Has the Fox Had Its Last Act?

Ernie Chapman, though just a lad in 1925, vividly recalls the grand opening of the Fox Theatre in downtown Fullerton that year. His brother Stanley, who built it, had managed to book members of Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies, instead of a silent movie.

“How splendid it was,” recalled Chapman, now 90.

In those days, the place was called Alicia Court, named after Stanley Chapman’s wife, Alice Ellen. Soon after, it became Mission Court. In 1930, the Fox theater chain took it over. Even so, the Fox--on Harbor Boulevard just north of Chapman Avenue--reigned for decades as the city’s downtown architectural showpiece.

Now, it’s Fullerton’s eyesore.

Closed since 1987, the place is a condemned, two-story hulk of plaster and brick.

The window where ticket takers used to sit in resplendent tuxedos is coated with grime. A cardboard-covered security gate blocks the front courtyard where moviegoers once sipped tea. The stone, Greek-inspired theatrical mask reigning high on the building’s front, its eyes once bulging with colored lights, can be seen now only from across the street.

Despite considerable municipal and private efforts to revive the Fox, nothing promising is in the works. The message on the Fox’s marquee describes its bleak and needy state: “Available.”

While much of downtown Fullerton has seen a resurgence, thanks to millions in redevelopment funds, the Fox continues to deteriorate. City officials know it’s just getting worse and are renewing their efforts to save the old building.

“In Fullerton, 2002 has got to be the Year of the Fox,” Councilwoman Jan M. Flory said. “We just can’t go on like this.”

Efforts to save the Fox have been made before.

“It isn’t surprising that my first call back after the holidays is about the Fox,” said Gary Chalupsky, the city’s redevelopment director. “Every other week, somebody inquires about it.”

In the late 1990s, a private support group, Fullerton Heritage, gathered some 15,000 signatures urging that the Fox be saved. Two years ago, that almost happened.

The city had an option from the owner, Beverly Hills attorney-businessman Edward Lewis, to take it over. The city began working with a partnership, headed by developer Doug Chaffee and local restaurateur Paul Berkman. They had ambitious plans, including serving food with wine or beer in the theater’s balcony. The city agreed to put in $3 million for a new parking structure.

In the end, the numbers just wouldn’t crunch. The city’s option ran out and the deal was scrapped.

“It’s just not conceivable,” Berkman said. “It would take $4- to $5 million to buy something that doesn’t have one thing inside worth keeping.”

Chalupsky agreed. “Every system inside the place needs an overhaul,” he said.

So Lewis was back where he started. He has since moved to Paris, and city officials said he hasn’t returned the city’s telephone calls. (Nor did his Beverly Hills office return calls from The Times.)

Fullerton Heritage president Tom Dalton said his group wants the city to take control of the property through eminent domain. But council members have said they don’t want to take a step that drastic.

The city’s Redevelopment Agency does have a slick brochure it’s mailing to potential developers “inviting proposals.”

The marketing pamphlet states, “The Fox Theatre complex is strategically located at one of Fullerton’s busiest intersections.”

But some of the same obstacles exist that led to the Fox’s closure 14 years ago. Who’s going to open a single-screen theater with limited downtown parking when there already are so many multiplex theaters in the area that can handle many cars?

The city has helped upgrade Plummer Auditorium at Fullerton College, so that undermines the argument that the Fox is needed for stage productions.

Despite these problems, the Fullerton Downtown Business Assn. wants to see something done soon. And members prefer that the theater be reborn as a movie house.

“A theater makes a downtown,” association president Martin Ritto said. “It draws people in. They bring their business with them. In a perfect world, the Fox would be a theater again.”

When Ernie Chapman drives by these days, he thinks back to the theater’s beginnings as Alicia Court. It was a natural for his brother to build, he said.

The Chapmans were sons of Orange County pioneer C.C. Chapman, who was the city’s first mayor.

Stanley married Alice Ellen Wilber, whose father owned the silent movie house, the Rialto, at Harbor Boulevard and Wilshire Avenue. Silent movies and vaudeville were hot in those Roaring ‘20s days, and the Chapmans knew a second theater would add profits. The same developers who built the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles were hired to build Alicia Court.

Early newspaper reports describe the building’s organ as “magnificent.” It accompanied local productions and played backup to the movies. Six mammoth murals, three on each of the theater’s side walls, colorfully depicted the Spanish exploration of California.

“I’d go early, before the movie started, just to gaze at those beautiful murals,” Chapman said.

Ten years ago, city officials said, the dilapidated theater wouldn’t have stood out so much. Most of the rest of downtown had a condemned look too.

But some 90 downtown businesses took advantage of redevelopment loans to upgrade their buildings, many of which were restored to their original look. In 1998, Fullerton won the California League of Cities’ highest award for downtown revival. New luxury apartments are planned by the Morgan Group just down the street from the Fox.

Chad Lowe, executive director of the Fullerton Chamber of Commerce, calls the Fox problem “the last piece of the puzzle.”

Berkman, the restaurateur, said he’s no longer interested. But city officials are hopeful that developer Chaffee may still be able to put something together. Chaffee could not be reached for comment last week.

Restoration Is Possible, but Is Price Worth It?

Councilwoman Flory insists that if the city makes the Fox a priority, something positive can happen in 2002.

“My husband and I loved the Fox,” she said. “Summers, we’d go dressed almost down to our bathing suits. Winters, we’d take an afghan. I think the last movie we saw there was “The Terminator.”

Experts are certain the building can be restored, even the murals, which were painted over long ago after deteriorating from age and water leakage from the roof. The questions are: at what cost, and does Fullerton really need another theater?

Fullerton Heritage is certain of the answers. In a letter to area residents, members wrote: “We don’t need just another movie theater. We do need to be responsible caretakers for our city’s past.”