New Sequoia/Fox Theatre

New Sequoia/Fox Theatre. Former site of the Central Grammar School. This block of Broadway underwent a number of major changes during the first half of the twentieth century. It started out as the Central Grammar School in 1895 (legally named “Redwood City Public School”) shown at the left above. Part of a third floor building wing was set aside for the ninth grade, as nucleus for the proposed Sequoia High School. The town took great pride in this majestic building, and its central clock tower was a distinctive Downtown landmark. The building was torn down in 1928 to be replaced by the New Sequoia Theatre., The “New Sequoia Theatre” opened with great fanfare in 1929, replacing the old Sequoia Theatre that was located down the street, near what is now Jefferson Avenue. It was one of the area’s finest “atmospheric” movie palaces. The interior boasted a stage and loft for vaudeville performances, a pipe organ considered to be the second best in the country, and a machine that could project moving clouds and twinkling stars across the ceiling. The entire block complex cost an estimated $300.000 – a phenomenal amount in 1928., The theatre was purchased by the Fox West Coast chain in 1929 and eventually renamed the Fox Theatre after a brief closing for repairs in 1950. The building, designed by noted theatre architects Reid and Reid is a stylized Gothic design with traces of Spanish Colonial Revival ornamentation.