Sundown Drive-In
12322 Washington Boulevard,
Whittier,
CA
90606
12322 Washington Boulevard,
Whittier,
CA
90606
5 people
favorited this theater
Pacific Theatres closed the Sundown Drive-in closed in 1990, and the site was used as swap meet for several years. It was demolished in February of 1999, and the former site is now a Home Depot.
Contributed by
Jason Balch, William Gabel
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
I was a projectionist here at the Sundown back in the early 80s. Spanish language or subtitled movies at night – a swap meet during the day. Enter the Dragon (with spanish subtitles) was our biggest hit. We packed the place. Once you were in, you couldn’t leave. That packed! One night the fog rolled in and the horns started honking. What was I supposed I do?
Capacity for 1,000 cars.
Was mentioned in the documentary “Drive-In Movie Memories” in 2001.
I was a projectionist here also, and I can still hear the manager telling me his million-dollar business will stay here forever.
Been There – Done That
I see from the aerial photo that this DI was built in the less common style of double ramps.
The July 24, 1954, issue of Boxoffice Magazine carried an article about Hugh Bruen’s Sundown Drive-In, then under construction. It identified the designers as Balch, Bryan, Perkins, and Hutchason. William Glenn Balch was the lead architect of this firm. This was one of the first Southern California drive-ins equipped to show wide-screen movies from the day it opened.
I worked there in the early 1970s. I worked the Box office, Snack Bar & as an Usher riding a bike around while the movies played.
After the movies were over I had to go wake up some of the folks so we could lockup & go home & sometimes they were sound asleep & not wearing their clothes.
During my time there the Snack Bar did not pop the Popcorn there we got it already popped in large plastic bags & we dumped it into large warming bins to warm it up a little before it was sold.
I grewup in Whittier & remember my Mom taking us there & remember seeing the Disney movie Old Yeller there in 1958.
Pre-popped popcorn? There should be a law against that. Did you at least have butter and not “butter flavoring”?
No it was butter flavored topping.
The pre popped popcorn came in big bags that were my guess was about the size of a 50 gallon trash bag.
Here is an August 1954 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ch2lvj
Nice picure of the marquee kenmc.