Our View: ‘Fox’ star rising again
This week, even one of its original stars was returning to the old Fox Theater.
No, we didn’t experience the reincarnation of actors Charles Farrell or Janet Gaynor, who appeared here on Sept. 3, 1931, during the theater’s grand opening.
Instead, it’s a shiny, mirrored-glass ceiling ornament that’s heading back to the downtown Spokane landmark.
When Herbert Mueller, a retired dentist, read a recent Spokesman-Review story about the theater’s renovation, he decided it was time to give the old sparkler back. Lately it’s been decorating his wood shop along the Little Spokane River.
That star symbolizes all of the ways this community has generously opened its collective attic, wallet and heart to the renovation of this fine old art deco theater. The campaign to save the building began in 2000, when 1,100 donors gave $1.1 million. Since then, $24.6 million more has been raised, with a goal of $31 million in mind. The Washington Legislature has another funding request of $2 million.
Business owners near the Fox begin to twinkle, too, when they talk about the theater’s reopening in November. Three art galleries along First Avenue already are welcoming anywhere from 300 to 500 visitors during the city’s First Friday celebrations. There’s no telling how many symphony-goers will join them.
At the Montvale Hotel, general manager Doug Griepp grins, thinking of the Fox opening right outside his front door.
He anticipates that more out-of-towners will drive at least 200 miles to attend a symphony concert and spend the night in his hotel. He’s also certain that on concert nights, his bar and restaurant business will jump.
An economic impact study by Washington State University predicted the project could create 175 jobs and generate $57 million in economic activity during reconstruction and in the Fox’s first year of operation. In additkion, it’s estimated that the theater annually will generate $16 million in salaries, ticket sales, restaurant meals, shopping and other entertainment in the years to come.
But aside from those happy numbers, the Fox demonstrates another way Spokane has found to prosper from its wealth of historic architecture. In recent years, a declining downtown has been revitalized by a procession of outstanding renovations, including the Bing Crosby Theater, Lewis and Clark High School, the Steam Plant and the Davenport Hotel.
By building on this city’s remarkably vital economic past, we wind up creating a future fueled by Spokane’s unique sense of tradition and style.
The Fox Theater opened in the midst of Prohibition.
We expect it will reopen – its astonishing painted art deco murals and amazing celestial ceiling intact once again – with champagne and much cause for celebration.