Waialae Drive-In

Waialae Avenue and 21st Avenue,
Honolulu, HI 96816

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Waialae Drive-In

Located at Waialae Avenue and 21st Avenue. The Waialae Drive-In opened May 24, 1956, with Elizabeth Taylor in “Elephant Walk” and James Stewart in “The Naked Spur”. Operated by Royal Theatres, it had a capacity for 790 cars.

The Waialae Drive-In closed in January 1986 with the movie “Young Sherlock Holmes”. It has since been replaced by an upscale subdivision. It sat across from the Kahala Mall.

Local legend has it that the ghost of a faceless woman with long hair haunted the ladies' room of the drive-in. The Wai'alae was located close to an old cemetary.

Contributed by Bryan

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

stevemcgarrett
stevemcgarrett on March 19, 2004 at 11:13 am

The Wai'alae Drive-In, was a popular spot on Oahu. The drive-in was owned by The Royal Chain that also had another Drive-In on the island The Royal Sunset of in Waipahu and a few other theaters like the Marina, Royal, King & Queen. By the mid 80’s The Royal Chain bowed out. The Marina was taken over by Consolidated and went on for a few more years before closing.

rivest266
rivest266 on March 25, 2012 at 10:07 am

I uploaded the 1968 aerial photo of the drive-in and the mall.

jwmovies
jwmovies on December 30, 2012 at 1:33 am

Approx. address for this drive-in was 4348 Waialae Avenue.

thisisjohnbook
thisisjohnbook on January 31, 2013 at 5:36 pm

Kiionioni Place and Loop are named after the Hawaiian phrase for “moving picture”, in honor of the Wai'alae Drive-In that was there.

rivest266
rivest266 on March 12, 2017 at 7:30 am

This opened on May 24th, 1956. Grand opening ad in the photo section and below.

Found on Newspapers.com powered by Newspapers.com

Sarah B
Sarah B on July 24, 2023 at 11:02 am

Santa Claus the movie was also screened in January 1986

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