Edwards Drive-In
4469 E. Live Oak Avenue,
Arcadia,
CA
91006
4469 E. Live Oak Avenue,
Arcadia,
CA
91006
3 people
favorited this theater
Architect S. Charles Lee designed a number of drive-ins during his career and some theatres for James Edwards II. Edwards Theatres opened this drive-in, designed by Lee, in 1948. Other Lee-designed theatres for Edwards were the Tumbleweed in El Monte, the original Temple in Temple City, and the Tujunga in Tujunga.
This 750-car site was taken over by Pacific Theatres in 1954 and until its closing and demolition in the late-1980’s it was always called Edwards Drive-In.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
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Recent comments (view all 14 comments)
If it’s rockin, don’t come knockin…
Bet you were there too! 50’s and 60’s? :)
Haven’t been to a Theater or Drive-In for so many Years, Too
Scarry Now. The closet Drive-In to Us is in Barstow,CA.
My Dad and Uncle,his Twin ushered at the Tumbleweed Theater in El Monte. Lots of fun storys.
I was from the El Monte area! You?
Atlantic City, NJ. There is a page on this site for the Tumbleweed, with some photos.
Some scenes in the movie “There Goes My Baby” (set in 1965) were filmed in front of the Edwards; they built a mock-up of a restaurant in the front parking lot and lit the marquee but changed its name to “Paradise”, and listed “Cat Ballou” on the signboard.
Was mentioned in the documentary “Drive-In Movie Memories” in 2001.
Here are excerpts from an LA Times article dated 6/23/52:
Crime careers of two Arizona men came to a quick end early yesterday when the pair ran a boulevard stop at a dizzy speed. Shortly after they had been halted by deputy sheriffs at Temple City for the traffic violation, one of the pair admitted that he had robbed an Arcadia drive-in theater shortly before and had been involved in a highway accident and chase in which a shot was fired at a man and woman.
The man confessed to the theater robbery and chase, but told investigators that he had been drunk and was asleep in the car when the robbery and chase took place. The theater held up was the Edwards Drive-in, Peck Road and Live Oak Avenue, Arcadia. Miss Wananda M. Smith, cashier, reported that she was entering the receipts into a record book when a bandit entered her enclosure armed with a pistol. He took the currency worth about $135, and hit her on the back before leaving. He also pulled out the telephones.
This was known locally as “The Arcadia Drive-in”. It was on the very edge of Arcadia proper.
Here is a 1980 aerial photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yatpv95
Nice aerial ken mc looks like a drive-in.
LOTS OF MEMORIES OF THE EDWARDS DRIVE IN. LIVING ONLY A FEW BLOCKS AWAY WE COULD SEE THE SCREEN FROM OUR GARAGE ROOF TOP. GOT IN BIG TROUBLE WHEN DAD FOUND ME THERE WITH MY BROTHER DOUG WATCHING “GOLD FINGER”