Crest Theatre
1160 Broadway Plaza,
Fresno,
CA
93721
1160 Broadway Plaza,
Fresno,
CA
93721
16 people
favorited this theater
Located on the outskirts of downtown Fresno, the exterior of the former Crest Theatre is a stark Moderne style box with an exceptional marquee. It opened on July 7, 1949 and was operated by Fox West Coast Theatres.
“The interior is very well maintained courtesy of a friendly porter, who let me inside. Although he wouldn’t turn on the lights, my flashing camera lights revealed beautifully ornate gold leaf details. Facing the stage and curtained screen you feel like sitting in a sea shell.”
The theater later became a church, the Iglesias Universales, but as of January 2005, the church has vacated the building, and the former theater is now rented out for concerts, movies and special events.
Contributed by
CinemAFuchs
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Recent comments (view all 44 comments)
Here is a night picture my grandfather took of the Crest Theater neon sign in all its glory back in the theater’s heyday.
http://www.krcenterprises.com/Fresno/
My grandfather owned Kaden Neon and Plastic Sign Company back in the 30’s through the late 60’s and designed and built the neon signs and marquees for many of the famous theaters in Fresno including the Warnors, Tower, Wilson and Crest. He also designed and built many other famous neon signs in the Fresno area. My uncle designed the old Manchester center sign. I even got to work in my grandfather’s shop in the early 60’s and he allowed me to design and build a motel drive sign. I think the motel is now a hooker hangout! In the summers that I worked for him, I got to watch my grandfather design the signs from scratch. Then I watched Howard build the metal housings. Then Joe would paint them. Then I watched Woody do the masterful bending and filling of the glass tubes and watched them come to life on his work table. I remember playing with the mercury that he used. It formed a ball in my hand and when I dropped it on the floor, it broke into hundreds of tiny ball bearings as it danced across the floor. It was very expensive and Woody got mad at me when I did it. Of course now we know how toxic Mercury is! Then I got to go and help Al and Lee put the signs up with their 80 foot cranes. Very scary indeed! My grandfather was a master craftsman and as honest as they came back then. He was very respected in Fresno during Fresno’s greatest period in my book…the 40’s through the 60’s.
Great Picture!! Now thats how it should be done. Fox West Coast houses had real eye catching marquees.
Oh, I hope there is a planet named Theatre somewhere in this omniverse. We will find all of our favorites, preserved…..
Another photo of the Crest.
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The Crest Theatre Fresno is the same as the Crest Sacramento CA. Must have had the same Fox West Coast people do the remodel in Sacramento.
Correction! My uncle just corrected some of my errors. The Crest marquee was already built by the theater owner (Fox?) and my grandfather’s shop (then a partner in Olsen signs)created all the neon work. If you look at the marquee today, it is pretty ugly without all that beautiful neon so I’d say my grandfather (and his team) really made that marquee pop! My uncle also corrected me in saying that my grandfather’s shop also created the other theater signs in Fresno. They were there before my grandfather arrived in Fresno. His and Olsen sign companies just serviced the signs. What do you expect? I was a little kid at the time and just thought my “gramps” did all these beautiful things! I still got in for free in most of the theaters!
The present CREST marquee/neon work was part of the Skouras remodel done in very early 50’s. This was a Fox West Coast Theatre/National General Theatre.
One of the nicest marquees and verticals I have ever seen.
Photos of the Crest Theatre.
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A 2012 photo can be seen here.