Fox Theater (Bakersfield, California)

The Bakersfield Fox was an early work of Los Angeles theater architect S. Charles Lee. The exterior of the building is in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, as was the original interior. The 1500 seat auditorium was designed in the "atmospheric" style popularized by architect John Eberson, and featured a plain ceiling set with small lights to resemble stars in a night sky, while the walls were lined by decorative false walls with murals painted on the real walls behind them depicting open countryside, all meant to suggest that the auditorium was in fact a Mediterranean walled garden.

Though the building survived the earthquake of 1952 intact, the following year the interior of the theatre was remodeled. The original Mediterranean theme was replaced with an Art Moderne motif, which was the style favored by Charles Skouras, then the head of Fox-West Coast Theatres. With the re-theme, a large concession area was added to the lower lobby of the theater. In the auditorium, the "garden walls" were stripped away, and the murals painted over. The ceiling's night sky effect with its twinkling recessed star lights was retained.

A more limited remodeling of the building's exterior brought a new marquee, box office, and entrance foyer, embellished with glitzy neon signage, colorful terrazzo flooring, and bright metals. The remodel was representative of 1950s Hollywood style and showmanship. With this remodel, the screen was replaced with a state-of-the-art super-wide CinemaScope 20' x 45' format and the theater's projectors were upgraded with 6000-watt carbon arc lamps and anamorphic lenses.

In 1977, after 47 years in business, the Fox Theater closed its doors. The theater re-opened for a brief period in 1983 and 1984, but would fall into decay until 1994.

President

• Na Tesha Johnson

Vice President

• Corrine Coats

Treasurer

• Jared Tonks

Secretary

• Terra Johnson

Past President

• Gilbert LaRoque

• Cathy Butler

• John Enriquez

• Melanie Farmer

• Andrea Hansen

• Jason Maples

• Jeff Travis

• Scott Fieber

• Janet Manning
• David Lampe
• Phyllis Adams
• Rick Davis

• The Fox Theater Foundation 661-324-1FOX (1369)
• Matthew Spindler – Executive Director
• Event Tickets www.thebakersfieldfox.com, Fox Box Office or 661-324-1369

• Fox Theater Foundation Manager
• Jacque Morovich 661-636-0918

In early 2005, the Fox Theater Foundation launched the Walk of Stars program, a new fundraising program for the 75th Anniversary. The program is intended to pay for the numerous ongoing restoration and facility improvement projects needed to preserve this historic structure. The Stars are available for purchase by any member of the community. They are available at three different price levels, each level coming with special benefits and specific Star locations: $5,000 (14-inch stainless steel star), $10,000 (14-inch stainless steel star), $25,000 (16-inch stainless steel star). The Stars are customized with the donor's name or company name or logo.

The Fox Theater's 75th Anniversary Black Tie Gala was a large-scale event mostly centered around nostalgia for the old theater and entertainment it has seen throughout the decades. The evening was divided between live music inside the theater, a slideshow with live commentary by Foundation board members, and dinner and dancing to live local music acts in the Theater's large storage and maintenance building, which was partially cleared out and re-decorated for the evening. The evening's highlight was a raffle for a $10,000 diamond pendant, to which all proceeds went the Fox Theater Foundation for bills and restoration projects.

• Phenomenon (1996)
• Windtalkers (2002)
• Holes (2003)
• Walkout (2006)
• Bobby (2006)
• Stamped! (2009)
• Oildale (2019)