Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: Local

Media Credit: Thomas Van Deusen The historical Fox Theater in downtown Fullerton.

This past week the Fox Theatre, one of Fullerton's most treasured and well-known landmarks, came one step closer to finally being restored to its original splendor.

The Fullerton Historical Theatre Foundation, a non-profit group in charge of refurbishing the complex, received a $2 million California Cultural Endowment to use for the reconstruction project. The award is the largest to be received for any project of this type, and took years of heavy lobbying from the group and a team of local politicians, including State Senators Dick Ackerman and Lou Correa, and State Assemblyman Mike Duvall, to secure.

The foundation purchased the theatre and its surrounding property in 2004, with $3.5 million. The funds were donated entirely through private efforts, complimented with a matching grant from the city of Fullerton. After escrow closed on the purchase in 2005, the roof was patched, the windows restored, and the paint redone.

As a result, the back wall of the main building became an al fresco movie theatre, and the first film played at The Fox in nearly 30 years. The first screening at The Fox was the 1953 classic "War of the Worlds," and was shown to a capacity crowd of over 800 people.

Now, with phase one of the project finally complete, the new grant will certainly come in handy. A new estimate has come out for the task of restoring the building, and what was once estimated to cost $12 million, is now slated at a more accurate projection of $24 million.

"We are consorting with a number of local banks including Fullerton Community and Farmers and Merchants in order to receive a loan, because, although we were awarded the grant, the funds will not be received for at least another year," said Tom Tice, Construction Project Manager for the Fox Theatre and Vice President of the Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation.

By securing a loan with the grant money, Tice and his fellow volunteers will be able to begin restoring the property.
"The first order of business is to entirely rebuild Firestone Plaza and the Tea Room, which will take around $3 million dollars," said Tice. "That's perfect because we expect to secure the same amount from the banks."

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