115 N. Market St. Inglewood, CA 90301 | map |
Opened: March 31, 1949 with "Mr. Belvedere Goes to College," starring Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple. Both appeared at the opening. The Fox replaced the Granada Theatre which was destroyed by fire in 1945. The theatre is on the west side of Market a block and a half north of
Manchester. The United Artists that was across the street has been demolished.
The 1955 photo by Alan Weeks is in the collection of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society. Thanks to Sean Ault for locating it. It also makes an appearance in an album from Metro Library and Archive on Flickr.
Seating: 1,008 with the upper section done stadium-style.
Architects: S. Charles Lee and Carl G. Moeller designed the building for Fox West Coast using elements out of Fox's standard "Skouras Style" sourcebook. It's very similar to a number of other Fox circuit theatres up and down the coast, especially the Fresno Crest and Sacramento Crest. The construction cost was reported to be $400,000.
At a time when much design was getting the modern look, the head of Fox West Coast Theatres, Charles Skouras, had his architectural team in the late 40s and early 50s take a different tack towards a lush neo-baroque feel. The program was an attempt to create a program so theatres could be remodeled (or constructed from scratch as the Fox Inglewood was) in an economical fashion while creating a new sumptuous feel for post-war audiences with new expectations of luxury.
While many of the buildings ended up quite different from each other, you could always spot certain prefabricated elements: lush red draperies, exotic gold plaster swirls encompassing the proscenium, etched aluminum surround panels at the snack bar and drinking fountains, etc. The basic program was applied to hundreds of theatres. While the components differed, the consistent style was unmistakable. Fox maintained its own huge assembly plant to produce many of the decorative elements.
In a remodel it might be just a shiny "padded-looking" gold and aluminum snack bar and a few Skouras swirls below the proscenium like the Palace downtown. Or it could mean gutting the building and ending up with a totally new creation in an old shell like the Crest in Sacramento.
The Fox Inglewood was once popular as a venue for sneak previews. In addition to the Fox lettering, the vertical had an overlay of neon tubing saying "Preview" that could be flashed on and off on preview nights. It the first theatre in Inglewood to have air conditioning. It
also featured headsets for the hearing impaired and a cry room.
Closing: Mann Theatres, the successor company to Fox West Coast and National General, ran the house until October 1974, getting out the same month they closed the Academy Theatre. The Fox then was operated as an independent. The United Artists across the street, after a spell as a Mitchell Bros. porno venue, was for a time called the Fox II. For its final years, the Fox was running as a Spanish language film house. It finally closed in 1984.
Since closing it's just been sitting there as a
curiously well preserved period piece. Hillsman Wright has called it "a
time capsule from 1949." The theatre was added to the National Register in 2013. In 2009 the owner was trying to sell the
building for the best offer he could get above $200,000.
Status: The building has been owned since around 2018 by Thomas Safran & Associates,
a firm specializing in developing affordable housing projects. No plans for the building have been announced. Escott
O. Norton of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation reports that
the firm has no desire to be in the theatre business and has no plans to
retain the building's use as a theatre due to its present deteriorated
condition.
Saving the facade and perhaps the lobby are
possibilities. Yet Safran has indicated a willingness to retain the
theatre if a qualified tenant were to emerge. The firm also has other
property on Market St. as well as three completed residential projects
nearby.
Not news: There was a bit of gossip in 2022 about a sale by Safran. A June 4 post
on the blog 2 Urban Girls from someone calling themselves Inglewoodian noted:
The ticket lobby:
A c.1984 view after the Fox had become a Spanish language house. It's a photo by Matt Spero.
The Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation is actively involved in the study and preservation of the many vintage theatres in the Los Angeles area. The group frequently supports events and offers tours of the buildings. www.lahtf.org | group Facebook page | official FB page
The ticket lobby in 2014. Thanks to Matt Lambros for his photo. It's one of eleven great views appearing with his 2015 "After The Final Curtain" post about the Fox Inglewood. In addition to the blog, there's also a Facebook page detailing his theatre explorations. The Fox is one of the theatres featured in Matt's book "After the Final Curtain: The Fall of The American Movie Theater." It's available on Amazon.
The main lobby and lounges:
Thanks to Wendell Benedetti for this 2010 lobby view, originally appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page.
A c.1949 look at the telephone booth, drinking fountain and house left ramp into the auditorium. The photo appeared on a now-revamped page on the site Culture Now.
A plaster detail. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2010
The auditorium:
A ceiling detail by New Stone Age that once appeared with "Touring the Fox Theatre," a 2010 story by Zack Behrens on LAist.
The ceiling dome as we look back toward the booth. Thanks to Don Solosan for his photo. It's one of five that appeared with Adrian Glick Kudler's 2012 Curbed L.A. Article "Fox Inglewood Theatre on Its Way to National Register."
An area of the carpet with a mushroom crop. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2010
A detail of the painted aluminum panel on the floor in front of the curtain. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2010
A 2008 look back toward the booth by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre. The photo appears on their site MarchandMeffre.com. Visit their Theaters portfolio for great views of the venues they've explored. They're mostly on the east coast but they did pay a visit to the Westlake.
This image makes an appearance in the duo's book "Movie Theaters" (Prestel, 2021). It's available on Amazon or from your local bookseller. Photos from the book appear with "Beauty and decay: Inside America's derelict movie theatres," an August 2021 post on the site Wallpaper. The Fox image and many others also appear with "Large Format Camera Captures the Decay of America's Movie Theaters," an August 2022 article on the site PetaPixel.
Checking out the upper seating section. Note the cry room to the left of the booth. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2010. Thanks, Michelle!
An uncredited look down from the top that once appeared on the Facebook page for the restaurant Wich Stand. Thanks to Stephen Russo for spotting it.
In the booth:
A view across the booth. There's a dumbwaiter for film cans down at the far end. Photo: Matt Lambros - 2014. Thanks, Matt! Pay him a visit at AfterTheFinalCurtain.net to get news of his latest explorations, workshops, and books.
A view back in the other direction. Thanks to Don Solosan for his photo from the LAHTF Facebook page. He notes that the cry room is through the door seen out the far end of the booth. Note the amp rack for the Ampex mag stereo system by the door with a 4 channel monitor on top.
More exterior views:
1952 - A lovely panorama looking north on Market St. with the Fox on the left. On the right is the Ritz Theatre with the United Artists beyond. It's a detail from a much larger photo by Joseph Fadler taken for Southern California Edison that's in the Huntington Library collection. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor BifRayRock for finding it in the collection for his Noirish post #37847.
1955 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this fine view looking south toward the United Artists and the Fox.
1958 - A fine view of the theatre's signage by Pat Underwood that appears on a page in the Neon Theatre Southern California section of Syd Nagoshi's site Roadside Peek. Bill Gabel also has it as a post on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.
c.1960 - A great shot looking south on Market St. The United Artists is on the left (running "A Summer Place" and "Moby Dick") and the Fox is on the right. The photo appears on the Online Archive of California site as a contribution from the Inglewood Public Library.
1961 - South on Market St. in a June photo with the United Artists on the left running "Konga" and the Fox on the right with "The Young Savages." The photo is on Calisphere as a contribution from the Inglewood Public Library.
1975 - A look up the street at the Fox. It's a photo in the Inglewood Public Library collection appearing on Calisphere.
1980s - A look south by an unknown photographer. On the left the United Artists is in its Fox Cinema II days.
1987 - A Paul Chinn photo taken for the Herald Examiner. It's in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.
2009 - Thanks to Don Solosan for this photo, one appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page.
The Fox is the site of a terrorist bombing in "Wanted Dead or Alive" (New World Pictures, 1987). The crime drama, directed by Gary Sherman, stars Rutger Hauer as the bounty hunter solving the case and Gene Simmons as the terrorist who has some past issues with Hauer. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for eight more shots of the action at the Fox.
"Do you really like movies? When's the last time you went to see a movie in a theatre?... A movie that really meant something to you?" asks Lindsey Lohan in Paul Schrader's "The Canyons" (IFC Films, 2013). This wide-angle shot of the Fox is in the opening credits for the film, which begins and ends with desaturated views of abandoned movie theatres. Written by Bret Easton Ellis, it's a thriller about some sad people on the fringes of the film business. See the Historic L.A. Theatres In Movies post for shots of other theatres from the film.
The Fox on Video: See "Insider's Peek #1," a 4 minute video on You Tube with Hillsman Wright of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation.
More information: Cinema Treasures has a page on the theatre. Check out the 2005 LA Weekly story "Welcome to Inglewood -- Leave Your Aspirations Behind" for a nice discussion of Inglewood and what happened to it by Erin Aubry Kaplan.
Curbed LA ran a story "Fox on the Auction Block" in December 2009. An auction was set for February 2010 but didn't happen. There was hope that the City of Inglewood would consider purchasing the building. That didn't happen. A 2012 Curbed LA piece "..On Its Way To National Register" featured a selection of photos by LAHTF's Don Solosan.
The Inglewood Fox Theatre Alliance (IFTA) was formed with the goal of building a coalition to restore the Fox as a multi-purpose entertainment venue. That organization evidently has been dormant since 2014.
The 2015 Matt Lambros "After The Final Curtain" article on the Fox Inglewood has a good history of the building along with many of his fine photos.
The LAHTF had been trying to drum up support for the plan by giving tours and organizing community meetings. On the LAHTF website see a 2015 advocacy statement noting the building's prospects as seen at that time. Also see their separate page with a 2017 advocacy statement.
See our page here on this site about the Granada Theatre, earlier at this location.
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