Fox Cineplex is D'Place
60 W. Ramsey Street,
Banning,
CA
92220
60 W. Ramsey Street,
Banning,
CA
92220
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Now owned and operated by D’Place Entertainment. https://dplaceentertainment.com/location/fox-cineplex
Celebrated its grand reopening on December 3rd, 1953. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
“The Rocketeer” was presented at the Fox in 35mm Dolby Stereo beginning on Friday June 21, 1991.
All three screens will be upgraded to 4K digital projection as of March 22,2013.
A January 28,1974 story in Box Office Magazine about the theatres' reopening by a Kansas couple who said that no R or X movies would play there after the previous owner turned it into a short-lived porn theatre.(National General closed it in ‘73)
http://tinyurl.com/bt33n6e
Several of the photos on this page of thumbnails include views of the Banning Theatre, from the 1920s to the 1950s.
A 1940’s street scene, showing the Banning Theatre & sign:
View link
Heres a photo from 2007 I posted on my blog:
Fox Theater 1/27/07 – Nothing Dies With Blue Skies.com
I love the fact that this is an old theatre. Built in 1928, made it interesting to me. I visited it for the first time in 1978 and became a steady customer. Drive from riverside Ca, whenever a new movie comes out, we prepare ourselves to enjoy the whole movie experience by having their delicious popcorn on one hand, a juicy hot dog on the other, and our soft drink of choice! since their renovation, it’s now more comfortable, very nice to look at, although the letters on the marquee above the ticket booth are a bit small for my eyes to read, the people are nice and respectful, and it just feels like it’s my very own family theatre. Did I mention their prices?? $5.00 to watch a good movie is extremely reasonable, with yet wednesdays for less! I hope it stays in business for many, many years.
Great Shot,Ken mc.
Here is a night shot:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3ohlo
Here is a marquee shot:
http://tinyurl.com/yhs57sl
Went here on New Years Day to see SHERLOCK HOLMES. The lobby and arcade areas are quite nice but the new rocking chair seats in the auditorium we were in(#2 in the front of the building)are highly uncomfortable(so said my mom)and the handicapped stall was too narrow for my wheelchair. Presentation is still just ok.
Still a bargain,though,for first run movies @ $5.00,half off all day Wednesday.
The new picture looks much better than the 1982 pic.It may be small but at least its up and running again.
The renovations are complete: the story can be read here: View link
The theatre will close August 28 for renovations and have planned an early November reopening.
Having moved to the area nearly 3 years ago,(I live in nearby Calimesa)I’ve been here several times. It’s not a favorite,sad to say.
The lobby is small and cramped,there’s a game room to your left as you enter the building that looks like it was a lounge.
The two screens in the front half half of the place are small,but not that bad. the sound is ok.
That third screen,where they move certain movies from the main screens,is a nightmare. Located in the back of the building and accessible,at least for wheelchairs,through a side door in the parking lot with help from an “usher”.
It’s tiny(about 200 seats,i guess)and smells.
It looks like it used to ba an office or something.
It’s a bargain,though,at $5.00 general admission.
The
This venerable house opened as the Banning Theatre on May 23, 1928, and only later became part of the Fox-West Coast circuit. The opening of the Banning Theatre was featured in an article in Exhibitor’s Herald & Moving Picture World issue of June 9, 1928. Equipped with a stage and fly tower, the house could host Vaudeville and other live theatrical events in addition to showing movies. According to local Banning history buff Kenneth Holzclaw, it once hosted a live broadcast of Bob Hope’s radio show.
I was told that this old theatre is actually designed and was used originally for live theatre.
This theatre is one of some 200 that could be described as “Skouras-ized For Showmanship” which is the title of the ANNUAL of 1987 of the Theatre Historical Soc. of America. In the late 1930s through the 1950s, there occurred on the west coast of the United States a phenomenon known as the ‘Skouras style’ in recognition of the oversight of the Skouras brothers in their management of several cinema chains. They employed a designer by the name of Carl G. Moeller to render their cinemas/theatres in a new style best described as ‘Art Moderne meets Streamlined.’ The then new availability of aluminum sheeting at low cost was the principal material difference to this style allowing for sweeping, 3-dimensional shapes of scrolls to adorn walls and facades in an expression that would have been much more expensive and not at all the same in plaster. With the use of hand tinted and etched aluminum forms, the designers could make ornaments in mass production that allowed much greater economies of scale. The ANNUAL also show in its 44 pages how some 20 theatres were good examples of this combining of aluminum forms with sweeping draperies heavily hung with large tassels, and with box offices and facades richly treated with neon within the aluminum forms. Few of these examples survive today, but it was a glorious era while it lasted, and this collection of crisp b/w photos is a fitting epitaph by the late Preston Kaufmann.
PHOTOS AVAILABLE:
To obtain any available Back Issue of either “Marquee” or of its ANNUALS, simply go to the web site of the THEATRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA at:
www.HistoricTheatres.org
and notice on their first page the link “PUBLICATIONS: Back Issues List” and click on that and you will be taken to their listing where they also give ordering details. The “Marquee” magazine is 8-1/2x11 inches tall (‘portrait’) format, and the ANNUALS are also soft cover in the same size, but in the long (‘landscape’) format, and are anywhere from 26 to 44 pages. Should they indicate that a publication is Out Of Print, then it may still be possible to view it via Inter-Library Loan where you go to the librarian at any public or school library and ask them to locate which library has the item by using the Union List of Serials, and your library can then ask the other library to lend it to them for you to read or photocopy. [Photocopies of most THSA publications are available from University Microforms International (UMI), but their prices are exorbitant.]
Note: Most any photo in any of their publications may be had in large size by purchase; see their ARCHIVE link. You should realize that there was no color still photography in the 1920s, so few theatres were seen in color at that time except by means of hand tinted renderings or post cards, thus all the antique photos from the Society will be in black and white, but it is quite possible that the Society has later color images available; it is best to inquire of them.
Should you not be able to contact them via their web site, you may also contact their Executive Director via E-mail at:
Or you may reach them via phone or snail mail at:
Theatre Historical Soc. of America
152 N. York, 2nd Floor York Theatre Bldg.
Elmhurst, ILL. 60126-2806 (they are about 15 miles west of Chicago)
Phone: 630-782-1800 or via FAX at: 630-782-1802 (Monday through Friday, 9AM—4PM, CT)