East Sprague Drive-In
6200 E. Sprague Avenue,
Spokane,
WA
99212
6200 E. Sprague Avenue,
Spokane,
WA
99212
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The start of construction of the East Sprague Drive-In was first announced in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on July 26, 1949. Favorite Theatres, who ran three indoor theaters in the city and two in Salt Lake City, Utah, was the builder. However the president of the firm, Joseph Rosenfield, said that this operation was his own personal project.
The 1,000-car theater opened on September 17, 1949 as Spokane’s third drive-in movie. The opening double bill was Esther Williams in “This Time For Keeps” and John Garfield in “Force Of Evil". In 1965 the drive-in was a first in offering in-car heaters so the theater was able to stay open year-round.
From 1972 to 1986 the drive-in was listed under SRO Theaters until Cineplex Odeon bought SRO in December of 1986 and when it opened in the spring it was charging $5.00 a carload. There was still another change when Act III Theatres bought Cineplex Odeon’s Spokane theatres in 1992.
The East Sprague Drive-In’s advertisements disappeared from the theater listings in September of 1993 and the Daily Chronicle said it was being closed to make room for a freeway interchange. Today part of the former site of the drive-in is occupied by a self-storage facility and its restored sign is on display at the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Here is the Sign
Uploaded opening day ad
There are some pictures of this theater’s signage on its gallery page at Drive-ins.com.
Uploaded aerial from 1994
Address above is incorrect. Approx, address for this drive-in was 214 South Eastern Road. The address above is in between the freeway on and off ramps.
Look at the aerial in the photo section, the drive-in was tucked in right at the freeway ramps.
Ron Pierce is the gentleman that submitted this drive-in, he is a long time theatre researcher and does a thorough job so I would believe that his address is correct.
I checked both addresses and they both point to the location of the DI. Maybe, before the I-90 interchange was built, the East Sprague address was the correct original address.