Built in 1949, the Inglewood Fox was constructed by a West Coast-based theater chain to host premieres and first-run films. It was built on the site of the Granada Theatre which had been destroyed by a fire five years earlier. The Fox Theater is a 1,008 seat theater designed by S. Charles Lee (exterior) and Carl G. Moeller (interior). The theater had many amenities, such as a “cry room”, which was a soundproof room where people could bring their children without disrupting others.
20th Century Fox often held sneak previews of upcoming films at the Fox so they could observe people’s reactions to the movies. “Mr. Belvedere Goes to College” starring Clifton Webb and Shirley Temple was the first film shown at the Fox Theatre. Although it closed back in 1988 and abandoned, the Fox has been remarkably preserved. In 2012, nonprofit organisations partnered to save abandoned Fox Theatre, eventually earning the theater a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. Along with other buildings on Market Street, there are plans to restore abandoned theatre.
