Fox California Theater
241 Main Street,
Salinas,
CA
93901
241 Main Street,
Salinas,
CA
93901
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 39 comments found
Here is the ticket booth in 2009:
http://tinyurl.com/y4qgbar
Here is another 2009 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yb4g3hn
A recent night photo can be seen here.
Here is a nice 2009 photo.
1946 Photo
1981 Photo
1984 Photo
1984 Night Photo
The L.A. Library’s California Index contains a card citing an item in the May, 1935, issue of Architect & Engineer which said that architect Alexander A. Cantin had prepared the plans for remodeling the T&D Theatre in Salinas, and that the house would now be called the Fox Theatre.
I can’t find anything about who did the 1949 remodeling, but my guess would be that it was Charles Skouras’s favorite designer of the era, Carl G. Moeller.
This is a November 2008 photo.
More photos can be seen here.
I just visited Salinas on August 8, 2008, and took a ton of pictures of the Fox California Theater, including the front, sign, ticket booth and interior.
Here is an April 2008 photo.
Already did it Gary.
tld
Holly: contact me below, and I can steer you in the right direction re. those historic photos.
I’ve been working on the Fox Theater Salinas web site for the new owners (www.foxtheatersalinas.com) and I’d love to have a few of the old pictures for the history page. Can anyone help me? I’m a transplant to Salinas – by the time I got here it was redone. What I’d really like are the old black and whites like the one one this page (or permission to use that one if anyone knows how to contact the owner).
This is another recent photo of the Fox California Theater.
A theatre historian/collector friend of mine just acquired a stack of photos showing the Fox California with its pre-Skouras, but deco interior—very thoroughly photographed. There were chandeliers identical to those still in the Watsonville Fox, what appear to be the original Cornelius-designed organ grilles were visible, though flanked by simple moderne pilasters which now flank Skouras swirls. The metal poles supporting the balcony still had their original 20s plaster, with Ionic capitals just like the ones which still exist in the Mezzanine passageway. Speaking of the latter, the three gold-painted goddess figures were not there. Rather, the space between the Ionic pilasters was occupied by a very classy deco mural of leaping gazelles and-or hounds amid stylized foliage. In both lobby spaces and auditorium, there were simple moderne wall light fixtures where the present sheet-metal-foliage fixtures are.
Not surprisingly, the deco etched mirror in the lobby had a twin where the concession stand now is.
That photo is interesting. It is from probably about 1934 or so.
The bank building on the right (still standing) does not have all its windows in it yet. That bank building has some woderfully preserved high art deco features including light fixtures and plaster
bas relief panels that would have looked right at home in the Oakland Paramount.
That F-O-X vertical sign is from 1927 and is still on the building.
As is probably mentioned above, the present “skin” over the original facade was added in 1948 or 49. The original A.W. Cornelius facade is still under that “skin”. However, the top of the facade was built of brick and was largely demolished. This includes the urns and ornamentation along the original facade’s top. The columns, arched windows, and probably the statues are still there.
A photo in the local newspaper morgue shows the statues still in-place as the “skin” was being applied over the original facade.
The Fox is on the right in this undated photo from the CA state library:
View link
Here is a recent photo of the Fox California Theater.
During a brief breakfast stop in Salinas on the way to Visalia this past weekend, I got to check out the Fox facade. It’s wearing a nice bright paint job, similar to, but a little simpler than its previous one. The vertical sign and marquee have likewise been repainted. The reader boards have been removed from the marquee, presumably for either new ones or new signage. The frames of the poster cases are now done in gold. The box office gleams with fresh paint and polish. The lobby still has its dark early 1990s carpeting, but the walls are painted in reddish hues, much nicer, I think, than the previous salmon and blue-grey. I noticed one small tragedy: The last remaining etched glass door panel is now cracked. The front doors—and their etched panels—have long been the only publically visible feature of the original Neoclassical facade. In the 1990s, I made a rubbing of the then-still-extant other remaining etched panel, with the idea that this would be an insurance policy if ever all of the panels were gone. I still have the rubbing. The panel I took it from was a little more defined in its design than the one extant today.
As a longtime etched glass artist, I will try to contact the new operators, and see if I can be of service. I will not use this Cinematreasures post to trumpet my business contact information, but anyone involved with the project is welcome to contact me below, and we’ll take it from there.
Geeze. Thinking ahead and writing behind. This quote from above is NOT complete:
>Regarding the posting above by Pat Molinari, you were looking in >the wrong place. When the present facade was built circa 1948-49, >the ornate top cornice work (built on brick) was chipped away. >Below that, that cast concrete columns and window arches are in >place—but you can only see the main center arched window and >Corinthian comlumns on each side of the central window.
The only place these items can be seen is from on top of the marquee.
The original facade is quite spectacular. A 1930s deco bas relief panel occupies this former arched window space in the upstairs lobby.
BTW, I was lucky enough to be in the FOX a week or so ago. The bars that are being added upstairs are great! They are in the style of the theatre and do not look out of place at all. Good job Tim and company!
Here is a link to a photo of the auditorium of the Sac'to Crest.
http://www.thecrest.com/pictures/new_pic1.cfm
While not exactly the same, it bears a striking similarity to the Salinas Fox-California.
Regarding the posting above by Pat Molinari, you were looking in the wrong place. When the present facade was built circa 1948-49, the ornate top cornice work (built on brick) was chipped away. Below that, that cast concrete columns and window arches are in place—but you can only see the main center arched window and Corinthian comlumns on each side of the central window.
A photo in the Steinbeck Library newspaper morgue shows the new facade was built right over the original from 1921. All that can be seen from the attic above the projection booth is the chipped away brick.
I would expect if some exploration cameras were lowered into the spaces, the rest of the remaining facade is probably intact. The photo at the library shows the statues being covered over!
If one looks at the photos of the theatre when it was near new, you can clearly see the urns and cornices at the roof line. All that is gone. It can also be seen that the roof structure was lowered to meet the new 1948 facade. If you look at the top of the concrete on the front of the north wall, you can see where concrete has been filled in to meet this new facade.
The California Theatre was remodeled in the early 1930s—Probably about 1935. That was when the organ chambers were scooped out and fire exits for the balcony run through them. The remains of the 1935 redecoration remains, hidden from view, behind the gold-leaf bands that run up each side of the auditorium front and across the ceiling. Only seen from behind, the covered over pattern appears to be the same as the various grills above the balcony and at the rear of the main floor under the balcony.
We videotaped an exploration of this long covered over area and these grills from 1935 are clearly in view. There was another large star shaped decoration above the present ceiling.
I understand the decorative neon lighting circuits in the coves of the 1949 auditorium are being restored. This will be great! This theatre is very much like a smaller scale version of the Crest in Sacramento. If one wants to see what the California auditorium could look like, check out the website for the Sac'to Crest Theatre.
Employee Zero above mentions the 1938 El Rey Theatre. That theatre was really quite nice until a church took over and painted out the murals on the theatre’s walls. There was never a stage, other than a small thrust stage and enough space to house the speakers. The place has been closed so long, that I am sure any grandfather clauses that might have applied to the building have run out. That means the place needs to be 100% brought up to code.
I remember the interior quite vividly. It was a very nicely decorated theatre. The murals on the side walls were quite something. Apparently the erstwhile church (that never even used the El Rey) painted out the murals because they felt they were too racey. What a waste.
Another Update on the Fox’s Restoration/Remodel project. Looks like the new owners have started peeling/repainting of the exterior…Look/Read for yourselves:
View link
I do have to say I love the idea of the banquet style seating…I just think it could really bring some old charm to the Fox. Can’t wait to visit it after the restoration/remodel.
This is a photo of the Fox California Theater.
Employee Zero, here is the page on Cinema Treasures for Cinema I, the former El Rey Theater.