Cinema Park Drive-In

kencmcintyre on February 26, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Here is part of an article in the El Paso Herald dated 1/3/72:

One of El Paso’s largest drive-in theater complexes, the Cinema Park, 10676 Montana Avenue, today was a rubble of blackened ruins after a fire destroyed it late Saturday doing an estimated $210,000 damage. Firemen were investigating the cause of the blaze.

Theater manager James Harris, said the theater would be reconstructed, but gave no dates as to when building would begin. A fireman, Lt. D.R. Guillen, was trapped inside the blazing structure a short while after he led firemen to fight the flames, then was caught inside by a falling, burning beam. Firefighters chopped an escape passage for him and he got out with burns that did not prevent his remaining to help knock out the blaze.

A janitor said he had left the building to empty some trash and when he returned found the fire already making good progress. It had engulfed most of the structure by the time firemen arrived.