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Overview

The Stockton Fox Theatre #2 was completed in 1930 and became one of the San Joaquin Valley's largest and most notable movie palaces. It functioned for a little over 30 years in its downtown location, but closed by about 1973. It was saved from demolition in 1979 and renovated beginning in the 1990s.

Building History

The Fox West Coast Theatres chain operated the Fox California Theatre #1 (originally called the T and D Photoplay Theatre) on the same site as the second Fox California. The Fox opened on 10/14/1930, with 20,000 attending the grand opening. Also a venue for vaudeville performances, the theatre was one of the largest in the state for this purpose, seating 2,170. Throughout its history, the Fox California accommodated movies, live theatre and music. In the 1940s, big bands played the Fox, while rock bands visited the venue in the 1980s.

Westland Theatres purchased the building in 1971, hoping to continue exhibiting films, but this was halted two years later for economic reasons. It fell into disuse in the later 1970s and civic leaders considered whether or not to demolish the building. Stockton architect Edward C. Merlo and Madeleine Lawton stepped in to buy the Fox in order to preserve it in 1979, the same year it was entered onto the National Register of Historic Places.

The City of Stockton's The Redevelopment Agency added the historic theatre to its master planning for the Downtown in the 1990s, with the result that renovation work began late in the decade. The Merlo Family's estate donated the Fox California and its office building to the City of Stockton in 2000. A combination of State of CA, Federal Government and private funds covered the required $8.5 million renovation cost. The city renamed the second Fox California the "Bob Hope Theatre" in 2004, the year following the entertainer's death at age 100.

A 2016 article in the Stockton Record.net described an architectural walking tour that reporter Tim Viall took that discussed the Stockton Fox Theatre: "Our tour then took in the Fox California/Bob Hope Theatre, opened in 1930 as one of only two "movie palaces" in the Central Valley. Nearly 20,000 people lined up to get a look at the new theater and see the movie 'Up the River,' starring Spencer Tracy. A grand showplace with more than 2,000 seats, it was home to musical acts, vaudeville and movies until the 1970s — and nearly was torn down to be replaced by a parking lot. The Fox reopened again in the mid-1990s, and 11 years ago, received an $8.5 million restoration by the City of Stockton. A large donation from A.G. Spanos Company allowed Spanos to rename the Fox after his close friend, Bob Hope." (See Tim Viall, Stockton Record.net, "History comes to life in classy downtown Stockton walking tour," published 04/06/2016, accessed 01/16/2025.) Alexander G. Spanos (1923-2018) was born in Stockton and became a self-made, real estate billionaire with his firm, A.G. Spanos Companies, headquartered in Stockton. Spanos got into apartment house construction in 1960 and built a huge business erecting these structures. He went on to become the majority owner of the San Diego Chargers NFL franchise in 1984.

Building Notes

David Naylor in his book American Picture Palaces The Architecture of Fantasy, indicated that the Fox Theatre dated from 1927. He indicated that it contained 2,155 seats. (See David Naylor, American Picture Palaces The Architecture of Fantasy, [New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1981], p. 218.)