Old Fox Theatre possibly could become a new performance venue
Plans for a distillery and eatery in the Fox Theatre building have changed, leaving opportunities open for new use.
Partnership team sees ‘exciting opportunities’
–Todd Newman, one of the principles planning the future of the Fox Theatre building at 1436 Spring Street in Paso Robles, sees “lots of exciting opportunities” in the future of the building. Newman and his wife Korie have been strategizing with the building owners, Alex and Monica Villicana and the City of Paso Robles to turn the building into a versatile performance space.
The Newmans have owned and operated Good Medicine Presents since 2014 and have provided events and event production since 2005. The Villicanas purchased the Fox Theatre in 2016 for the new home for their Re:Find Distillery. As plans proceeded, the Villacanas realized that some of the requirements to remodel the building as a distillery were not realistic and started looking for another purpose for the vintage theater space. Monica Villicana said that since the word about bringing the old movie theater back to life has been spreading through the community, she has been “flooded with calls and emails from people. Everyone is really excited for this theater to come to life.”
Cynthia Anthony, founder and Executive Director of the Paso Robles-based performance company, Wine Country Theatre, said, “It’s always exciting to have more performance space in the area. Community theatre requires a certain scale not only for the audience and performers, but one that can accommodate rehearsals and regular performances. The Fox is such a great location and has the potential to be a wonderful performance space.”
Talks between the Newmans and Villicanas started when Alex Villicana heard that the Newmans were looking for a permanent home for Good Medicine Presents. The Newmans previously owned SLO Brew in San Luis Obispo, which they built into a popular music venue for national and local acts. Good Medicine Presents was founded in 2014 and the couple sold SLO Brew in 2015 to focus full-time on the production company. Since 2014 they have booked a number of national music performances into a variety of venues throughout San Luis Obispo County.
“We’ve been looking for a permanent venue that would be a good fit,” said Newman. “As we booked acts all through the county we became more and more familiar with Paso Robles and thought the area would be a good match.”
Villicana said she is not “100-percent sure what is going to happen,” but said that the city has been “amazing to work with.” The previous owner gutted the building and Villicana said that is both a blessing and a curse. “The blessing is that it is already completely gutted. The curse is that nothing is left.” Villicana said all of the vintage movie house fixtures are gone.
Newman said, “A performing arts venue is a good direction for the Fox.” Newman sees community theater and live performances such as stand-up comedy in addition to a music venue.
Meetings with the city are continuing as new plans are presented for approval. Both Villicana and Newman hesitated to put a timeline on any development. The Fox Theatre was built as the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in 1922 and saw uses as a store and café until becoming the HiHo Theatre in 1941. It was the Fox Theatre from 1957 until it closed in the mid-1980s.
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