Fox Oakland Theatre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fox Oakland Theater, is a vacant 3,800-seat movie theater, located on Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, California. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Fox Oakland Theatre opened as a cinema in 1928. Originally intended to be named "The Bagdad" (sic) because of its Middle-Eastern influenced architecture, it was instead given the name "West Coast Oakland." The following year it was renamed the "Fox Oakland" when the Fox and West Coast theatre chains merged. The theater housed a "Mighty Wurlitzer" theatre organ (the organ was sold in 1960 and is now in a private home in Shingletown, California).
By the 1960's, the theater was in decline on account of the trend toward smaller multiplex theaters. It stopped showing first-run movies in 1962, dabbled briefly in soft-porn films, and permanently closed in 1970, after showing its final film, The Beatles' "Let It Be."
After closing, the theater barely escaped destruction several times. It suffered an arson fire in 1973 but was not heavily damaged. The city considered tearing it down in 1975 to make room for a parking lot. The theater was spared when it was made a Oakland City Landmark in 1978. The following year it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1996, the City of Oakland bought the building for $3 million. Some badly-needed restoration work began in 1999. By late 2001, the marquee and blade sign had been restored. In December 2004, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency received a $2.9 million grant for further restoration of the theater. There are plans for Oakland School for the Arts to move into the theater and construction began in September 2006.
