It Looks Like Curtains for Fullerton’s Fox Theatre

Despite dozens of impassioned pleas, the Fullerton City Council on Tuesday denied a request for a $1.8-million loan to help preservationists save the historic Fox Theatre.

Voting 4 to 1, the council -- acting as the city’s redevelopment agency -- rejected giving the loan to the Fullerton Historic Theatre Foundation, which wants to buy the 1920s-era landmark. The theater is slated for sale to a developer, who plans to raze it for apartments.

The Fox’s owner is asking $3.5 million for the structure. The city pledged $1.6 million in redevelopment funds as seed money, provided the foundation could raise $1.8 million on its own. When it became clear that the goal would not be reached by Tuesday’s deadline, the foundation asked for the loan. In rejecting that request, council members noted that the foundation had raised only $765,000 -- far short of its goal.

“$700,000 is a lot of money, but it’s not even half of what you needed,” said Councilman Shawn Nelson, in speaking for the majority.

“I’m not prepared to get the city committed to such a risk.”

Preservationists argued that the theater could serve as the city’s new downtown cultural hub. Councilman Leland Wilson, who cast the sole vote for the loan, said that by not granting it the city may save money but will lose the Fox Theatre “and with it, a piece of history.”

The Fox is one of several remaining single-screen theaters that were built when Orange County was mostly rural.

Many residents still recall seeing first-run movies there as late as the 1970s, when its popularity began to wane in favor of multiplex cinemas at malls.

The campaign to save the theater, which began in January, hit full stride in the last few weeks when supporters raised nearly $200,000, including $50,000 from the Morgan Group, which gave up its option to buy the property in favor of the foundation. Many supporters believed that they could have reached the $1.8-million goal with more time.

Built by Meyer and Holler, which also built the Grauman and Egyptian theaters in Hollywood, Fullerton’s Fox had the advantage of having a good location downtown, said Jon Olivan, a spokesman for the group involved in saving the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.