Ten stories of extravaganza opened here in 1928 as the Fox Theatre, the largest surviving movie palace of the 1920s. The Fox Theatre seats more than five thousand people beneath a lobby and auditorium dressed in a wild blend of Asian, Indian, and Egyptian motifs, gilded elephants, jeweled columns, and a vast stained-glass ceiling, the so-called Siamese Byzantine style. It was among the first theatres built with sound film in mind, arriving just as the silent era ended.
Through the decades it hosted vaudeville, first-run films, and live concerts; Motown acts and rock legends alike played its stage. By the 1970s it had nearly slid into ruin, but a meticulous restoration in 1988 brought back its full glittering splendor. Today it anchors a revived entertainment district.
Picture the towering marquee and the immense Fox lettering above, then the glowing lobby through the doors, and imagine arriving here in evening dress in 1928, when the movies first learned to speak.