Fox theater gets retro ‘blade’ signs

October 2010
Retro ‘blade’ signs being added

1930s
Original ‘blade’ signs

The first of two old-style neon signs went up this past week on the Fox Performing Arts Center in downtown Riverside. The signs are replicas of those that adorned the theater in the 1930s and 1940s.
According to The Press-Enterprise, the signs are 22 feet tall and weigh 900 pounds each. The cost to create and install them was $70,000. According to Fox personnel, the second ‘blade’ sign will be hung next week, at which time both signs should be operational.
The signs are among the final touches to the newly-renovated Fox theater, which reopened earlier this year as the city’s long-awaited performing arts center. The 1929-era theater received an extensive rehab that began in 2007. City officials aren’t sure what happened to the original ‘blade’ signs, but believe they were removed sometime during the 1950s.
Last month, workers began dismantling the interiors of twin buildings located adjacent to the Fox on Market Street as phase two of the Fox project. The facades of the twin buildings were saved and will be incorporated into an arcade that will partially shield sidewalks and a new outdoor plaza from the street.
Dubbed as Fox Entertainment Plaza, the development includes a 400-space parking garage, small “black box” theater, 12,000 square feet of commercial space and a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit hall. Completion is expected in Spring of 2012.
Update: Both blade signs installed: one | two

Previous

• RaincrossSquare.com – Open house at the Fox (May 2007) | Fox Theater restoration moving along (June 2009) | Riverside’s Fox Theater restoration in pictures (Nov. 2009) | Get into the Fox (Jan. 2010) | Inside the Fox Performing Arts Center (Jan. 2010) | 3633 Market Street – De Anza Chevrolet (Sept. 2010)

Nov. 2010
Retro signs

Nov. 2010
Fox at night

Nov. 2010
Neon

Nov. 2010
Across Market St.

Oct. 2010
3633 Market Street

Oct. 2010
3633 Market Street

Oct. 2010
3633 Market Street

Sources: The Press-Enterprise, City of Riverside