This evening we went down to San Jose to the California Theater to see the Wizard Of Oz. This is associated with the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto in that Packard Humanities Institute funded 1/3 the cost of renovation and evidently has some use of the facility. I hadn't heard of the classic movies being shown here before and this showing was free. The theater is the former Fox theater downtown and is home to both the opera and symphony as well. It was renovated a couple of years ago and is a very beautiful theater. There is much more decoration than at the Stanford. Like the Stanford, there is a nice Wurlitzer organ and the same organist Bill Taylor, was at the keyboard. The music was mostly from the movie or about it. It's nice to have another good theater for a good (old) movie.
I last went to this theater not too long before it closed. The theater was a bit worn then but still showed it's character. I'm glad that San Jose was able to save it. It shows a change in the Redevelopment Agency there. They have very nearly demolished the entire downtown and rebuilt a junky city. The character was removed. They have made many blunders and spent far too much money on many projects that have failed. Even with that, the downtown is slowly improving now that there is more housing being built there. I do hope they eventually succeed in creating a vibrant downtown.
More Information:
Nice Pictures and Information.
The City of San Jose's Information Page.
More information.
Received a design award.
The Organ Restoration Company
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