Valley 6 Drive-In

I went to the Valley 6 Drive In last night. Screen 2 had sound problems with my Cadillac. I discovered I have AM Stereo when the “ST” kept crackling in and out intermittently. The sound levels crackled. I tried several different hook-ups at different poles. 650AM. I could hear the movie dialogue but louder, echo-like sound kept cutting in all the time. Was this just my equipment??

Marquees need a little paint.3,000 cars wow.That is alot of Popcorn!

Went down to Valley 6 this last weekend to see Iron Man 2 and Dragon. The city of Auburn has put up a temporary flood dam that runs behind screen 3 and cuts though the middle of screen 4 (the one that was closed years ago due to storm damage). From talking to a security guard it looks like, Pacific Theatres would still like to develop the property sometime, but the temporary dam will be up for at least five years and they won’t develop it with a dam though the middle of the property. Interestingly enough they seem to be selling off the 3 acre open field in front of the drive-in. So maybe if it’s going to be around for at least five more years they will put a little into fixing the place up. We can hope since it’s the last Drive-in left in the Puget sound area that it’ll stay around.

another image of the valley 6 drive-in can be seen here.
View link

If you go to valley 6 drive-in you will find that the sign out front says Valley 6 Drive-in. Maybe Pacific Theaters should rename the drive-in to just Valley but it is Valley 6 Drive-in theater. And yes thier website and local newspaper ad only list movies for 5 screen but the theater does in fact have 6 screens though one of them is not currently in use… or useable. Just because thier not using one screen does not mean that it does not exist.

Screen number 5 was badly damaged a few years ago in a wind storm. It was the first screen and the smallest screen at valley 6. As I understand it from talking to people who work there they will most likely never fix it. The owners of the property would like to develope the land in the very near future. The company running the drive-in (pacific theaters or united drive-ins depending on who you ask) won’t put a dime into the place unless they know it will be staying around. It’s actually in horible shape I’m suprized the health department has not shut down the snack bar. Some of the 5 remaining screens are so dirty and in such bad shape it can be hard to see the movies. The AM sound is so scratchy the old speakers sounded better. The gravel lot is so worn that walking after a rain can be unpleasant. They do have security officers walking around however.

But they are going to still be operating this season minus one screen again

Mark: It all depends on who you talk to. Every year there is a threat of closing. There are developers ready to pounce on the land. I hear the Valley 6 does OK business, though.

It’s been “down for repairs” almost two years from what I understand.

Is this now 5 screens? Their Web site makes it seem so: www.valleydriveins.com

Joannaliz:
You owe it to yourself to check out the Rodeo 3 drive-in over on highway 3 next to the Bremerton airport. The picture and sound quality will blow you away. They have brand new playground equipment for the kids too. They also have an extensive menu of food to please every taste.

This is one of the last drive ins in washington it would be a shame to destoy a piece of our history . I think that if they put some $ into it the people would flock to it becase how many teens\twentys can say they have been to a drive-in , soon no teens will be able to say it . I don’t see anyone tearing down museums because they are in disrepair . They just tore down the midway drive-in sign it would be ashame to lose another one . I went to this drive-in when I was a teen 15 years ogo and it was one of the most memerable time I have ever had at a theater . We went with some of our close friends and sat in the back of a truck with lounge chairs and blankets and sipped hot cider . Now I have a back problem and new theater seats no not recline so I will only go to the drive-ins !!! Thanks for posting this comment box Jeff Wuestenhoefer ( ) P.S I hope all teens get a chance to sit in a pick up and drink hot cider .

The Valley Drive-In is the last of what was a very large Washington drive-in chain. They were known in Washington state as “United Drive-Ins”, and were part of the Forman/Pacific chains of California.

In their time, the United drive-ins were state-of-the-art theatres, though it is true that they deteriorated in later years.

As for the Valley; most of its problem is that there’s been an ongoing effort to redevelop the property for years. I first heard of them closing over 14 years ago, and as has been noted, it’s opening is an annual event, far from certain.

The story I get is that the property owners actually did get the permits to redevelop, but stopped when the bottom fell out of the rental market. The drive-in sits on 56 acres of prime real estate, and operating the business goes a long ways toward paying off their substantial taxes, so it remains open as the owners wait for commercial footage to be needed again. As I understand it, the permit package has a life of some 10 or 15 years, and the owners can begin the demolition process anytime within that period without re-permitting.

Of course, the main problem with this kind of operation is that they don’t see any reason to dump a lot of money into the place IF it actually turns out they’d be tearing it down. The catch is they never tear it down, and the money doesn’t get invested, so everything does tend to go downhill.

They have done some work on the screens recently, and they’ve installed FM in one of their screens. They have AM sound on the rest of them, with wires you have to clip on your antenna or tape on your window.

In its time, this was a pretty impressive place. It’s still worth checking out, though it admittedly doesn’t represent the best a drive-in could be right now. If nothing else, it’s worth being able to say you went there, as drive-ins all tend to be unique experiences.