Rancho Drive-In
Federal Boulevard,
San Diego,
CA
92105
Federal Boulevard,
San Diego,
CA
92105
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Located on the SE corner of Federal Boulevard and Euclid Avenue. Opened in January 1948, smart Art Moderne styling defined San Diego’s Rancho Drive-In. A giagantic screen-tower was backed by an epic Western motif mural befitting this 1940’s futuristic outdoor cinema. Graceful palms lined seven lanes of entrance drive where white uniformed lot boys stood ready to assist ticket buyers.
Once patrons found just the right dock to park their automobile they could trigger a switch on the speaker post to call a car hop to come and take concession snack orders. Glider swings stood available in front of the oversized silver screen for those who chose not to remain inside a cramped car.
Everything was up to date at the Rancho Drive-In, and ticket sales were brisk. Problem was, it didn’t take too many years before real estate which the theatre occupied to become more valuable than an outdoor theatre could support. The end came rather quietly, no fanfare.
Look below to see quality shots of the Rancho from the LIFE photograph collection
Contributed by
Jeff Chapman
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
This listing is most likely a duplicate of the El Rancho in South San Francisco. If the Life Magazine photos above show the Rancho Drive-In in San Diego, I would just change this listing to San Diego otherwise it could end up being deleted as a duplicate listing. I don’t know the exact address for the Rancho in San Diego, but the location given is Federal Boulevard.
The Life Magazine photos are definitely of the Rancho Drive-In in San Diego. The screen tower and its mural are easily recognizable in both the 1948 Boxoffice Magazine photos and the photos on the San Diego Weekly Reader web page. I don’t know how the editors of Life managed to displace the theater more than five hundred miles from its actual location.
I just noticed that the link I posted to the San Diego Weekly Reader web page at 8:46pm last night no longer works. I suggest a Google search on “San Diego Rancho Drive-In” (but without the quotation marks) to find it (it’s the first result.) It’s way easier than trying to use the Reader’s internal search function.
Here is the link for the San Diego Weekly Reader web page. According to that page, the Rancho in San Diego opened on January 28, 1948. The introduction above shouldn’t need too many alterations to convert this listing to the Rancho in San Diego.
At the corner of Euclid and Federal there is the nearly vacant Metropolitan Shopping Center. I would bet that that’s the former location of the Rancho Drive-In. Either that or the grounds of Cox Communications across the street.
From 1948 a photo that captured a partial view of the Rancho Drive In marquee along with a man standing underneath.
Here’s Federal Blvd and Euclid intersection circa 1964. A large drive in appears at the SE corner of the intersection.
http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=11933
Thanks S.S. looks like it.
This opened on January 28th, 1948. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Approx. address for this drive-in was 1515 Euclid Avenue. The entrance is now McDonald’s!