Fox Theatre's New Historic Marker

After a year and a half process of seeking approvals from various city, county and state agencies, Tucson's Fox Theatre unveiled its historic site marker on Tuesday, December 8.

Spearheaded by Joanne Diamos, whose family built the Fox in 1929-1930, and facilitated by previous Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation Executive Director Herb Stratford, the marker is unique from other historic site markers as its text was sandblasted onto glass rather than being cast in bronze. The marker, made by local company It's a Blast, is suspended inside the Fox's recreated original vintage ticket booth to protect it from vandalism.

"We started the process in June of 2008 and it had to go through a number of approvals from the City Historic Preservation office, Rio Nuevo office, SHPO - State Historic Preservation office, Fox Theatre Foundation Board, Tucson-Pima County Historic Preservation sites review sub-committee and the full Tucson-Pima County Historic Commission review," Stratford said.

The cost of the marker was underwritten by Joanne Diamos and Fox board member Jerry Talen and features text in both English and Spanish.

"The Fox Tucson Theatre, the country's only Southwestern Art Deco movie palace, was designed by California architect Eugene Durfee. Construction began in 1929 for the tower theatre, the crown jewel of the Diamos brothers Southern Arizona movie theatre chain. Fox West Coast Theatres leased the building from the Diamoses and renamed it the Fox Theatre.Opening on April 11, 1930, it soon became the community center of Tucson. In 1936, it became the city's first public building to have refrigerated air. Unoccupied from 1974 to 1998, it deteriorated. Revival efforts began in 1997, and in 1999 the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation was formed to restore the theatre. Through extensive efforts of volunteers led by Fox Foundation Executive Director Herb Stratford, the faithfully restored Fox Tucson Theatre reopened on New Year's Eve 2005. The theatre was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and elevated to the National Level of Significance on April 16, 2004."