Reopening of the Oakland Fox
A year ago, I took advantage of my employer's matching gift program and made a donation to help restore the Fox Theater in Oakland. I wanted the gift to go toward my local community, and I thought the redevelopment of the Fox would help restore a piece of Oakland's colorful past while serving as a linchpin for the further redevelopment of the Uptown area. Because my employer provides a 3 to 1 match for charitable contributions, the Fox Theater organization thought I was much more generous than I actually was, and they sent me six tickets to the grand reopening of the theater this past Thursday night.
Here's a picture of the exterior of the Fox:
(On a side note, after seeing the exterior and interior of both theaters, I think I actually prefer the Oakland Paramount Theater a block or two away. The Fox has a quasi-historical feel, while the Paramount is more angular and modern:
Both Ron Dellums and Jerry Brown were reported to be at the opening of the Fox, but I didn't see either of them, perhaps because I got there forty-five minutes late. Here's a view of the front lobby, that is quite fuzzy due to my camera phone:
When I stepped inside the theater, I was just in time to see the Deco-Belles perform:
I turned around and took a picture of the balcony and ceiling of the theater:
Afterward, I went up to the balcony and took a picture of the proscenium arch:
I discovered one of my favorite features of the restoration in the balcony lobby. They left the old wooden phone booths intact, complete with the graffiti from half a century ago:
All in all, the evening was a great time, and I was excited to see what an excellent job they did on the restoration. They also served some very tasty profiteroles and gave me a commemorative champagne glass as I was leaving.
Here's a picture of the exterior of the Fox:
(On a side note, after seeing the exterior and interior of both theaters, I think I actually prefer the Oakland Paramount Theater a block or two away. The Fox has a quasi-historical feel, while the Paramount is more angular and modern:
Both Ron Dellums and Jerry Brown were reported to be at the opening of the Fox, but I didn't see either of them, perhaps because I got there forty-five minutes late. Here's a view of the front lobby, that is quite fuzzy due to my camera phone:
When I stepped inside the theater, I was just in time to see the Deco-Belles perform:
I turned around and took a picture of the balcony and ceiling of the theater:
Afterward, I went up to the balcony and took a picture of the proscenium arch:
I discovered one of my favorite features of the restoration in the balcony lobby. They left the old wooden phone booths intact, complete with the graffiti from half a century ago:
All in all, the evening was a great time, and I was excited to see what an excellent job they did on the restoration. They also served some very tasty profiteroles and gave me a commemorative champagne glass as I was leaving.
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