Quick Take
A year after purchasing Watsonville’s Fox Theater, local business owner Franco Vaca says there’s no telling when the theater will reopen to the public. Repairs to the property are estimated at $3 million, and Franco wants more support from the community to make his goal a reality.
A year ago, Franco Vaca purchased Watsonville’s Fox Theater — a nostalgic downtown landmark for many longtime residents — with hopes of revitalizing the space into a center for the arts. The initial goal was to reopen the Fox within 18 months, but now there’s no telling when it’ll be open to the public.
“The dream is still alive, but the work is stuck right now,” Vaca said. “Everybody wants it. It is highly needed, but there is no support at all.”
Vaca, a 36-year Watsonville resident and local business owner, purchased the worn-down theater for $850,000 from previous owner Hank Garcia, only a day after closing a deal on the building next door. He originally had no intentions of revitalizing the theater when he first purchased it, until someone had pitched the idea to him, he said.
When Garcia reopened the theater in 1972, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he showed the 1956 film “The Ten Commandments.” The Fox was one of the only theaters in the region to show Spanish-language films up until it closed in 2005.
Garcia briefly reopened it in 2008 for a year before closing again because of “the financial effects of the recession and downtown Watsonville’s ongoing struggles to attract business,” according to a 2016 Sentinel article. That year, the Fox hosted the Watsonville Film Festival, and three years later, pizza restaurant Slice Project opened next door.
Vaca estimated that repairs to the theater could cost up to $3 million. Almost everything at the Fox needs to be rehabilitated, he said. The balcony and the seating arrangement need to be remodeled and the roof needs to be fixed. He has not yet started making any of the necessary repairs.
Vaca believes this type of project needs support from the community and local government, he said. “There is no appetite for that right now, where everybody wants it and participates, but not this time.”
He said he’s disappointed to not see more involvement from the community that rallied behind the idea a year ago, Vaca said. He was expecting people to jump in and ask how they could help with this endeavor.
Vaca said he has spoken with Jim Brown, executive director of Arts Council Santa Cruz County, who told him he would have to apply for grants to help fund the repair costs. Vaca hasn’t tried to do any fundraising on his own.
Despite the disappointment, Vaca said he doesn’t regret purchasing the property at all. While he did have plans to purchase the Fox Theater, but bought it earlier than he’d expected, and only realized its potential as a hub for the arts after closing the deal. He wants to help revitalize downtown Watsonville and bring more people to the city, he said.
Vaca is also operating his jewelry business, Fatima’s Fine Jewelry, just across the street from the Fox Theater, and said the it pulls him away from focusing on repairs. Since purchasing the theater, Vaca said he realized the restoration project is not meant for one person to handle.
Vaca is hopeful that someone out there is willing to help or wants to partner with him to revive the Fox Theater. He did not provide any specific details on what a potential partnership would look like.
“I like the arts a lot and I know how much it is needed and people need it right here in Watsonville,” he said. “And also, I know how much benefit it will bring to the community.”
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