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April 30, 2006
Oakland's (Formerly) Magnificent Fox Theater
Today's visit to the Oakland Fox Theater was fabulous. I was given access to the whole building. I saw first hand what nearly 40 years on neglect will do to a building. As is often the case, the photos below look better than the building does in reality.
The shots below give a clue to the condition of the walls and the plaster pretty much throughout the entire building.
This restoration will be huge. Below, you can get an idea of work that will be done on the ceiling, which is larger than a football field. If you look closely at the upper left-hand corner of the image on the left below, you can see Andrew working on a tiny corner of the huge ceiling.
I'm really excited to see this once glorious old theater rise from the rubble! I'm doing my part by volunteering to be the "official" architectural photographer for the restoration project. Wish me luck!
Posted by thedude at April 30, 2006 02:34 PM
Comments
Thanks again Jimbo!
Barb and I just went through the raw images from today and were knocked out. My camera want's to be your camera when it grows up!
Glad you are here for the overture... one day we will have a tincture on the mezanine together when we have tarted this old girl up.
Andrew
Posted by: Andrew Johnstone ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://thedude.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 30, 2006 09:36 PM
Looking forward to it, Andrew!
Posted by: Jim Pire at April 30, 2006 10:46 PM
Oh my gersh, I LOVE the Paramount....I have fond memories of Kelly and I seeing the classic films they used to show. The women's "powder" room is worth the visit alone, and just walking in the front lobby makes you feel like Bette Davis....:-)
Glad they're fixing up the old gal...
-Wen.
Posted by: Wen at May 1, 2006 09:30 AM
Beautiful old building! I love old architecture! I think my choosen career should have been conservation/antique related, instead of computers. Can't wait to see the progress.
I've always wondered how anyone has the patience to restore something so vast a square inch at a time and here's my chance to find out. Andrew, how do you do it?
Cindy
Posted by: Cindy at May 2, 2006 08:15 AM
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