Special Section: Riverside Renaissance

Special Section: Reviving the Fox

To make Riverside's historic Fox theater usable again, much of the 1929 movie palace had to be completely overhauled. But some artifacts connected with the theater survived.

A few items -- barber chairs from an adjacent business, an original window, and a light fixture that looks like melting candles -- are on display at the theater. Ten pieces were auctioned off at the Jan. 15 opening gala, and an unknown number of other items sit in crates awaiting appraisal.

The city reopened the theater last month after a $32 million renovation that paid careful attention to period detail. What will happen to some of the salvaged items will depend on their condition and historical value.

Story continues below

Alicia Robinson / The Press-Enterprise

Light fixtures that look like candles were among items salvaged from Riverside's Fox theater during a renovation.

The auctioned items included lounge signs and brackets with metal scrollwork. The 10 pieces raised about $2,800 for the theater's nonprofit foundation, which aims to create an endowment that would support the Fox long-term.

The rest of what was saved from the crumbling building is an unknown quantity. Riverside Metropolitan Museum officials were on hand when the building was cleared for renovation and kept anything that seemed to be important or in good condition.

Everything was put into crates and stored in museum space. Curators will assess what they have and decide what to do with it, museum director Ennette Morton said.

She could not say how many items were salvaged and stored by the museum, but said the collection includes many windows, parts of some doors and large switches for theater lights. The wood-framed windows will be checked for termites.

"There's a difference between what is old and what is historic," Morton said. "Some of the stuff is just old."

Items will be photographed and checked to see if they are marked with dates. How they were constructed and what materials were used can give clues to how old the pieces are, Morton said.

Officials don't yet know if there are enough items for a display, though the museum already has an archival file on the Fox that includes a souvenir program from a screening of "Gone with the Wind" and brass movie tickets created for the theater's opening.

Workers salvaged what some former Fox visitors say was a fountain -- a tiled wall with a basin below that held water spouted by a fish. City Councilman Mike Gardner said it's not clear when the fountain was installed, but it was "early in the life of the theater."

"I have been told that you can actually still buy all of the parts for the thing, including the fish," he said, adding that a private group had pledged money to restore the fountain.

Reach Alicia Robinson at 951-368-9461 or arobinson@PE.com