Comments about Madera 2 Drive-In in Madera, CA

dansdriveintheater on December 16, 2022 at 1:40 am

Movies return April 2023

dansdriveintheater on April 26, 2021 at 10:45 am

it i now the second to last san joaquin valley drive in that is still operating the other being the ceres cruise-in theatre. also california’s oldest operating drive-in

MichaelKilgore on October 26, 2019 at 1:36 pm

To elaborate on my comment a couple of years ago, the El Rio was in the very first Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list (the 1950-51 edition), and the Park Vu was in the very last (1988). Considering how slow the MPA reacted to changed in the 1960s and 70s, the name change probably occurred within a few years of 1970.

The full MPA record, which was actually quite stable:

1950-66: El Rio, 400, Henry Preciado
1967-76: El Rio, 400
1977-88: Park Vu, 400 (later 1 screen), R. Gran

dansdriveintheater on August 14, 2019 at 3:14 pm

Now ca,s oldest drive in

dansdriveintheater on November 24, 2018 at 7:06 pm

news article about the 2018 reopening it has a new owner

https://abc30.com/entertainment/movie-goers-can-take-a-drive-back-to-the-past-at-the-madera-drive-in/3398688/

dansdriveintheater on November 11, 2018 at 10:15 am

they no longer run the swap meet at the madera drive-in

MichaelKilgore on February 13, 2017 at 7:32 pm

This changing name business is pretty confusing. The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog lists the Madera Drive-In as under construction. The 1949-50 edition lists the El Rio in operation, as does the 1952 and 1955-56 editions.

The 1956 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures lists, for Madera CA, both the El Rio Drive-In and the Madera Drive-In. The 1964 edition lists only the El Rio, so I’m guessing the second drive-in in ‘56 was a crossed wire.

On the other hand, the 1984 International Motion Picture Almanac shows the only drive-in in Madera as the single-screen Park Vu Drive In, owned by R. Gran. And the 1995 edition of Goodridge’s Guide to Flea Markets also mentions the Park Vu Drive-In Flea Market at 201 Lincoln. It was definitely known as the Madera by 2004, so the Park Vu must have been an intermediate name.