Over the summer, I was curious to see what the inside of the Fox Fullerton Theater looked like after recent renovations. In August, I reached out to the Fullerton Historic Theater Foundation to photograph the interior of the former movie palace for the Fullerton Public Library’s Local History Room. The Foundation’s Vice President, Bob Winkelmann, responded and allowed me access inside the Theater. In November, I followed up with Winkelmann to interview him about the progress the Foundation has made in its current restoration efforts and how they’re preparing for the Theater’s 100th anniversary in 2025.

​The Fox Fullerton was closed in 1987 and then purchased in 2005 by a local non-profit organization known as the Fullerton Historic Theater Foundation. They have been slowly repairing the historic landmark over the years.

On Tuesday, November 12th, I met Winkelmann for an interview inside the first-floor hallway lobby area. He pointed me to torch-like mockups of the lighting that a subcontractor from Disney is creating for the Theater.

“All of this comes from an original photograph of the Grand Opening that was sent to us online by someone in the Midwest,” said Winkelmann. “So, we didn’t have any pictures at all of what the lobby looked like. All we had before that was an exploration of what had been done on the ceiling, and someone sent us an original photo of the lobby. From that, we have been able to recreate these torchiers.”

The photo that much of their lobby restoration efforts are based on came to them unsolicited. It is part of a booklet put out by the motion picture industry about new theaters that were being built and their modern accommodations. Winkelmann said that someone from the Midwest contacted the Fullerton Historic Theater Foundation, explained that they had discovered a magazine about the Fox Fullerton and its opening in 1925, and asked if the Foundation would be interested in seeing it. Of course, they said “yes.” When it arrived, the magazine contained photos of the theater with information that was unknown to them at the time. It provided images of the smoking lobby upstairs on the second-floor balcony, as well as a photo of the first-floor lobby.

Of course, since this was a magazine from 1925, all the photos were in black and white. The Historic Theater Foundation sent these photos out to be blown up and computer-colorized them using the palette that had been established by a company called Evergreen. The Foundation shipped that palette off to digital illustrators, who were then able to colorize the photos for them.

“All of this stuff was unknown,” said Winkelmann. “We suspected that these torchiers existed because the electrical connection was at the bottom at each one of these positions. But the idea that the floors were covered in oriental rugs, that art and tapestries hung on the wall, and how dominant the frescos that crossed the lobby’s ceiling were was all new information for us. It was really, really exciting and it was just somebody’s goodwill that created it.”

He explained that this is the first time in 30 years that the lobby has had restored restrooms, particularly ADA restrooms. According to him, this will enable the Foundation to start opening the Fox for events beginning in spring 2025, which will coincide with the theater’s 100th anniversary.

Currently, they are fine-tuning work on the torchiers in the lobby. Winkelmann said, “They are being created from whole cloth; it’s not like you can go and order a 100-year-old torchier out of a catalog. The other thing we’re working on is we have a group of craftspeople (artistic finish painters) who are coming in and helping us to paint the whole lobby and restoring the original finishes…We won’t have the murals on the ceiling restored, but we’ll have all the finishes on the walls restored, including the torchiers, which we think are going to be really impressive when you come in.”

In the last two restoration phases, the Foundation has completed a lot of “the ugly stuff” that nobody sees, according to Winkelmann. Earthquake retrofitting, fire suppression work, and rudimentary electrical work have all been finished, and a new roof has been put on the building. According to a postcard highlighting the Fox Theater Construction Progress, in Phase 1 of restoration, new elevator shafts, second-floor supports, balcony support, and a new courtyard were added along with restored windows and eves. According to the non-profit’s website, Phase 2 of restoration is nearly complete, a new HVAC Air system was added and the lobby area and restrooms were restored. However, there is still a lot of repair work left, especially when it comes to the seating in the second-floor balcony area.

“What we have left to do is mostly related to cosmetics. In the short term, and under this budget, we’re going to be receiving a curtain. For the first time in years and years, the theater will have a curtain. We’ll be installing the torchiers and painting the lobby, and we’ll be able to have functions here without the requirement of having the city involved and having the fire department here to do fire suppression,” said Winkelmann. “Porta Potties used to be necessary for us to do events. We had no normal restrooms, and because of the situation with fire suppression, we had to bring in paid personnel from the Fullerton Fire Department. to supervise the event. None of that will be necessary as we move forward into the spring.”

When I photographed the interior of the Fox during the summer, I noticed that there were many seats in disrepair in the theater’s second-story balcony area, where work lights had been set up and electrical cords were scattered. In fact, with a flashlight, I could even see some of the springs in torn sections of the seats.

I asked if they’ve started restoring the balcony area and Winkelmann said that they have not, although earthquake work has been done on the balcony and it has been supported. Eventually, they plan to modify an open area of the second-floor hallway. Part of the area will be a snack bar, while the other portion of it will be lighting for the stage.

He said, “That area will be enclosed at some point in the future and that will go along with the restoration of the seats. The next project that we’re looking forward to is the restoration of the organ lofts and the torchières. So, we’re working right now with a company to recreate what was originally there based on the photos that we discovered and to recreate the plaster work on both sides of the theater proscenium.”

For the theater’s 100th anniversary in 2025, there will be a slate of events scheduled throughout the year. The Fox will not be completely restored or completely functional at that time.

“We certainly have the ability to entertain people on the property, which is a great accomplishment. Obviously, you’ve been at events where we’ve had our hard hats. We’re no longer in that space,” said Winkelmann. “But we’re not finished yet. We have a long way to go.”

For more information and updates visit: foxfullerton.org

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