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73-YEAR-OLD FOX THEATRE BRINGS A GOTHIC EXTERIOR AND AN ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY TO DOWNTOWN REDWOOD CITY

Sandie Wernick
Imtech Communications - (415) 928-7414 or (415) 350-9115

(Redwood City, November 7, 2001) - The Fox Theatre, the last of the classic single-screen movie houses that once anchored virtually every community's downtown on the Peninsula, originally opened as a vaudeville house and a movie theatre January 5, 1929 under the name, "The New Sequoia Theatre." Later that same year, in October, the building was bought by the Fox West Coast movie chain as part of the movie company's purchase of more than 100 theatres. It was renamed the Fox Theatre.

The original owner, Ellis John Arkush, was a very successful businessman who traveled through Europe and appreciated the different architectural styles he encountered during his travels. When he returned to the Bay Area, he hired the San Francisco architectural firm of Reid and Reid, known for designing the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel and the Hotel Del Coronado, to design a new theatre, specifically incorporating European design features. The resulting showcase featured a Spanish/Moorish interior and a Gothic Revival exterior. The interior was designed to evoke a Spanish plaza under a romantic dark blue sky. The "atmospheric theatre" theme, first invented by John Eberson in 1823, featured walls decorated in detailed alfresco plaster with Mediterranean motifs, complete with adobe-style red roof tiles, a pipe organ built by the Robert Morgan Organ Company, twinkling stars and constellations, and a project machine to broadcast lazily drifting clouds across the ceiling.

From the beginning, the Fox Theatre served as both a movie house and a stage for live vaudeville presentations, where the silent movies were just a small part of a big show. Thirty-piece orchestras played at the premier. The huge organ created hope and depression with its thunderous sound. Singers and dancers and other variety acts performed live on-stage. Up on the screen, ponderous filmed versions of plays and novels were sandwiched between serials, Westerns, newsreels, short subjects, comedies and sing-a-longs. This was the start of live entertainment at the Fox Theatre.

In June 1950, architect Carl Moeller was commissioned to completely redesign the interior of the Fox Theatre in Art Deco style. The redesign, "Age of Aquarius," included 30' high murals on the interior walls and the creation of a sweeping shell-shaped façade that covered over the original interior décor. This style included neon ceiling lights, fluorescent paint and swirling over-scaled plaster forms built over the original Moorish/Spanish "village" interiors. Many of the original Moorish designs on pillars and railings were left untouched. The exterior renovation remained the same style.

In 1986, a later owner, Justin Jacobs, gave the Fox building to the Palo Alto Players/ Peninsula Center Stage, a local theatre group that produced several stage plays throughout the year. In 1993, the Fox Theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The present owners, John Anagnostou, and his partner, Mike Monte, purchased the theatre in 1998 and undertook a major restoration and renovation. The theatre went through a thorough clean-up and renewal campaign that included all parts of the infrastructure, such as electrical, plumbing, heating and ventilation, communications, etc. Seats were reupholstered, carpeting replaced, the dressing rooms and bathrooms were restored and a new house sound system was installed. A new flexible seating system now covers about 2/3 of the auditorium of the theatre: seats can be rearranged, removed and replaced with tables and chairs for banquettes and dinner parties, or removed entirely for concerts, dances, proms, etc. State-of-the-art stage lighting and a top-of-the-line sound system for live performances, provided by Meyer Sound Laboratories, best known for their sound systems in such venues as Carnegie Hall, are soon to be installed. All these investments were planned and carried out to accommodate concerts, live performances and movies, but also future plans that include web-casted, satellite-based live performances, corporate meetings and special events.