My recent visit to the Oakland Fox Theater was very interesting. I saw first hand what nearly 40 years of neglect will do to a building. The photos below look better than the building does “in person”.
The shots below give a clue to the condition of the walls and the plaster pretty much throughout the entire building.
Below, you can get an idea of scale of the work that needs to 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 just make out Andrew working in the corner.
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
Looking forward to it, Andrew!
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.
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
Just saw this on TV w/pic of Andrew EXACTLY like the snapshot you took here! They featured the Fox renovation on the 5 minute spot at 8:55am 2/3/07 between Headline News on local Comcast channel 57. Can’t wait ’til the girl opens her doors.
I love these old movie theaters. They just fill my mind with wonder when I think at how there were so many less people than we have today, and yet everyone went to the theater much more often, and there was actually stuff that everyone wanted to watch and was proud to watch together.
Today, what is it we really have with all our multi-plexes and online entertainment? I go these old theaters, and I did see a concert in the Fox, or whatever it used to be in the past, and I wonder about all the people who have sat in that theater or in the seat that I have sat in.
It boggles my mind. Why do we not have a society that cares about sharing these experiences any more?