Fox Theatre
514 Center Street,
Taft,
CA
93268
514 Center Street,
Taft,
CA
93268
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 34 comments found
Opening weekend went well. There are some photos in this issue of the Taft Independent
http://issuu.com/taftindependent/docs/ti_2-24-12_all
Reopening is here! http://taftindependent.com/foxy-lady-opens-once-again-p246-90.htm
Reopening planned for 2012.
http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/features/x1015652602/Back-by-popular-demand-The-Fox-Theater
http://taftindependent.com/taft-fox-theater-reopening-soon-p227-90.htm
Great news, the Fox Theater is opening back up. Marty Stuart is performing for the theater Friday, June 10, 2011.
Such an awesome marquee, it should be saved and the neon restored, they are not made like this anymore,,,, move it to a new theatre and restore it.. It appears to be similar to the PIX that was on Hollywood Blvd,(Now Henry Fonda Theatre, they should of kept the neon marquee) huge flashing neon colors, just beautiful !!
The theater has been closed and the most recent operator has begun to remove equipment: View link
Apparently the immediate threat to the Fox has been relieved: View link
This theater is in danger of foreclosure and closing: http://www.turnto23.com/news/25690759/detail.html
Here is an early photo of the Hippodrome. The movie on the poster leaning against the building is “The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin”, a film released in 1918. Even if the photo comes from a later year, the style of the building is characteristic of the 1910s, at the latest. I’m sure it isn’t the house that became the Fox, but an earlier theater.
The Fox is undoubtedly the building that is mentioned in two Southwest Builder & Contractor items (July 17 and October 2, 1925) that are cited in the California Index at the Los Angeles Public Library. This project was designed for West Coast Theatres by architect Lewis A. Smith. The Fox building, despite the later alterations which stripped it of its original decor and moved its entrance to the stage house end of the theater, is in its form typical of Smith’s 1920s designs.
The opening must have taken place in either late 1925 or early 1926. The new theater was built partly on the Hippodrome’s site, but is considerably larger than the old Hippodrome. A postcard dated July 4, 1926, (unlinked, as it is at an unstable auction site url) shows the new theater in place. The furniture store seen in Don Lewis’s photo of theold Hippodrome (comment of Sep 4, 210) is also seen. Another postcard (also at an auction site, but probably more stable) is very pale, but shows the new, theater with Hippodrome on its vertical sign.
It’s possible that the original Hippodrome had a different name earlier in its history. The California Index includes cards referencing theaters in Taft called the Optic (having a cooling system installed, according to Southwest Builder & Contractor, February 16, 1916) and White’s Savoy Theatre (opening announcement, The Rounder, September 2, 1911.) The name Hippodrome is not mentioned in the Index in connection with any Taft theater.
There is a possibility that another theater had been built in Taft in 1924. Southwest Builder & Contractor of August 1 that year said that the contract had been awarded to erect a theater and store building at the corner of 4th and North streets in Taft, for the Valley Investment Company. There is currently a building which might have been a theater, on the southwest corner of that intersection, which now houses an automobile agency.
Another theater project, a 1600-seat house for National Theatres which was proposed for the corner of 4th and North streets in 1925 probably didn’t get built, but the southwest corner of that intersection is now a parking lot large enough to have accommodated a theater of that size.
Not theater related, but interesting, is the information on this web page from the Kern County Museum. It says that before it was renamed Taft in 1909, the town was called Moron. I’ll politely refrain from further comment.
The theater’s future appear uncertain: View link
From the early 1900s a postcard view of the Hippodrome Theatre (before it became the Fox) in Taft.
The current owner of the theater building want to sell the operation of the theater: View link
The Fox is still open Chuck. This is a recent b/w photo.
I believe this is the theater seen in the Kurt Russell film “ Best of Times” during the parade scene.
Here is a link to the Fox. Nothing on the Marquee at all.
View link
Yes. The correct number of screens for the Taft Fox Theatre is three. My family owned the theatre and I was the general manager of the theatre when the two additional screens were added.
This theater is still for sale. $1,995,000. Details The description claims that “this property consists of the Fox Theater at 21,820 sq.ft. with 3 theaters”. Should screens be changed to three?
The date given for this photo is May 1, 1951.
Here is a 1999 photo.
Here is a photo of a Hippodrome Theater on Center Street in Taft, California.
theater for sale loopnet ……..
Here is another photo of the Fox Theater.
The fire was on 2/22/50:
Fire Razes $500,000 Theater at Taft
TAFT, Feb. 22. The Hippodrome Theater, valued at $500,000, was destroyed by fire today along with five stores housed in the theater building. Flames were first discovered in the balcony at 2:40 a.m. and investigators theorized that a cigarette may have caused the fire. The 1800-seat theater was built 20 years ago.
Here is a photo of the Fox Theater.
The New Fox Taft Theatre reopened on May 1st, 1951.
the web site for the theater is http://www.taftfoxtheaters.com