Fox Theatre

Pictures of the new marquee (both lighted and unlighted) are on the theater’s facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/CentraliaFox

Ken, do you work for the Fox?

That’s great! I look forward to photographing it!

2010 photos can be seen here, here, here, here, and here. The owner of the theater has told me that this marquee is now gone.

Opera Pacific no longer has anything to do with this theater.

1986 Photo

Confirmed. They are using a video projector and showing DVD’s.

A new website for the Fox Theater in Centralia, Washington:

http://centraliafoxtheater.com/Renovations.html

Article In local Paper
Historic Fox Theater Repurchased by the City of Centralia

According to the Centralia Chronicle, the City of Centralia has made a HUGE step of progress in the downtown revitalization effort by repurchasing the historic Fox Theater on the corner of College Way (Locust Street) and S. Tower Avenue.

KUDOS to the City of Centralia for stepping in to lead the way with the restoration efforts to bring the Fox Theater back to glory! Again the City of Centralia City Council has stood behind their public commitment to a complete and total revitalization of the historic downtown. The Centralia City Council has demonstrated their true devotion to the success of the downtown business community by committing to do the work to properly restore the Fox and return the theater to operation.

It is estimated that the Fox Theater restoration will take $2.5 – $3.5 million dollars to fully restore. Currently the city does not have these restoration funds available. However, Economic Development Director, Polo Enriquez, has committed to lead the effort to raise the necessary funds to complete the project successfully.

Theaters are an essential part of the downtown mix in a historic city. Before mass media, the local theater was the hot spot in town for entertainment. Most every historic downtown we have traveled to has one or more great old theaters. The Fox Theater is a delightful example of a wonderful performance venue. A busy downtown theater signifies an active culture for the arts, sets a mood and atmosphere of excitement for entertainment and creates a certain “buzz” to the downtown that something exhilarating is going on.

An active and booked theater also brings many new and welcome faces to the downtown district to mingle and socialize before and after the show. The theater is one of the strongest pulling attractions that a downtown has to offer. Quality entertainment and frequent bookings are key to the success of the venue.

A fully restored Fox Theater will be a welcome addition to the downtown district. This renovation effort will give the citizens of Centralia an opportunity to get involved with the fund raising, which will in turn bring a sense of pride and ownership of the community theater that has been a vital part of historic downtown for the last century. It is estimated that the Fox Theater will be operation in 12-18 months and fully restored in 36-48 months.

This is a recent photo of the Fox Theater.

No, it now has around 500 nearly new seats (with cupholder armrests) installed on the main floor and around 200 older good condition used seats installed in the balcony. New stair/step lighting has been installed in the balcony. Alot of cleaning and painting has been done to the auditorium. The dividing walls in the balcony that made up the two small theaters is gone so that the theater is a single screen again. Movies in 16mm can be run in the lower projection booth. The main heater in the basement is fully functional again. It puts out 3,000,000 BTU.

I still have equipment in the projection booth I need to get out.

Here’s a picture of the marquee as of Sept 18, 2007:

View link

It still has no wiring, no electricity, no neon, and the readerboard that faces north has no glass panels in it.