Fox Oakland Theatre 2002
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Location | 1807 Telegraph Avenue Oakland, California, USA |
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Coordinates | 37°48′28″N 122°16′12″W / 37.8079°N 122.27013°W |
Owner | City of Oakland |
Operator | Another Planet Entertainment |
Type | Indoor theatre |
Seating type | Orchestra, Balcony |
Capacity | 2,800 |
Construction | |
Opened | 1928 |
Renovated | February 5, 2009 |
Closed | 1973 |
Website | |
Fox-Oakland Theatre
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Location | 1807–29 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, California |
Coordinates | 37°48′32″N 122°16′9″W / 37.80889°N 122.26917°WCoordinates: 37°48′32″N 122°16′9″W / 37.80889°N 122.26917°W |
Built | 1928 |
Architectural style | Art Deco |
NRHP Reference # | 79000468 |
Added to NRHP | February 2, 1979 |
The Fox Oakland Theatre is a 2,800-seat concert hall, a former movie theater, located at 1807 Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, California. It originally opened in 1928, running films until 1970. Designed by Weeks and Day, the theatre is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was refurbished in the 2000s and reopened as a concert venue on February 5, 2009.
Originally intended to be named "The Bagdad" because of its Middle Eastern influenced architecture, the theater instead displayed the name "The Oakland" on the marquee, with the word "Oakland" forming the main portion of the vertical blade sign above the marquee. It was also known as the "West Coast Oakland". The Oakland became the 251st theater to open in the West Coast Theater chain. Opening day was October 27, 1928, after two years of construction. The opening celebration was highly anticipated by the Bay Area residents, as the theater's 3,200 seats made it the largest in Oakland, more than the nearby Orpheum which held 2,561, and more than the new 1075-seat Dufwin which had opened three weeks earlier. The first film shown at the Oakland was Fox's The Air Circus, an early sound film. Live performances took place on stage between films and newsreels, including "King of the Banjo" Eddie Peabody. House Music was provided by the Hermie King band with 20 members, and by an organist playing the house organ, a Wurlitzer Opus 1960 with 3 manuals and 15 ranks of pipes. A staff of 150 was required to run the theater.
In March 1929, the theater was renamed the "Fox Oakland" when William Fox bought the West Coast Theatres chain and merged it with his Fox Theatres chain. The launch of the Fox was expected to earn high earnings in the downtown district. Reestablishing the movie industry, the Fox offered the opportunity to stray from the silent films and helped introduce the “talkies” by having a live stage show.