The Fox Theatre, Westwood Village, also known as the Fox Village Theatre, is a historic, landmark cinema in

Westwood, Los Angeles, California Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...

. Westwood Village, in the heart of Westwood, is near the University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. It is currently operated by Regency Theaters under the name Regency Village Theatre. The Fox is one of the leading film premiere theaters.

History

Percy Parke Lewis Percy Parke Lewis (1885–1962) was an American architect. Biography Early life He was born on August 12, 1885, in Pennsylvania. Career *1930–1931: St. Alban's Episcopal Church located at 580 Hilgard in Westwood, Los Angeles, Califor ...

, the Fox was originally built in 1930 and first opened on August 14, 1931, with a Spanish Mission style to it. The theatre was part of a widespread cinema construction program undertaken by Fox West Coast Theatres. The Fox Theatre quickly became the most recognizable symbol of the new Westwood Village, a

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

-style village development adjoining the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

planned by Harold and Edwin Janss of the

Janss Investment Company The Janss Investment Company was a family-run, Los Angeles–based real estate development company that operated from 1895 to 1995. First generation The Janss Investment Company was founded by Peter Janss, an immigrant doctor from Denmark. Pet ...

. It was remodeled in the late 1940s to the early 1950s. It became famous for the many

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

movie premieres held there and remains one of the main venues for movie premieres in Los Angeles. National General Theatres, the former Fox Theatres-West Coast, sold the theater to

Ted Mann Ted Mann (April 16, 1916 – January 15, 2001) was an American businessman involved in the film industry and head of Mann Theatres. In 1973, he purchased the National General Theatre chain and changed the name of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, wh ...

, then owner of the

Chinese Theatre Theatre of China has a long and complex history. Traditional Chinese theatre, generally in the form of Chinese opera, is musical theatre, musical in nature. Chinese theatre can trace its origin back a few millennia to ancient China, but the Chine ...

, and it became part of the

Mann Theatres Mann Theatres was a movie theater chain that predominantly operated in the western United States, with a heavy concentration of theaters in Southern California. Its motto was "Where Hollywood goes to the movies". History The Mann Theatres chai ...

chain. In 1988, the Fox Theatre was designated by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission as an Historic Cultural Monument (HCM #362). When Mann Theatres went out of business, Regency Theatres purchased both the Village Theatre and a multiplex cinema at "The Plant" in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

in 2010. With ongoing efforts to revitalize Westwood Village, the Fox Theatre continues to be a major drawcard and asset for the area.

Architectural features

The most striking feature of the Fox Theater is the iconic 170-foot white

Spanish Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

/ ModerneAn Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles - David Gebhard, Robert Winter (Gibbs Smith) 2003 tower which looms over the Broxton and Weyburn Avenues intersection. Atop the tower is a blue and white metal

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

“Fox” sign, which was renovated in the late 1980s. Carved winged lions sit halfway up the tower at the base of projecting columns. A blue and white sign with the legend "Fox Westwood Village" is positioned at the bottom of the tower just above the entrance. By night, the elegant white tower literally becomes a beacon with its signs and the shaft of the tower illuminated. The rectangular cinema building immediately behind the tower features long rows of

Churrigueresque Churrigueresque (; Spanish: ''Churrigueresco''), also but less commonly "Ultra Baroque", refers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural ornament which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late 17th c ...

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

decorations. Perched atop the corners of the building stand carved

griffins The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...

Interior

The seating capacity of the cinema is about 1,400. The interior of the theater was remodeled during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The lobby and exits were upgraded and

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

artwork was added in the lobby. Golden flourishes were added near the stage areas. In the late 1970s new 70mm projection equipment was installed and a larger screen added. The Fox Westwood Village has a reputation for top quality sound and projection. The most recent re-modeling was about 1998-1999 with the theater getting new seating and carpet. In 2014, Regency added the immersive Dolby Atmos sound system to the theater in time for the movie '' Transcendence''. It remains one of the few remaining

THX THX Ltd. is an American company that develops the eponymous high fidelity audio/visual reproduction standards for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, car audio systems, and video games. Founded ...

certified theatres in Los Angeles.

Movie premieres

A number of movie premieres have been held at the cinema, including: ''

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, ''

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'' film, '' Independence Day'', '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'', ''

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'' franchise, ''

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'' and hundreds of others. Typically the streets get shut down and are used for red carpet arrivals. The 1999 music video for " Praise You" by

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was filmed on the sidewalk adjacent to the Fox Theater.

References

{{LAHMC Cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles Movie palaces Westwood, Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Event venues established in 1931 Towers in California Mediterranean Revival architecture in California