Mesa Drive-In
3 County Road 5859,
Farmington,
NM
87401
3 County Road 5859,
Farmington,
NM
87401
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The Mesa Drive-In had its Grand Opening on Tuesday, May 30, 1950, showing Susan Hayward in “Tulsa” and Bud Abbott & Lou Cosello in “The Noose Hangs High”. Frank Budai of Waterflow was the manager. Its address was described as four miles from Farmington on the Bloomfield Road. Aerial photos place it at 3 Co Road 5859, where Arrowhead Propane is now.
The Mesa Drive-In was listed in the Motion Picture Almanac series through the 1962 edition, but it appears to have closed before then. Its advertisements in the local paper stopped on August 22, 1955, and a newspaper article in September 1961 already called it the “old” Mesa Drive-In.
Contributed by
Michael Kilgore
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Boxoffice, May 13, 1950: “FARMINGTON, N. M. – Work has begun on $60,000 Mesa Drive-In four miles east of town on the Bloomfield highway. The airer is being constructed by Murphy & Sons, general contractors, on land recently purchased from Arthur Coy. The airer will accommodate 400 cars and will be managed by Frank Budai.”
Boxoffice, July 8, 1950: “FARMINGTON, N. M. – The new Mesa Drive-In erected near here by San Juan Enterprises, Inc., recently was opened. The 100-foot screen tower is built of concrete and Oregon pine. Frank Dudai, formerly of Waterflow, N. M., is manager, and Edward Pierce is projectionist.”
The last ad I could find for the Mesa in the Farmington Daily Times was on Aug. 21, 1955, for shows through Monday, Aug. 22. Apparently, the Mesa’s final program was the Jack Palance film “Sign of the Pagan” and Maureen O'Sullivan in “Bonzo Goes to College”.