TAFT, Calif. (KERO) — The Taft Fox Theater is under new management and they’re trying a few new things, including Closed Caption Tuesdays.
The Fox Theater in Taft is back open after a brief closure in 2022, thanks to the West Side Recreation and Park District who took it over from the previous owner.
“We feel that movies are a part of recreation, anything you do in your spare time is part of recreation," said Stephanie Molina with the park district.
Molina said in order to revitalize the downtown landmark the district has made some changes.
“One of the biggest changes has been the aesthetics in the lobby itself, nothing to the historic look, we really wanted to keep the art-deco type look," she said.
Along with the fresh coat of paint in the lobby, they’ve also updated the concessions stand and now they’re offering closed captioning with all their movies every Tuesday. Most movie theaters offer some version of closed captioning options such as devices with captions or additional headsets for movies, but at the Fox the movies have actual closed caption words on the screen.
“We had heard from our community that that was an interest of theirs," said Molina.
The theater now also offers movies dubbed in Spanish and they’re also begging to open their stage for events like concerts. The district is also hoping to encourage local businesses to advertise with the theater in order to support the local economy as well as the historic building.
“When we knew that the theater was in trouble, our board and our district administrator felt it was important to step in and help," Molina said.
The Fox Theater is located on Center Street in Taft. You can find movie showtimes here.
