San Pedro Drive-In

1811 N. Gaffey Street,
San Pedro, CA 90731

900 cars

4 people favorited this theater

The San Pedro Drive-In opened on June 6th, 1949. The San Pedro had a distinctive trademark in a colorful mural emblazoned on the highway side of the steel and plaster screen tower building.

At the top of the graphic illustration of a caballero on horseback waving to approaching ships, the theater name was blocked out in neon-lighted letters. The architect of the San Pedro Drive-In was William Glenn Balch & Louis L. Bryan. It had a car capacity for 831, and was operated by the Pacific Theatres chain

Contributed by William Gabel

Recent comments (view all 12 comments)

kencmcintyre on November 9, 2005 at 12:01 pm

From socaldriveins.com:

View link

kencmcintyre on July 9, 2007 at 8:12 pm

Here is a 1947 architectural rendering from the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics50/00059507.jpg

kencmcintyre on May 3, 2008 at 11:54 am

Here is an ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/5jvsxt

Glory on May 29, 2008 at 9:57 pm

I remember the San Pedro Drive-in. I use to have alot of fun there. I remember when I was younger my mom and dad use to take us (myself, sister. We’d stop by McDonald’s first and they would buy 10 hamburgers for $1.00. That’s right! 10 for just $1.00. Now you wouldn’t catch me eating that stuff. Anyway, we’d head off to the theatre and have fun.

I remember one time we went to see “Psycho” when it first came out there. I laughed so hard when my mom said we were going to watch peace-co. I couldn’t figure out what she said. I also remember when I use to work at the snack bar. Didn’t do that for long. I knew too many kids that wanted free stuff. Wouldn’t do it. However, I did use to sneak a bunch in my car trunk. It was funny at the time when I saw all the kids coming out of my trunk.

Gone are the days of 2 moves for the price of 1.

KimReynolds on December 2, 2008 at 11:19 am

In back of the screen on the next property was the DeCarlo Bakery. I remember the smell of fresh bread late into the evening. When my dad had a Poker Night back in 1972 with his friends my mom took me and my 2 younger brothers to the San Pedro. She told us to pick out a movie. We choose “The Corpse Grinders”. My mom had some concerns but took us anyway. Needless to say we did not stay for the second feature. Good times!

lostmemory on April 27, 2009 at 12:39 pm

Here are two 1984 photos:

Photo1

Photo2

kencmcintyre on November 23, 2009 at 9:25 am

Here is an aerial view circa 1972:
http://tinyurl.com/yc59xej

lostmemory on November 23, 2009 at 9:27 am

We’d never be able to find it without that.