Campus Drive-In
6147 El Cajon Boulevard,
San Diego,
CA
92115
6147 El Cajon Boulevard,
San Diego,
CA
92115
5 people
favorited this theater
The Campus Drive-In was built in 1948. It had a capacity for 900 cars. This drive-in closed around 1983 and was demolished. A shopping center was built on its former site.
One of the most memorable features of this drive-in was the 46 foot high drum majorette outlined in neon lights that twirled a baton. Today the neon lighted drum majorette is “alive and well” and resides at the College Grove Shopping Center which replaced this drive-in.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 25 comments)
Remnants of salvaged neon from the Campus Drive-In, the Plaza and Cabrillo theaters from Horton Plaza and many downtown San Diego signs remain in the collections of Gloria Poore and Juliette Mondot.
In the 1980’s, after watching old neon signs dropped on sidewalks from buildings being demolished, Gloria and I approached CCDC requesting salvage rights on hastily designed letterhead for SONO (Save Our Neon Organization). CCDC tried to sell salvage rights. No one bought. Finally we were allowed to salvage for free. Along with our husbands, Ben Harroll and Greg Calvert and several volunteers, we spent many weekends on ladders dismantling brittle, old neon, often caked with pigeon poop. We used it in light sculptures, performance pieces and photographs. We were shocked when we were asked to salvage the Campus Drive-In. We are glad the majorette twirls again. It is a nice twist of fate that SOHO is now the steward.
More photos can be seen here.
NICE, ANYONE HAS INFO OR PHOTOS OF THE STARDUST TWIN CINEMAS IN VISTA CA NORTH COUNTY SAN DIEGO???
I grew up just a few blocks from this drive in. A very early memory of mine is seeing it razed on the local news.
Here’s an addition to the article excerpt above, about the killing that took place at the Campus in December 1961:
O'Connor’s father Jerome O'Connor spent so much time in courtrooms that he eventually became president of the San Diego Court Watchers Association.
In 1971, the murdered man’s sister, Maureen O'Connor, became the youngest person ever to be elected to the San Diego City Council. She was elected Mayor of San Diego in 1986.
The Reader just posted online a new draft of the complete San Diego drive-in history —– it’s more than twice the length of the original, with a lot of new information and something like 100 graphics that weren’t with the old article either ——
View link
Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) gained ownership of the Neon Majorette in 2001. Here is the most recent article about her published in SOHO’s Our Heritage Magazine: View link
Here are two 1983 photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Here are 1983 night photos:
Photo1
Photo2
Crying Shame this Drive-in could not be saved.
This opened on August 18th, 1948. The grand opening ad has been posted here.