BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — This Christmas, a local landmark will celebrate 90 years of bringing entertainment to Bakersfield. The Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater is celebrating its 90th anniversary this week.
The theater will celebrate 90 years on Christmas Day with a donation drive-thru and celebration on Christmas Eve from noon to 7:00 pm. The community is invited to join the festivities Thursday by touring the Walk of Stars and celebrating the Fox’s diamond jubilee with Fox staff and board members.
As a thank you from the Fox, all donors will receive a free large popcorn.
It’s a staple of downtown Bakersfield—a place that embodies elegance, romance and big screen entertainment.
It was during the roaring 1920’s, when William Fox, the iron-fisted owner of Fox Films, started building elaborate theaters all over the country, as a way to bring motion pictures to the public, long before televisions were in every household.
On Christmas day 1930 Bakersfield’s Fox Theater officially opened at the corner of H and 20th streets.
The first showing— the musical comedy sci-fi classic, “Just Imagine.”
In the early years of the Fox Theater, legendary opera baritone and Bakersfield native Lawrence Tibbett gracing the stage along with classical artists from all over the world.
Today, The Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater is recognized as a community treasure for its fine acoustics and exquisite blend of Spanish Colonial and Art Deco.
The enchanting theater has hosted a wide-range of national and international talents such as The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Wynonna Judd, The Moscow Ballet, Gabriel Iglesias, and Bakersfield natives Merle Haggard and Buck Owens.
The Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater has a series of celebrations planned through 2021, including a call to the community to collect photos, videos, and memoirs of the theater from the past 90 years.
To learn more about submitting archives or to become involved in the project, please contact info@thebakersfieldfox.com.
