Fox Venice Theatre

I have a couple year’s worth of Fox Venice programs from the late 70s. I don’t know exactly what possessed me to keep them, but I’m glad I did. Spent many hours there from around 76-82. I think I went to see Rocky Horror there every month, sometimes sat thru both showings.

Apologies: In the first sentence of my above post, the non-word “resused” is supposed to be the word REUSED.

Here are some July 2008 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/6lfbxl
http://tinyurl.com/5hkt2y
http://tinyurl.com/5zkn9v

Moved to Venice in 1975 when I was 23, and my first night in town went to the FV for a benefit for the Venice Renters League — Hearts of the West and The Apple War (Max von Sydow played an elf!). I sat next to a woman, started talking — we’ve been friends now, more than 30 years. In 76, I got a job there inspecting films. The Fox cared about projection quality and paid me or someone like me to ensure a good time for the audience. I ran every reel through my fingers and repaired broken splices and bad sprockets.

Amazing things happened at the Fox beyond the great double bills. Next to the projection room, the Fox had an editing bay they let filmmakers use. As a benefit for the director, who was there in person, they showed Les Blank’s great documentary about New Orleans culture in ‘Smellaround.’ We made huge vats of red beans and rice and wheeled them around the auditorium during the section of the movie where Irma Thomas showed how to make the dish, then had a post-film party in the theater for the entire audience with the beans and music playing.)

Toni Basil had a run of a live show with break dancing and punk dancing. I remember a chorus line of woman dancers in blood-spattered nurse’s uniforms as Suffragette City blasted away.

The Fox had ‘cry rooms’ at the back, glassed in rooms with their own speakers ostensibly for theatergoers to bring their babies to — though they were used most often by dope smokers and the lustful. It was my family, as it was for most of us who worked there.

The marquee neon from the Fox Venice was once a part of LA’s Museum of Neon Art’s permanent collection, and though i haven’t seen it resurface in many years, it was in good working condition last i saw.

I live near there. Inside what used to be the auditorium/lobby is a bunch of little stores, not separated by walls. I’ve bought stuff there, and all the prices were negotiable. Maybe that’s why they call it a swap meet. Behind the building, besides Smart N' Final, are a produce store and a toy store. I’ve been there lots of weekends, and have never seen anything going on in the parking lot.
I MISS THE FOX VENICE!

Perhaps it was formerly a swap meet. A business search reveals Fox Discount Department Store

620 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA, United States

Phone: (310) 392-3477

Location Type: Single Location

Embroidery Services’s Discount Department Store

The marquee says Department Store, the vertical says Swap Meet. Which is it?

In 1978-79, I worked as a waiter in a place called The Brandywine on Lincoln Blvd. I often atended films at The Fox Venice. Lastone I can rmember was Zardoz . Don’t think it was a first run but I can’t recall. It was a great place to enjoy movies . Robbie

I grew up in Santa Monica and spent many hours at the Fox Venice Theatre. As a child, I remember seeing “Yellow Submarine” and other films there in their original releases. Later, as a teenager, I went often to see films when it was a revival theatre-seeing “Rebel Without a Cause,” “La Strada,” and many other films for the first time there. It was a beautiful theatre with murals on the walls, art deco design and I have warm memories of it.

I was born in 1950 and grew-up in Venice. From a child’s eyes, the Fox Venice was magnificent! My Saturdays were often spent at the Fox taking in a double feature – War movies or Westerns, cartoons, shorts and newsreels. Sometimes there were activities for the kids, pie eating contests with prizes; a new Schwinn bike was given away one time, but most often, the prizes were candy or free tickets. I remember standing in line at the concession stand and buying my “Sugar Daddy” or “Charms” sucker with what was left from my fifty cent allowance. Either one was the good deal – long lasting. I’d get popcorn – if I had enough money. The game was, after you’d eaten the popcorn, you could flatten out the box, bend the bottom flaps down and presto! The coolest UFO you ever saw! The air inside the theater during intermission was often saturated with these “UFOs” – until the ushers started singling kids out with their flashlights. We’d immediately stop. (Sooo different from the story of the gang kids flicking cigarettes at the security guards years later). What an innocent time it was back in the late fifties and early sixties. I’ll never forget, so many times, walking into the theater, my snacks in hand, past the “crying room”, and sitting down in one of the red velvet-upholstered seats. I would rest my head back and look straight up at that beautiful domed ceiling. It used to remind me of an upside-down swimming pool. The gold-leafed decorative rim hid the purple neon lights that circled the giant oval and gave off a mystic glow. I used to love just staring at that ceiling. It was a magical time.
After the sixties had passed, and the Vietnam war had wound down, I attended Santa Monica College. My monthly check from the GI Bill was enough to pay tuition, books and help with the rent. I spent time at a fellow art student’s studio named Ken, who did the artwork for the new monthly Fox movie schedule. It was a great connection, because we’d get into the movies for free. I have to say, the folks who had given the Fox it’s second life really did a great job breathing new life into it. Along with everything else by then, the Fox had lost a bit of its luster, but early memories kept a warm spot in my heart for the old girl. After a couple of years, I moved to Long Beach to attend Cal State Long Beach. Since then, I’ve been back to Venice less times than the fingers on one hand. I’m a bit saddened to hear that the Fox now houses an indoor swap meet but on the other hand, the old girl is still there, and has somehow managed to avoid the wrecking ball. And now, after writing this, I suddenly have a real desire to leave my little San Clemente beach house, get in my car and head up to Venice. Who knows? Maybe in the very near future, some vendor at the Fox indoor swap meet might find himself getting smacked upside the head with a flying UFO in the shape of a flattened popcorn box! (Thanks for the site and thank you to the folks who posted links to the old Fox Venice photos – wow!).

Artist’s sketch, from the LA Library:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics49/00044365.jpg