Santa Barbara Twin Drive-In

The actual screens and concession stand / projection booth are still standing; it can be seen off the 217 Freeway as one drives west to the University of California at Santa Barbara campus.

Correction on opening year. The drive-in was opened summer of 1966 with Bill Cummings and myself as co-managers. I rented an apartment at Isla Vista at the end of, that time, Ward Memorial Highway, now 217 fwy. I had previously managed the Americana, the Embassy and the Alley Cat before training and opening the twin theatre. These were all Robert L. Lippert theatres but the Santa Barbara may have been co-owned with Pacific Drive-ins. Coming in from Hollister was a flea market on Kellogg, a name unfamiliar in the San Fernando Valley where I lived. Shame - none of the theatres I worked at are in existence today.........

As well as the Airport Drive-In, I spent quite a few weekends at the Twin Screens which was actually the favorite of teenagers. Several reasons: 1. They usually showed more "adult" films on the far screen and curious teens could sneak a peek here and there. 2. It was easier to sneak in along the back fence and meet up with your fiends who had already entered with a "car-load". 3. They catered to the teen crowd more than the Airport Drive-In which was just down the road. In fact, as I recall, my friends and I went to see "TGIF" five nights in a row and never saw a minute of the film. Couldn't even tell you what it was about.

I worked at the original Airport Drive in theater on Hollister Ave. Goleta, Calif. I worked the ticket booth. one special time we had two or three actors show up for the premeire of GIANT.
Chill Wills was one of them. i loved working for that company i have many great memories. I lived in Goleta, Calif since 1938. anyone else around who remembers the drive in back in the early years ?
nancy ann smith
now in Oregon
555nancys@charter.net

The Santa Barbara Twin Drive-In was originally built by Vincent Raney for Syufy Enterprises. I don't know if Syufy ever actually ran it, but shortly after its construction it was traded to what became Metropolitan Theatres in exchange for the Geneva Drive-In in Daly City/San Francisco, CA.

After the lease with Metropolitan expired, it reverted back to Syufy which operates it now as the West Wind Goleta Public Market. Many upgrades to the property are in the works.

A few recent photos can be seen here.

This is an updated link to the drive-in photos.

The concession stand is still there as of April 2008:
http://www.agilitynut.com/08/4/godi.jpg

Does anyone know if they still use the grounds for a flea market on the week ends.

Chuck....This address is still listed on the West Wind website under Goleta Public Market.

Here is part of a February 1966 article in the LA Times:

SANTA BARBARA-A Los Angeles company won the right Tuesday to build a drive-in movie theater just east of the municipal airport and under the airport’s east-west flight plan. The county building department issued a permit to Lippert Inc. despite vehement protests from city officials.

Opponents asserted that the theater would post a hazard to pilots and stymie full development of the airport for jet plane use. The county board of supervisors had cleared the way for issuance of the building permit by rejecting a request to have the project temporarily blocked. The supervisors pointed out that the 13-acre site on S. Kellogg Ave. was properly zoned for a drive-in theater under city action several years ago.

Far as drive-ins go, the place looks intact. Having said that... Could there ever be the most *remote* chance that movies might be shown at this drive-in again? Even as a rare/special event??

Likely the projectors were taken out a long time ago - although, one never knows; I recently found out there's at least one film projector in the disused booth at the Ventura Theatre, slightly further down the coast.