Fox Theatre
837 SW Broadway,
Portland,
OR
97205
837 SW Broadway,
Portland,
OR
97205
5 people
favorited this theater
Originally opened in 1910 as the Heilig Theatre, designed by architect Edwin W. Houghton. This gorgeous Art Deco style movie palace had a freestanding ticket booth. Like so many others, it has been demolished.
Contributed by
Louise-Annette Burgess
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Recent comments (view all 42 comments)
Kirk, it is great to see someone post a comment contrary to what someone else feels and not be nasty about it, but as far as posting an article about something that is already listed in the history of the theatre it is repititious. And as for the tickets that were found giving pices of 25 and 10 cents you would also have to know a little of the history of the theatre and its type of run, first, second or third run house. The ticket prices wouldn’t ordinarily reflect a time frame. If the Apache in the fifties was 25cents and 12cents and a walking distance away the Gravois was 35cents and 15 cents at the same time you couldn’t really go by the ticket price for a time frame. But I do honor your comments even if I disagree with them.
For the postings above concerning the name Hippodrome, this was never a name for the Fox. The theater opened as the Heilig, renamed the Rialto in 1929 when Paramount/Pubix took control, then a couple years later under still new management it was renamed the Mayfair. Finally it became the Fox. A block north, the theater best known as the Orpheum used the Hippodrome name for a short time around 1916.
I’m searching for some information about a Vaudeville show that may have performed at the theatre in the late 1920’s somewhere between 1927-1929. The show was called “Jungleland” which was a traveling contortionist show. If anyone could help out, that would be great.
Information about this theater is given in the Historic Note section near the top of this web page, which contains the finding aid for the Heilig Theatre Photographs Collection, held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library in Portland (none of the photos are on display at this page, unfortunately.)
The Historic Note says that this Heilig Theatre, the second of the name in Portland, opened on October 10, 1910. It was designed by architect Edwin W. Houghton. The Heilig operated primarily as a stage and vaudeville house until 1929, when it reopened as a movie house called the Hippodrome. During the 1930s it underwent three more name changes, operating as the Rialto, the Music Box, and finally the Mayfair. The house was purchased by Evergreen Theatres in 1953 and, after being extensively remodeled, reopened as the Fox Theatre in August, 1954.
As can be seen in the fourth photo on this page (this is the same link posted above by strawberry in a comment of July, 2007), the name Hippodrome was on the street-spanning sign in front of what is unmistakably the Heilig Theatre building, and the house also had a vertical sign proclaiming it the Hip.
A June, 1912, Architectural Record article about Portland architecture features this photo of the Heilig Theatre. The caption also identifies the original architect of the Heilig as E. W. Houghton. I’ve been unable to discover who designed the theater’s 1954 remodeling into the Fox.
From 1963 a photo postcard view of the Fox Theatre along with the Paramount in Portland.
Looks like “Robin and the 7 Hoods” is coming soon on the Fox’s marquee.
And I thought I was getting pretty good at reading these fuzzy marquees. Good call William!
Dang! William don’t miss a thing, great catch.
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Now that is a great looking marquee.