present organ in the theatre is originally from Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, a theatre which is itself undergoing restoration, and is utilizing yet another identical organ from Loew’s Paradise, the Bronx.

this was built on the site of the old Arlington hotel. It offered 3 levels, orchestra, balcony, and 2nd class. The 2nd class has been walled off, used as the tech booth, to this level you could only access from the outside. There is a club / restaurant over the auditorium, no longer used. The spire used to rotate with a neon ‘FOX’. Metropolitain theaters runs the property and occasionally offers ‘walking tours’ in the summer on the weekends. The programs alternate between the cinema (summers and in between) the symphony (school season) the ballet (winter and spring), concerts (in the rainy season) and the occasional road / touring show. The event ticket office is to the right of the theater doors, after the courtyard, this is the best place to inquire about tours.

What an outstanding theatre. Architecture superb! What a true delight and change of pace from the Mega Plexes.

Thank you.