Pickwick Drive-In
1100 W. Alameda Avenue,
Burbank,
CA
91506
1100 W. Alameda Avenue,
Burbank,
CA
91506
6 people
favorited this theater
Burbank’s Pickwick Drive-In opened in 1949 and had space for 781 cars.
Operated by Pacific Theatres, the theater is perhaps best known as the site of the World Premiere of Mel Brooks’s "Blazing Saddles". Warner Brothers held the premiere at this drive-in and the guests were led in on horses.
The Pickwick Drive-In was closed and torn down in 1989.
Contributed by
William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
In the early 1980’s my aunt worked at this drive-in and I remember going here many nights because she would get us in for free. A large retail complex with a Pavilions Market is now located on the site.
I believe this theater was also used in a car chase scene from the second season Rockford Files episode “The No-Cut Contract”. A little over 9 minutes into the episode, Rockford’s Firebird turns into the entrance to the theater and you can see the marquee advertising “The Gambler” with James Caan and “Once Is Not Enough” with Kirk Douglas. Since James Garner did most of his own stunt driving, you could see a smile on his face while he was “hill jumping” between the speaker poles in the drive in parking lot.
I went on horseback to see Blazing Saddles at the Pickwick Drive-In! I remember lining up to enter the theater on my pony, along with 30 other riders, behind a stream of cars. I was in elemenatary school at the time. A friend of mine, used to live in the apartments next door on Shelton St. We would sneak out and climb into the trees that lined the theater to watch rated R films, like Saturday Night Fever. Good memories = ]
Here is a February 1980 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/28ndwg
Was mentioned in the documentary “Drive-In Movie Memories” in 2001.
Pickwick Drive-In Theatre is featured in Columbia’s 1950 film “He’s a Cockeyed Wonder” with Mickey Rooney. On the marquee is the Columbia feature “Fuller Brush Girl” with Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, and “A Girl’s Best Friend,” a non-existent film, which is apparently the second feature, and the one in progress. A uniformed female usher greets the driver, takes his money, and gets his ticket from the nearby cashier, in a glass-enclosed booth; then a uniformed male usher, with flashlight, directs the car to an available parking spot, and places the speaker on the car window. We get to see a bit of “A Girl’s Best Friend” with Richard Quine and Lola Albright as the uncredited couple, in the usual situation, in the front seat of a convertible, before trouble in the theatre breaks out.
The Pickwick plays in role in 1976’s ST IVES starring Charles Bronson.
Now a large development with a Pavilions and a Staples. You can see on Google Maps where the screen was – at the bottom right corner of the lot.
Info I’ve found says the Pickwick was open May 12, 1949 to September 15, 1989. It was operated by: Cal-Pac Drive-In Theatres, Inc., and then by Pacific Theatres. Vehicle capacity was around 750. Unfortunately I never saw a movie here but I remember driving by there just before it was closed in 1989. It was demolished around late-1989 and replaced by the “Rancho Marketplace” shopping center (Vons Pavillion, Denny’s). The Pickwick Gardens entertainment complex (banquet rooms, bowling, ice skating, etc.) is still in operation just to the south (behind the shopping center) on Riverside Drive.
Goggle Earth 1989