Fox Anaheim Theatre

The Fox Anaheim was located at 229 W. Center .

The Fox Anaheim was built in 1920, and was originally called the California Theatre. It was designed by Meyer and Holler, and the original owner was Mr. Theodore Roberts, who leased the theatre to Sol Lesser & Gore Brothers of Los Angeles.

This is a photo of the California Theater from around 1921.

Courtesy of the UCLA Digital Archive:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/cana/kt2199p9w7/hi-res/P6147.jpg

There was a discussion of a Fox Theater on Harbor Boulevard in the LA Times today as the theater was later converted to a restaurant called Angelo and DaVinci's. I am guessing that the above theater may not be what the Times was referring to in the article.

ken mc:
There was the Fox Cinemaland on Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim, but the entry here says it was demolished.

There is a Fox Fullerton on Harbor Blvd and an Angelo and DaVinci's in Fullerton which took over the stage which was walled up when it converted from vaudeville to movies. The founder just died at his home in Fullerton and the info is in his obit. Must be that one.

Angelo's and Vinci's began as a cafe on the street-front patio of the historic Fox theater on Harbor Boulevard, where Peck had renovated the landmark film palace's onetime tearoom into the 99-seat Jupiter Theater.

But Peck eventually expanded his restaurant onto the stage of the Fox, a former vaudeville theater whose proscenium had been walled in decades earlier when it was turned into a movie theater.

The Fox Cinemaland was demolished in January 1998 after sitting idle for years. It opened shortly after the South Coast Plaza theatre in Costa Mesa, CA by the NGC chain.

Just by way of info, the Fox Anaheim was refurbished in the late-1950s and equipped with stereophonic sound.

From the UC Davis collection:

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/cana/kt2199p9w7/hi-res/P6166.jpg

One more from the same source. Elvis rules.

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/images/cana/kt2199p9w7/hi-res/P10667.jpg

As the first two photos provided by ken mc show, a children's Halloween parade was held on Center Street. This continued at least throughout the 70s. I remember because I was in the 1974 parade. I think I only saw one movie at the Fox, the 1974 dog adventure "Benji." Oh, boy, did us kids cry like babies over that one. We just LOVED that dog.

This is an undated photo of a closed Fox Theater. Shouldn't the address above be changed to W Lincoln Ave?

When was the Fox demolished?

The picture is of the old Fox Theater in Anaheim. The parade taking place is the childrens halloween parade. This is not the California Theater. The California Theater was further east on Center St (later renamed Lincoln Ave). The California Theater became a furniture store later. The Fox Theater that was converted to a restaurant was in Fullerton. And the Cinemaland Theater that is mentioned was further south on Harbor Blvd, across from Disneyland.One more note. Across the street from the Anaheim Fox Theater was a restaurant that had glass tiles inlaid in the side walk and at night the sidewalk lit up.

From the link Lost Memory posted on Oct. 17, 2005 (see above), the California Theater and Fox appear to be the same building, L. R. Shingle. The marquee appears to be the only difference.

The history of this theatre is well documented in both text and photographs. It was built in 1920 for the Gore Brothers and Sol Lesser, operated by their company, West Coast Theatres, for several years as the California Theatre, and later was renamed the Fox Theatre, operated by the successor circuit Fox-West Coast. Here's a 1923 photograph of the theatre when it was the site of the premier of the movie Main Street.

It is possible that there was a later theatre in Anaheim also called the California, opened after this theatre was renamed, but this theatre definitely bore the name California Theatre before it became the Fox Theatre.

A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 419 style 210 was installed in the California Theater on 5/28/1921. Status: sold.

Here is an undated photo from the LAPL, probably from the 1920s:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014407.jpg

The Anaheim Holloween Parade mentioned above passed in front of the FOX ANAHEIM THEATER annually. The parade started at La Palma Park, went south on Harbor Blvd., turned left on Lincoln Avenue (formerly Center Street), passed the FOX, then ended behind Lincoln School. Because the streets were closed-off by the A.P.D., it was very difficult to get to the THEATER on parade day.

Back in the 1960s, Anaheim was BIG on parades.
And, one time, another parade passed the ANAHEIM FOX THEATER.
In 1967, when the Anaheim Convention Center Dome first opened, the
Ringling Bros./Barnum & Bailey Circus came to town, and had a huge old-fashioned circus parade heading west on Lincoln Avenue, right in front of the THEATER.

Working there that day, I stood in front of that old FOX THEATER as elephants, giraffes, clowns, and circus wagons with lions & tigers all passed in review, (followed by circus staff with shovels and wheelbarrows!)