I quoted a writer the other day in my post about the Floral Depot building, who argued that its restaurant Flora was the “anchor” of the Uptown district, and I agreed. But now that I think about it, I realize that it’s truly the Paramount Theatre that grounds this neighborhood, and has for decades.
Before there was the Fox-reopened, before there was Lukas, before Van Kleefs, before Flora and the Uptown nightclub, before Art Murmur and its slew of hipster galleries, before the condos Jerry Brown envisioned (now realized), before all of this… the Paramount Theatre stood, proudly serving this neighborhood for decades despite the departure of nearly everything around it.
I’m wrapping up my Art Deco Days series… there’s much more to tell – I haven’t even covered the gorgeous I. Magnin building – but I’m itchin’ to move on to other topics, so I’ll finish up with a bit more about this Oaktown icon.
We left off in the expansive and extravagant “redwood forest” lobby designed by Timothy Pflueger. Additional features included the Egyptian Princesses cast in plaster and painted in real gold-leaf (remember, this was the time of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and the world was captivated by Egyptian art). These lovelies may appear identical, but there are subtle difference between them, in the number of folds of fabric draped behind their legs. Attention to minute details such as this can be found throughout the entire theater, designed to ensure the patron’s experience of true artisan craftsmanship, rather than cookie cutter repetition.
Pflueger was considered one of the foremost architects of the Art Deco style – and like another famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright – he designed everything in this theater right down to each and every light fixture. It’s incredible. Though there are numerous influences (Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Polynesian), the same Deco styling is applied to all. And the same zig-zags, swirls, leaves, flowers, & vines can be seen throughout… on the walls in cast plaster, in the ceiling treatments of silver-fin metal work, in the carpeting, upholstery, and more.
The theater continued to show movies through the 1930’s and beyond. During WWII, the Paramount became a favorite gathering place to watch news-reel updates on the war. In the 50’s, a thousand youngsters came to see Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock. But as development moved to the suburbs and people were able to enjoy entertainment at home on their televisions, attendance at the Paramount declined. It was eventually closed in September 1970, to be later rescued by an unlikely candidate.
In the early 70’s the Oakland Symphony was looking for a new home and they considered both the Fox Oakland Theater and the Paramount. The story goes that the symphony was brought onto the stages of both theaters (both shuttered at the time) to determine which space had the best acoustics. The Paramount won hands down, and the Symphony later purchased the theater in 1972 for $1 million, cobbled together with some creative financing, including a 50% kickback from the seller.
The theater was completely restored to its original 1931 splendor by project manager and Art Deco expert Peter Botto with additional architectural firms consulting. Elements that were added mid-century, such as candy counters and popcorn machines, were removed; new seats were installed; the carpet was replaced (extreme care taken to exactly match the original carpet); and the entire theater received an intensive cleaning. Supposedly when the dust was blown out of the upper levels of the theater, the ground floor was filled waist-high with the debris. Years of smoking indoors also added thick layers of grime that needed to be carefully cleaned from all surfaces. The effort was not a renovation, but a complete restoration, our tour guides emphatically noting the difference. The complete restoration cost about $1 million dollars (the same price for which the theater was built in 1931). Compare that to the cost to renovate the Fox in the 21st century… a whopping $75 million, and you can understand why some folks thought the Fox would never again see its doors opened to the public.
I misspoke in one of my earlier posts on the Paramount, stating that it was still currently owned by the Oakland Symphony. Actually, the symphony went bankrupt just two years after purchasing and restoring their new home (oops!). But they made a deal with the City of Oakland, donating the theater to the city for the lump sum of one dollar, in exchange for an agreement that they’d be guaranteed 40 years of bookings. Pretty sweet deal, eh? The Paramount Theatre is now operated and managed by a small non-profit organization on behalf of the city.
The theater became a California Historical Landmark in 1976, a National Historical Landmark in 1977, and is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the country. We’re so lucky to have this treasure.
View of Lobby from Upstairs Balcony
I’m not done with the Paramount yet… but in an effort to be quick today (I’m a bit under the gun) I thought I’d share some photos of the lovely Breuner Building, designed by Albert Roller and built in 1931. It was constructed to house the John Breuner Company Furniture Store… indicative of this early history is the building’s front facade, another terra-cotta relief (in fact the entire building is clad in terra cotta glazed in a gorgeous sea-glass green) featuring two workers crafting a chair. It’s classic Art Deco – high stylized motifs incorporating images of industry with more organic forms (leaves, swirls), and of course, always the zig-zags!
The Breuner Company was established in 1865 (also indicated in relief on the exterior) but this store was opened decades later at “22nd and Broadway — despite the onset of the Great Depression — to join fellow retailers H.C. Capwell and I. Magnin, and the grand and elegant Paramount and Fox Oakland movie palaces.” (Annalee Allen) Here is a shot of the original building with the Breuner sign atop, and what it looks like now, the sign replaced by a lone flagpole.
Historical photo courtesy Christopher C. Curtis, Metrovation Brokerage
You can see that the lower portion of the building was changed significantly and large openings were cut into the ground floor that now harbor huge criss-crossed steel trusses, likely an earthquake retrofit.
Surprisingly, the Breuner Furniture Company still exists today, now called Breuners Home Furnishings. The company was originally founded by John Breuner, a German cabinetmaker turned gold miner, who “founded the company in 1856 in Sacramento, California when he realized selling [furniture] to gold miners was more lucrative than mining gold for himself.” Smart man. His sons Louis and John Jr. were responsible for the later move to Oakland. The store was ultimately shuttered in the 1970’s and the building currently consists of commercial office space, including the home of The California Genealogical Society.
I’m going to briefly interject this snippet into my Art Deco series, because it was a really cool event and there’s just one more night (tonight!) if folks are interested…
I went to the Oakland Vagina Monologues at the Uptown last night, a fundraiser for the creator Eve Ensler’s organization V-Day, dedicated to ending violence against women and girls worldwide. As I walked through the door of the club I was greeted by a large pink furry vagina, wearing pumps and pink socks no less, who hugged me and offered a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. Why, thank you Miss Vagina, I said.
Continuing into the club, gorgeous women of all shapes, colors, and sizes scurried about in t-shirts blazoned with the motto – I hella ♥ Vaginas. The collective empowerment was palpable!
The show is a series of monologues gleaned from Eve Ensler’s interviews with a wide range of real women: seniors, six year olds, sex workers, women who’ve suffered abuse, or women who’ve simply been fascinated or mystified by the power of the vagina.
Beautifully performed by local activists rather than professional actors, pieces turned from deeply self-revealing stories of shame, acceptance, and celebration – both tragic and humorous in the telling, to tales of reverence for the vagina’s ability to carry forth precious life into this world, to a hilarious catalogue of the various moans of ecstasy, to a beat-poetry-inspired reclamation of the word “cunt,” that will have you cheering the c-word at the top of your lungs at its end. As one who has always shied from the blunt force of the word and its negative implications, I surprised myself with this celebratory outburst.
And that’s the beauty of this show… despite that fact that all humans were borne through them, all women have them, and most men covet them, you will still be surprised by the breadth of experience and emotions surrounding this simple body part. Ensler’s monologues shine a warm illuminating light on a topic long shrouded in darkness and secrecy, and though the evening isn’t all fun (there are some deeply disturbing facts shared about the prevalance of rape, violence against and sexual torture of women around the world, including right here in our own United States), the balance seems right, and the message, undeniably important.
The primary beneficiary of the two-night event is local Oakland-based A Safe Place, a volunteer organization that provides housing, crisis counseling, referrals and information services to battered women and their children. They will receive 90% of the proceeds, while the remaining 10% will be used to benefit the City of Joy project, part of this year’s “spotlight campaign” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The project supports women survivors of sexual violence to heal, and provides them with opportunities to develop their leadership through innovative programming including group therapy, storytelling, dance, theater, self-defense, comprehensive sexuality education, and economic empowerment.
If you’ve never seen this show, or even if you have, please come support these organizations in their good works. Grab your mom, grab your girlfriends, even grab your guyfriends (I was amazed how men in the audience laughed when I laughed, gasped when I gasped – we’re really not all that different y’all), and high-tail to the Uptown.
Uptown Nightclub is located at 1928 Telegraph Ave in Oaktown (cross street 19th)
Doors: 7pm, Show: 8pm
$20 The Uptown
(510) 451-8100
Tickets seem to be unavailable on Ticketweb, so you may want to call to see if it’s Sold Out. Folks were buying at the door last night with no problem.
The Paramount Theater was conceived around the same time as the Fox Oakland Theater, during the heyday of grand movie palaces. I wrote about this era in my post on the Fox, so I won’t repeat it all here. But I will say that the Paramount followed the Fox’s opening in 1928 by a couple of years, in which our country seemingly turned upside-down in the blink of an eye.
On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929 the Great Stock Market Crash of Wall Street occurred, thrusting the previously ebullient nation into a decade-long economic downturn. There are various theories about the relationship of the Crash to the subsequent Great Depression, but one thing is certain… the amount of investment capital available for large expensive projects basically dried up. At that time, plans for the Paramount were already well underway… investors were in place, including the large studio company Paramount Publix (in those days, the individual studio film companies owned their own theaters to show their own films), and the renowned Art Deco architect they had hired, Timothy Pflueger , had completed his design plans.
Then “The Crash” occurred, literally wiping out $14 billion in one day. Stocks continued to slide in the following days, bringing losses for the week to over $30 billion (and keep in mind, these are 1930 dollars!) Ahhhh… those clever traders on Wall Street. What would we do without them?!
Fortunately, the investors behind the new theater were not heavily staked in Wall Street. They had the cash to complete the project and decided to move forward, gambling that they would never again have access to such cheap materials and labor. Talk about foresight! The Paramount Theatre was built in one year and five days for approximately $1 million. Amazing!
The theater’s grand opening was held on December 16, 1931 and, despite the depressed economy, thousands thronged to the opening, including Hollywood’s elite stars who travelled by train from Los Angeles. Below is the opening night poster (left) and a representation of the scene on opening night from a local newspaper which reads “Another Oakland Milestone” (right).
When the Paramount first opened, a night at the Theatre included more than just a movie… it was a full evening of vaudeville entertainment including dancing by the Sunkist Beauties (the West’s answer to New York City’s Rockettes), symphony performances, songs played on the theater’s “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ, and film shorts. Unfortunately, in subsequent months ticket sales were too low to keep the theater profitable, and just six months after it opened, the Paramount closed its doors.
It reopened the following year in 1933, but with a no-frills sensibility, devoid of the live entertainment (no dancers, no symphony), and without all of the decorative lighting that makes the space so incredibly beautiful (the electricity was too expensive). To give you an idea of what some of the decorative lighting actually looked like (now fully restored to its original appearance), just take a look at this lobby…
What does it look like to you? Perhaps a redwood forest? Because that’s exactly what Pflueger intended. The green light in the ceiling, reflected through an intricate pattern of metalwork (a form that he patented called “silver-fin” though it was made of steel) represents the leaf canopy; the panels of gold, left and right, with their signature Deco zig-zag motifs represent sunlight streaming through the trees; the terra-cotta colored columns are the tree trunks; and the focal piece of it all is the enormous “Fountain of Light,” made of etched glass in a similarly quintessential Deco arrangement.
Ok… there’s much more to tell, and many more photos, but that’s all I’ve got time for today. Please check back tomorrow…
I asked a friend the other day if he’d ever seen the inside of the Paramount Theatre. He smirked slightly and rubbed his forefingers and thumb together, indicating that this establishment was a bit too steep for his price-line. But while many shows are fairly expensive ($50 and up, but usually worth it in my humble opinion), there are plenty of ways to experience this incredible venue for a lot less cash. And you really should. It’s one of those things-you-should-do-before-you-die kind of things.
The best ways to see the Paramount on the cheap – though trust me you’ll want to put on your finest dandies and make a night of it, even if you are on a budget – are either of three ways, all of which I have done and enjoyed immensely:
- Volunteer as an usher – I mentioned this in my short post about touring the Paramount… pretty much anyone can usher shows here for free. It simply requires that you complete a few prerequisites, such as taking the tour at least once ($5 fee is waived), attending a volunteer meeting, and having access to black dress clothes & shoes along with a nice white shirt. You also have to usher a few “required” shows before you can pick your own. It’s definitely a process, but for those who have more time than green, it’s a great option… especially if you love seeing a lot of music. And it’s actually quite fun. The theatre has an unusual historical opera-house method of seat numbering, so it’s really pretty tricky to figure out where one’s seats are. The ushers provide this valuable service, and offer historical tidbits to inquiring patrons. You generally get dismissed one to two songs into the headline act, at which point you can find a seat in the back or make your way to the back of the floor to enjoy the rest of the show.
- Take the tour – only $5. Offered twice every month on Saturday mornings. If you catch them on a day when there’s no performance, they’ll take you up on stage, under the stage, the whole shebang!
- Classic Movie Night – this too only $5! I’ve said it before… this is the best deal in town. And includes fun stuff like Jim Riggs performing on the mighty Wurlitzer, a hosted game of Deco-win, and more. Last movie I saw at the Paramount was Cool Hand Luke, in memorium for Paul Newman. What a great movie, and what a handsome man!!! ol’ blue-eyes… (sigh)
Then of course, there’s always the option of buying tickets to premiere events. I’ve seen some shows of a lifetime at this venue… Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Leonard Cohen, The Flaming Lips with Beck, Wilco. Damn I love this place! And you should know that it’s not just pretty to look at. The Paramount is currently owned, as it has been for the last 38 years, by the Oakland Symphony who purchased it explicitly for its acoustics. But more on that tomorrow… I think I just decided that I’m rambling at this point and need to shelve some of this material for tomorrow. I’ve got tons of photos (I took over a hundred on the tour in addition to ones I already had in the archives)… there’s history galore, and so much extravagant Art Deco craftsmanship it will stump you speechless. I told you it was a lot! Please stay tuned…
Here’s another stunner… the Floral Depot Building at Telegraph and 18th, just across the street from, and in late afternoon literally in the shadow of, the mighty Fox Theater. Also clad in terra cotta – both the cobalt blue tiling and silver ornamentation, comprising Aztec-style trim interjected with periodic “sprays” of silver reputedly designed to resemble waterfalls – this Art Deco beauty is one of Oakland’s finest. The City’s Cultural Heritage Survey cites it as an “outstanding architectural example of extreme historical importance.” I dub her the crown jewel of Oakland, the resemblance unmistakable to me.
Designed by architect Albert Avers and built in 1931, the building takes its name from the old Floral Depot once housed there. See original sign below (image borrowed courtesy of DougPants.org), followed by the renovated sign for my favorite restaurant in all of the East Bay, the incredible Flora, opened in late 2007 by the proprietors of the highly successful Doña Tomas in Temescal.
Thomas Schnetz and Dona Savitsky took a chance on this stretch of Telegraph well before the grand re-opening of the Fox that many hail as the beginning of Uptown’s resurgence. I would argue that the opening of their prohibition-era-inspired Flora marks the beginning instead, becoming a “symbolic anchor” in an area clearly in transition, “much like San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe did when it opened more than 25 years ago on what was then a depressing stretch of Market Street.” (Flora paves the way… by Michael Bauer)
I’ve written about Flora before in my first post on Art Murmur (First Friday Frolic! ~ ART MURMUR), and I’m sure I’ll write about it again because it’s just that good. I don’t care if it makes me sound like an arugula-munching, latte-sipping liberal. The food & drinks here are simply divine… classic American fare with a California-nouveau twist, inspired by the best seasonal & organic ingredients. Make a reservation, or get there early for a seat at the bar… watching the suspendered-bartenders work their magic is half the fun.
But let’s get back to the building… Other early residents of this building include the J.J. Newbury Department Store, a nationwide five-and-dime chain prevalent during the 20th century. Now closed and available for lease, the old logo still remains…
Next door, you’ll see the Uptown Nightclub, also opened in late 2007. Embarrassingly, I have yet to see a show here, but they get great props on Yelp, and I’m planning a visit next week in celebration of Women’s History Month. They’re hosting two nights of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, a benefit fundraiser for her organization V-Day which, to date, has raised something like $50 million dollars in support of groups working to ending violence against women and girls worldwide. Woah. Please join me, or check out the Uptown’s Calendar for other cool shows…
I am displaying my naiveté here, but I always thought that terra cotta was that fired earthen-colored clay they made cactus planters out of… cheap and not very pretty. But as I delve into more of the architecture of Oakland, “terra cotta” continues to pop up in unexpected places. Unquestioningly, I’ve referenced it in posts on:
- The Alameda County Courthouse - surfaces of California granite and terra cotta trim.”
- The African Museum & Library – “exterior of tan brick and terra cotta is incised with names…”
- The Fox Oakland Theater – “repeating pattern of terra cotta ornamentation…”
And today’s building features terra cotta like you’ve never seen it! Just look at this…
So what’s the deal with this terra cotta stuff?
Well, to begin, my first statement was essentially correct. Terra cotta (or terracotta, or terra-cotta) is Italian for “baked earth.” Yes! It’s basically a clay-based material that can be molded in any variety of ways while “raw,” to be later heated to its final ceramic state in a kiln, or in ancient times on a hearth or by the sun. The material has been used for centuries in art, pottery, water pipes, bricks, roofing tiles, and architectural embellishments. While the color can vary widely, everything from yellow to gray to pink (which explains some of the references above), the more common clays contain iron which produces the orange or reddish hue. And like our simple cactus planters, the finished product is light, relatively strong, and somewhat porous, which makes it non-waterproof unless glazed.
For architectural decoration, terra cotta has advantages over other materials such as marble or stone sculpture, being lighter, cheaper, and able to be incorporated into series production using mold-making techniques, similar to cast plaster (we’ll get to this in my upcoming post on the Paramount). Though early architectural applications used the unglazed material, later developments incorporated glazing, both for protection from the elements, and to allow for greater variety of finishes, including faux metal patinas, and gorgeous coloring as in our lovely blue-green example above from one of Oakland’s Art Deco lovelies.
Built in 1931, designed by Douglas Dacre Stone, and later restored in 2004, the Mary A. Bowles Building is located on Broadway at 17th near where Telegraph and Broadway unite. The building spans the block, its backside on Telegraph just as pretty as the front.
The terra cotta panels with their repeating swirls of organic shapes and sunburst patterns, as well as the geometric zig-zag patterns on the windows below are classic Deco. Check out the detailing on the metallic flourishes at each end… also likely molded terra cotta with a faux silver finish (similar to the Floral Depot building which we’ll also get to in coming days).
One more…
I was unable to find any information on Ms. Bowles and why she might have this building named after her, but I did find this obituary for her husband. If anyone has more information, please send my way…
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that we have an organization in California dedicated exclusively to the preservation and promotion of all things Art Deco. Founded in 1981 by architectural historian Michael Crowe and other preservationists in the Bay Area, the Art Deco Society of California (ADSC) is a non-profit volunteer-run organization focused on the serious business of preserving important Art Deco historical buildings (current project is to save Berkeley’s Iceland), in addition to celebrating Art Deco culture through fun and celebratory activities, such as cocktail events (that’s right, you can get your drink on while learning about art & history!), film screenings, fashion shows, and glamorous balls… all held in gorgeous historic venues. Sounds fun, eh? You can friend them on Facebook to see more about upcoming events, or check their link (above) for more Deco history and information, or to become a member or volunteer….
Art Deco was an international design movement popular in the 1920’s and 30’s, focused on themes of luxury, technology, modernization, and craftsmanship. The movement was born in Paris, an outgrowth of the previous Art Nouveau movement that was declining in popularity at the turn of the 20th century.
Art Nouveau (French for “new art”) focused on the importance of artisan craftsmanship, and typically featured organic motifs of flowers & plants, and/or highly stylized curved forms. Art Deco retains many of the same inherent aesthetic qualities as Art Nouveau, but was considered a modernization of the style, and until a comprehensive book was written about it, following an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1971 by Bevis Hillier, Art Deco had often been referred to as “Style Moderne.”
Hillier’s book was titled Art Deco of the 20s and 30s, which first popularized the term. He took his title from an exposition held in France in 1925, the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (truncating the words “Arts Décoratifs”). The Exposition was organized by a collective of French artists known as La Société des Artistes Décorateurs (the society of the decorator artists), and its purpose was to demonstrate French artists’ and designers’ dominance as leaders in the world of luxury design. The French are not known for their modesty! The exposition was originally slated for 1915, but was postposted due to WWI, which had the unlikely effect of expanding the historical influences to the designs presented.
With the increasing ability to travel abroad, and international interest in archeology fueled by discoveries such as the lost city of Pompeii and King Tutankhamun’s intact tomb, artist and designers began incorporating exotic cultures and primitive arts into their design themes. These influences are pervasive throughout the Art Deco movement – Egyptian motifs are prevalent, as well as Grec0-Roman, Babylonian, Azteca, etc. and can be seen in sunburst and zig-zag patterns, staggered tiered/pyramidal structures, pictorial representations and more.
This period of Deco, sometimes referred to as Zigzag Moderne, flourished during the hey day of the post-war roaring 20’s. The economy was booming, people were optimistic, and the lavish yet modern stylings of Deco ushered in this age. Classic examples can be seen in the Empire State Building (pictured below) and Chrysler Building, both built in the late 1920’s in New York.
As I mentioned last week, I took the tour this past weekend of our incredible Paramount Theatre, “one of the finest examples of Art Deco in the United States,” which displays many of the Zigzag influences as well as references to Art Nouveau, through repetitious use of organic themes of grass, flower, leaf, & vine. I’ll be posting about it later this week, but it’s a lot of material to compose (the Paramount’s website alone has more than 4 pages of history and artists information, so I may need to break it up a bit). We’ll see… Please stay tuned.
As Deco continued to develop throughout the 1930’s more industrial influences can be seen, such as sleek, aerodynamic stylings often referred to as Streamline or Streamline Moderne. Rounded corners, chrome surfaces, and the conveyance of speed influenced everything from buildings to cars to kitchen appliances. The renovated marquee of the Fox Oakland Theater (shown in my last post) is a good example of Streamline design, as is the 1934 Chrysler Airflow pictured below (photo courtesy of Randy Stern on Flickr).
Though a dominant design form through the early 1930’s, Art Deco waned in popularity mid-decade as the Great Depression continued to take its toll. The glitzy elegance and luxurious treatments of Deco-inspired buildings and products were seen as stark reminders of a promised prosperity, never realized. “Moreover, as the threat of a second world war loomed closer and closer, Art Deco was looked upon ever more vehemently. And with the outbreak of WWII in 1939, Art Deco was dead.” (Art Deco Style)
Not truly dead however… Because we have our wonderful historical homages to this period, many of which have been spared the wrecking ball due to their incredible beauty and craftsmanship. I’ll be looking at many of our Oakland Art Deco masterpieces in my coming posts…
Stumped?
(I bet you didn’t even know Baghdadian was a word… I didn’t!)
These are just a handful of the architectural influences of our majestic and recently refurbished Fox Theater. I’m kicking off my Art Deco series with the Fox despite its lack of Deco authenticity (we’ll get to more of what that means next week), because frankly, it’s kind of a big deal. And here’s why…
On Sept. 21, 1926 the Oakland Tribune reported “Oakland is to have two new motion picture theaters in the downtown district increasing the assessed valuation of the city by four million dollars or more…” The first of these was The Fox.
Historical Photo circa 1928 (courtesy Dreyfus Report, 2001)
Originally called the Oakland Theater (or West Coast Oakland Theater) upon opening in 1928, the name was later changed to the Fox Oakland Theater, and at the time it was said to be the largest theater complex on the West Coast, with a capacity of between 3200 and 3800. This was the heyday of large movie “palaces,” dripping with atmosphere and ambiance designed to transport audiences to romantic and exciting distant worlds. “Persian gardens, Italian palazzos and Egyptian courts rose in cities throughout the country offering patrons an exotic afternoon or evening of entertainment.” (Dreyfus Report, 2001)
The architects of the Fox followed suit, drawing influences from a number of exotic cultures, most prominently Indian and Middle Eastern. In fact, the overall structure of the building, with its central high dome, resembles a typical Brahmanian temple of Northern India, and the interior auditorium space is flanked by two enormous sculptures of Hindu Gods. The entire theater was constructed to convey a lavish lifestyle, opulent with exotic woods, richly textured fabrics, jeweled light fixtures, intricate tile and plaster work, and highly decorative metal finishes.
Moorish architecture is “a term used to describe the articulated Islamic architecture which developed in North Africa and south-western Europe.” (Wikipedia) This influence is seen in the parapet (elevated wall) connecting the two primary pylons comprising the main facade of the building, as well as the continuing roof-line of the main commercial wings of the building, with its repeating pattern of terra cotta ornamentation, and distinctive key-hole windows (see below).
The medieval influence can be seen in the gargoyles perched atop the primary pylons (below, right).
And I’m not quite sure how the Baghdadian comes into play, other than the initial plans to call the theater “The Baghdad,” before settling upon the eponymous “Oakland Theater” instead.
So where’s the Art Deco you might ask?
Well… to be honest, there’s not a whole lot. But there is a bit, much of which was added during modernizing renovations in 1945. “The front façade and interior walls [were] covered with stainless steel sheathing in an art deco style zigzag pattern. The columns [were] sheathed in a streamlined stainless steel shape and the ticket booth replaced with a new one in the art deco style. The original tile floor [was] replaced with terrazzo, and the ceilings replaced by a stepped plaster ceiling in a cloud pattern, with neon accents… While these alterations represent fine examples of the art deco style, they resulted in the loss of a substantial amount of very significant historic material, and are inconsistent with the architectural character of the theater.” (Dreyfus Report, 2001)
The marquee was also updated to a more modern art deco style, but was done 10 years prior and is, hence, considered to be a “contributing historic” element. Here’s a shot of the original marquee followed by its replacement in 1935 (now refurbished).
Original Marqee circa 1929 (courtesy Dreyfus report, 2001)
The Fox was a premiere entertainment destination for decades, but suffered a decline in attendance in the 1960’s, as did many of the grand movie palaces throughout the country, due largely to the increasing popularity of television and the trend toward smaller multiplex theaters. The Fox tried several options including showing soft-core porn movies such as “Paradisio,” but eventually closed its doors in 1965, opening only sporadically for films and events during the next seven years.
“The Fox survived an arson fire in 1973, but its increasingly shabby condition led it to be derided as ‘the largest outdoor urinal in the world.‘” Still, the theater avoided being turned into a parking lot in 1975, unlike its sister Fox Theater in San Francisco, leveled in 1963 to make way for eventual replacement by high-rise offices and apartments. And thanks to the efforts of Oakland Mayor Lionel J. Wilson, the Fox Oakland achieved city landmark status in 1978.
And then it sat. And sat. And sat. It changed hands a few times and saw a few sporadic performances, but for the most part it simply sat… and continued to deteriorate. The City of Oakland purchased it in 1996 for $3 million dollars. In 1998 an Oakland Tribune editorial declared “the only life in the theater almost two years [after the City's acquisition] is a crop of mushrooms sprouting from the theater’s soggy carpet.”
Then things started to happen. In 1999, the city spent $1 million to repair the roofs. At the same time, a sub-committee of the Oakland Heritage Alliance was formed, Friends of the Oakland Fox. Their goal: the historic preservation of the Fox Oakland Theater, and its use as a live entertainment venue. The Friends convinced the city to spend more money to restore the marquee and vertical blade sign to generate public interest in the renovation plans. And finally, architectural consultants Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates were contracted to prepare a master plan for the Fox, generating two proposals that were both ultimately deemed undoable.
This is when Phil Tagami stepped in. He is the man who spoke before thousands at last year’s Uptown Unveiled block party to celebrate the re-opening of the Fox and the revitalization of Uptown. He is the hero of this story, the man who ultimately achieved what many said couldn’t be done. And can you guess what he did? Of course you can. The man raised money. And a lot of it. With a background in construction and prior experience restoring old buildings (including Kahn’s department store across from City Hall), he fashioned together a complex funding plan from various sources: private donations, city redevelopment money, grants, federal historic tax credits, large equity investments, and more.
An Oakland native, Tagami essentially donated thousands of hours of his personal time… his gift to the city, where he still lives with his wife and two children. Thank you Phil Tagami! We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.
And thanks as well to the City of Oakland, Friends of the Oakland Fox, and all those involved in this historic project.
The Fox Oakland Theater reopened on February 5th, 2009. Shows are currently booked by Another Planet Entertainment, the same folks who bring wonderful eclectic shows to the Independent in San Francisco. If you haven’t yet seen a show at the Fox, it’s high-time you high-tailed it to Uptown Oakland to check out this incredible gem!
