Watching the Fox Theater being built in downtown Phoenix in 1931


It's 1931 and everyone is talking about the new theater being built on Washington and 1st Street, called the Fox. Let's go take a look.

OK, no one has seen us sneak up onto this roof, let's take a look. Wow, you sure get a good view of South Mountain from up here!

The old-timers are complaining because this is where the city park used to be, and the old City Hall, but but this is Phoenix, and it's all about progress. And this is amazing! And even more so since the big depression hit a couple of years ago. I'm surprised it's being built! I hope that I can scrape up enough money to go see some shows.

It sure is fancy! I wonder what it will look like on the inside? Phoenix has a lot of theaters, but this has got to be the biggest and the best. This will really be a point of pride for the city, I hope that it will always be here, and I hope to be going to movies with my great-great grandchildren!

What? You think that maybe they're gonna tear it down in about forty years? And leave an empty place with just a parking lot for another forty years? What an imagination you have! Come on!

Inside of the Fox Theater in the 1930s

Inside of the Fox Theater in the 1930s

Inside of the Fox Theater in the 1940s

Built on Block 23 in 1931, the Fox Theater was torn down in 1975.

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