The Riverside Fox Theater was designed by Los Angeles-based architects
Clifford Balch and engineer Floyd E. Stanberry, who were responsible for designing many of the "West Coast Theaters," and later, Fox Theaters. The theater was part of a chain of West Coast theaters built by Abe and
Mike Gore, Adolph Ramish, and
Sol Lesser. This partnership constructed neighborhood theaters in the Southern California area throughout the 1920s. In 1928, this group sold a controlling interest to
William Fox of
Fox Studios and the corporation became known as Fox West Coast Theaters. This alliance with Fox created a seamless production to distribution system for the film industry. The partnership was short-lived, however, due to both antitrust regulations and Fox's own financial difficulties. The corporation went into bankruptcy in the early 1930s. The theater came under control of the
Skouras Brothers in 1932 and became part of the National Theaters chain, the largest and most successful theater chain in US history. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Fox Theater was used by the Hollywood-based film industry to show previews of future releases before final editing. Riverside was considered a useful preview site because it represented, demographically, small town America. By previewing their future releases in Riverside, the film companies believed they could register the reaction to their movie within the country's largest viewing demographic without having to travel too far.
World War II and later years During
World War II, the building served as a makeshift dormitory after the soldiers from the nearby military bases filled the city's available sleeping spaces. Manager Roy Hunt allowed the soldiers to sleep on the thick carpets of the lobby and auditorium. In 1942, the Fox Theater converted its stage and surrounding dressing rooms into a 536-person secondary theater named the "Lido," which served as a "second-run" film house for headline pictures. Alterations and additions to the original design included the small secondary theater in the former stage house, alterations to the proscenium and various new sound absorption finishes in the auditorium. After World War II, changing demographics and fading fortunes of the surrounding neighborhood combined to decrease the viability of the Fox Theater. In 1978, the theater was acquired by Walnut Properties who used the main auditorium to show Spanish language films, while the Lido Theater became the "
Pussycat Theater" where adult films were shown. Determined eligible for entry to the National Register of Historic Places, the Fox Theater, located at the intersection of Mission Inn Avenue and Market Street, is today recognized as an important locale in the history of motion pictures. == Renovation ==