Fox Oakland Theater
1807 Telegraph Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94612
1807 Telegraph Avenue,
Oakland,
CA
94612
43 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 106 comments
the last listings on the FOX OAKLAND web site is in 2003. Does anyone know what is happening with the theatre these days of 2006?
Just noticed something—-in the second paragraph of the description, it says “Opened on October 36, 1928…” Obviously that should be “October 26, 1928(!).”
An issue of Architechural Digest (date uncertain, but probably late 1920’s-early 30’s [it was a page clipping]) listed the Fox Oakland’s (original) architect as Thomas W. Lamb. Possibly this was a confusion on the writer’s part, being that Lamb was the architect for San Francisco’s Fox (Weeks and Day are generally credited as the Fox Oakland’s architects, and A.A. Cantin as having done the 1935 renovation of the entrance and marquee), but the interior photos on the page were definitely of the Fox Oakland.
What is the latest on the Fox Oakland? Have they started the ruins project, becuase I believe the City Council has approved it. I sure hope the project gets under way before Jerry Brown leaves office as Mayor of Oakland. Restoring the Fox-Oaklnad would give Downtown Oakland a huge boost along with the Uptown project and put a positive spin on the City which suffers an image problem.brucec
Some excellent and comprehensive reading on the Fox' “almost” current condition:
http://www.foxoakland.org/pdf/dreyfuss_report.pdf
Just the fact that the theatre have not been demolished and is waiting for restoration is a good news .
View link
photo of exterior
A photo for y'all at:
www.preservationdirectory.com/photodatabase_theaters.html
I WAS 17 AND VERY DISSAPOINTED WHEN THEY CLOSED THE FOX THEATRE. I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN OAKLAND, AND AS A CHILD, IN THE SUMMER, MY COUSINS AND I WOULD PAY ONLY 50 CENTS TO SEE TWO FEATURE FILMS. WE WERE ABLE TO WATCH THESE FILMS AS MANY TIMES AS WE LIKED, SO WE WOULD SPEND THE WHOLE DAY AND PART OF THE NIGHT AT THE PARAMOUNT AND THE FOX THEATRES. OUR PARENTS LOVED IT, BECAUSE IT WAS LIKE HAVING A ALL DAY BABYSITTER AND THEY KNEW WE WERE SAFE, BECAUSE WE ALWAYS STAYED TOGETHER. I LOVED GOING BACK TO THE PARAMOUNT WHEN THEY REOPENED IT, BECAUSE IT BROUGHT BACK ALL THOSE MEMORIES OF THAT TIME IN MY LIFE, WHEN LIFE WAS SO SIMPLE!!! I AM HOPING THAT THE FOX THEATRE WILL RE-OPEN SO THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO GET THAT WONDERFUL FEELING AGAIN.
I read in the paper that the city council has recommended 27 million for the restoration of the Fox Oakland Building. The charter school will be housed in the building surrounding the theatre. The theatre will be restored into a cabaret space seating 650. This means only a portion of the theatre will be restored at this time.It would be nice if a corporate donor could be found to restore the Auditorium completely. If the city is spending 27 million along with state grants them maybe another 6-8 million is needed to restore the auditorium. I wish the Packard foundation would get involved like they did with the California in San Jose. I also hope the Fox Oakland will also show film as well as live performance. The City Council will vote in March. I think downtown would get a much needed boost with a combo of both the Fox Oakland and the Paramount. We must thank Jerry Brown for getting the ball rolling or it would have just sat there for another 20 years. I have wonderful memories of Downtown Oakland as a child. My Aunt and Uncle use to take us to the Paramount,Fox Oakland,Roxie and T&D downtown and the Grand Lake along the lake. I feel the City now has a chance to move ahead in a positive direction and the restored Fox Oakland along with other projects will revitalize Downtown Oakland.brucec
One of the last houses opened by West Coast Theatres before that circuit was purchased by Willaim Fox, the Oakland was one of the first theaters to have the “Fox” name added to its marquee. The change was announced in Exhibitors Herald-World of March 23rd, 1929.
Gary Flinn: The wagnersign.com site is wonderful. Thanks.
Its to bad Oakland can’t find a major patron the way the Fox California in San Jose has.It would be nice if the Port Of Oakland paid for half the restoration like the Silicon Valley has for the California. This is just an observation.Maybe Clear Channel may be interested because the Fox-Oakland is the size theatre they are looking for. Clear Channel helped with the restoration of the Baltimore Hippodrome and Boston’s B F Keith Opera House.brucec
You can see pix of the restoration of the Fox Oakland’s marquee and vertical sign at http://www.wagnersign.com/fox.html
The Wagner Electric Sign Co. did a great job repairing the fabulous Marquee and Vertical Sign of the FOX-OAKLAND, and it is a joy to see such fine regard by a city to recreate the night time excitement that such signage brought to our streets in days past. I must note, however, that the slang term ‘blade’ that some are using for the Vertical Sign is not appropriate, and diminishes the stature of such sign artistry and the history of our theatres. It was coined by someone ignorant of the fact that the word ‘vertical’ can be a noun, as well as an adjective. Let us call such vertical signs by their correct industry and architectural term: VERTICALS, as validated by the authorities at the Theatre Historical Soc. of America since 1969.
Just wondering—-should this not be referred to as “FOX OAKLAND?”
“Amen” to the previous comment about fine versus boring marquees. Often the key factor is of course money. However, there is also the contingent of artsy-smartsy folks who think that if a theatre is going to become a performing arts center that festive things like neon and chaser lights are sinful.
The Fox Oakland’s vertical sign is the last 20s vertical to be found anywhere in the Bay Area. Thank goodness it survived long enough to be restored. At one point in the early 80s, a renovation of the Fox Oakland was planned, and renderings were produced of it which showed removal of the vertical, and generification of the marquee. Fortunately that perticular scheme fell through. The last two verticals that disappeared were the Roxie in Oakland and the El Capitan in San Francisco. The El Capitan had been demolished save for its facade in the mid-60s, but the vertical remained until the mid-90s, when it was removed.
The Fox-Oakland had its last exclusive 1st Run With “Rosemary’s Baby” in 1968. After this it showed Porno for awhile and 2nd run at 50cents in the early 1970s. The theatre was used for a short time for concerts and the the Dickens Fair.The Fox-Oakland Auditorium is larger than the Paramount but the Paramount has the larger lobby. Both theatres have fantastic vertical blade marquee’s which are among the best in the nation. Many times theatres are renovated /restored and not much thought is given to restoring the great marquees of the 20’s,30’s,40’s and 50’s. The Wang in Boston has one of the most boring marquees today but when it was the Metropolitan is had a fantastic marquee.The Fox in Detroit has a wonderful marquee but the Fox in St Louis has a boring marquee. The fun starts on the sidewalk at some of our historic theatres. The biggest dissapointment is the loss of the great marquees in Times Square along with the theatres. I applaud the City of Chicago in putting verticals on the new Goodman, Oriental, and Palace. I hope when the Shubert is restored back to the Majestic that a beautiful marquee is restored to this theatre.brucec
It should be noted that, though the Fox Oakland is often said to have been closed since the 1962 (or 1965 as noted above), its most recent run as a movie palace was about 1972 (saw “Villa Rides” there; all seats were 75 cents, if I recall correctly). It was subsequently a concert venue in 1973-74 (I remember a radio ad on the old KDIA for a Funkadelic concert there), and hosted the Dickens Christmas Fair in 1983 and 1984.
There was a major Fox-Oakland renovation benefit on May 1 which I found about on May 2 hosted by Mayor Jerry Brown. Hope it was a success. Plans are to place a Charter School in the building surrounding the theatre as this is a pet project of the Mayor.I saw a construction banner in front of the Fox for the first time on May 2. I hope after all these years (30) that some sort of renovation is started on the interior of the building.brucec
Weeks and Day were also the architects for the Fox Oakland proper; though the 1930’s remodel of the marquee and entrance was by Alexander Aimwell Cantin.
In the late 1970’s a friend of mine and I snuck inside the empty Fox. The open side front door down near the stage provided the only light inside the cavernous auditorium. All the seats had been removed but the two big gold Buddahs that flank the stage were still standing guard and it looked like homeless people were using the stage to camp on. And now with the marquee restored it looks like the Fox will be coming back to life.
The restoration of the marquee by Wagner Sign Co. can be seen at:
http://www.wagnersign.com/fox01.html
The very nice Friends of the Fox Oakland Theatre web site can be found at:
http://www.foxoakland.org
Just a suggestion. Both Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks went to High School in Oakland. Maybe they could get involved in the restoration of the Fox. Maybe they could hold a benefit premiere at the Paramount of one of there upcoming films to benefit the Fox and also gain a lot of publicity for the Fox. Brucec