The Fox Theater is almost one of those places I overlook now. Living in Midtown on Peachtree Street NE, I walk by it to get to school every morning. You can actually see the brick building that I live in right above the treetops in the picture below. So when I sat across from it at the Georgia Terrance Hotel it took me awhile to find anything significant about it. Once I started really observing it, I noticed that it gives me the same vibes as the Lucas Theater in Savannah Georgia.

The outside of the Lucas Theater. Notice there are no digital screens.

Fox Theater from the front.

I moved to Atlanta from Savannah this summer, but before I moved at least twice a month I would go downtown to see an old movie like Back to The Future or Gone with The Wind at the Lucas Theater. Just looking at the front of the two buildings I can see a bit of a newer looking front entrance and a much older brick looking surrounding building. The Lucas Theater however has an older feel to it because it has the traditional headliner board that you have to remove the letters to make a new message where the Fox theater has a constantly changing digital screen. Most likely because Savannah is much less populated, the Lucas Theater does not see as much business as the Fox Theater does.

While walking around the perimeter of the Fox Theater that takes up almost a whole block by itself, I also noticed right away that  it has very many middle eastern aspects of the architecture. I immediately assumed that is was at one time a Jewish mosque of some sort. As you can see in the photo the back end of the building has very many aspects of a mosque with the dome styling and large intricate archways. In the front under the large

Mosque style architecture.

digital headliner there is even the Star of David shaped by the lights! I began to do some research on the building and I turned out to be very wrong. The Fox Theater was never a Jewish temple or any sort of religious place at all. In 1928 in was originally conceived as a home for Atlanta’s Shriner’s Organization. The design became so eccentric that it became more of a financial burden then they could  handle. Right before it was finished being built they leased it to William Fox who had many other theaters across the country. Fox put more than $3 million into the theater which is is equivalent to nearly $40 million today. Fox also added “Mighty Moe” a 3,622-pipe Möller organ that is the larges Möller in the world today. The Fox theater opened Christmas day to a sold out show of Disney’s fist movie starring Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie.

The fact that the Fox theater opened on Christmas day AND to the first movie with Mickey Mouse furthered my appreciation of the beautiful theater. Whether you are going to see your favorite rapper or watch an old movie the Fox theater is a beautiful venue for all ages and cultural backgrounds. Although I have not personally been to this theater I encourage you to visit the Fox theater while you are in Atlanta.

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