Boxoffice, May 4, 1957: “The Ord Theatre, dark since the first of the year, has been put into operation on a Friday through Sunday policy. The house is under the management of Hugh Haynes, former manager, who moved to Fowler in 1950. Haynes hopes business will justify his going to a fulltime schedule in the near future.”
Boxoffice, May 4, 1957: “Col. Charles A. Watt, commander of Vincent Air Force base just outside Phoenix, has termed a new drive-in theatre near the base a "hazard to air navigation” and ordered it off limits to base personnel. He cited the Tab Drive-In’s 60-foot-high screen as the safety hazard. The theatre is just outside the western boundary of the base on a line with an east-west runway which air force officials hace ceased to use except in emergencies."
The Oceanside’s final advertisement was on Tuesday, April 2, 1974, showing “From China With Death” and “Lust For a Vampire”. It was gone from the Siegels' ads the next day. In October that year, First Baptist Youth staged a haunted house in “the snack bar building at the old Oceanside Drive-In”.
I believe we have misnamed this drive-in. It ended its life as the Oceanside.
The 1968 Los Angeles Film Exchange directory included the Oceanside Drive-In, address 1823 Mission. It was run by Sero Amusement. (In the 1963 LA directory, it was listed as the Midway at the same address.) Its final entry in the Motion Picture Almanac’s annual drive-in list was Oceanside.
Oceanside’s North County Times ran a drive-in retrospective article on April 14, 2002. In it, one of the Siegel brothers said they operated but didn’t own the Midway on Mission Avenue. “The family ran that drive-in in the 1960s until the owner closed it and sold the land.”
In fact, I can’t find any evidence that the Midway/Oceanside was ever called the Vista, which was the name of a drive-in in Vista CA (less than 10 miles away) that also advertised in North County Times. LebowskiT1000 had the right address for that one, and it wasn’t Mission.
Exhibitor, May 6, 1953: “Flexer Theatres announced plans for a new 450-car drive-in at New Albany, Miss. Flexer has also revealed that New Albany will probably be the first city, regardless of size, to have its theatres 100 percent equipped for 3-D and CinemaScope. He is also planning to equip the local Ritz and the Varsity, Amory, Miss., with CinemaScope projection equipment, as well as the Magnolia and the Albany Drive-In, New Albany, now being built.”
Motion Picture Herald, April 10, 1954: “David Flexer of Flexer Theatres, Inc., Memphis, Tenn., has announced the start of construction of his new drive-in at New Albany, Miss.”
Thanks for the note, Ron Pierce! That Sept. 29, 1966 Blue Lake Advocate page also included a grand opening ad (just uploaded here) for the 299. The drive-in charged $2 a carload to see “Paradise Hawaiian Style” and “The Last of the Secret Agents.”
Motion Picture Herald, March 14, 1953: “David Flexer, head of Flexer Theatres, Inc., is building the new 500-car Union drive-in at New Albany, Miss., which he expects to have in operation by May 15.”
Despite that note, a USGS aerial photo taken Oct. 11, 1953 showed no trace of a drive-in at the future Union site. However, another mention indicates that it was open by 1954.
Motion Picture Herald, Nov. 13, 1954: “A. J. Benya, manager of the Magnolia theatre and the Union Drive-In, New Albany, Miss., used life-size cut-outs and street ballyhoo to good advantage on recent pictures.”
Boxoffice, April 9, 1973: “Eldon Yergenson, owner of the Hyland Drive-In, Cedar City, announced recently that he’s going to expand his theatre. Plans call for installing EPRAD car heaters and the addition of a new theatre with a capacity of 200. Construction is to begin this spring.”
NYozoner is right. We need to add Thunderbird Drive-In as a previous name. Plus, its final name was the no-direction Lamont Drive-In, so CT style says that should be the name for this page.
The 1963 Los Angeles film exchange directory included the Thunderbird Drive-In in Lamont, run by Sero Amusement.
The drive-in was advertising in the Bakersfield Californian as the Thunderbird by September 1960, and those ads continued into September 1966. By December 1966, it was advertising as the Lamont Drive-In. The last Lamont ad I could find in the Californian was Nov. 1, 1968. That one featured Spanish-language films, so it’s possible that the drive-in continued to operate without advertising in an English-language newspaper.
The Motion Picture Almanac was often slow to respond to changes. The MPA drive-in list entries serving Lamont changed from Lamont (1950-54), to South Lamont (1955-62), to Thunderbird (1963-76). When the MPA rebooted its list in 1977, there was nothing active in Lamont.
The MPA listed owners as Karr & Kendig (1950-55), then spelled Karr & Kendic (1956-61), then C. E. Langford & Assoc. (1962), then Los Angeles Drive-In Thea. Co. (1963-66). MPA did not include owner info in its 1967-76 drive-in lists. All of these entries showed a capacity of 450 cars.
Boxoffice, Dec. 18, 1961: “Smellerama” came to Humboldt quite by accident during a recent showing of Paramount’s sports reel, “Speedway.” Sunday matinee patrons at the Humota Theatre were so impressed by the realism of the short, filmed during auto races at Daytona Beach, that they stopped by the theatre office on the way out to compliment Manager Fred Meyer. “So real,” several remarked, “you could even smell the rubber as the drivers gun around the track!” Others told Meyer it was “the greatest theatre stunt they ever had seen.” And they were going to recommend the show to all of their friends, because seeing it was “just like being in one of the cars, especially with that smell of hot tires!” Meyer agreed it was a good film, but lost no time investigating. He finally found the “realistic” scent of burning rubber was coming from a faulty fan belt on the furnace blower.
Boxoffice, Oct. 2, 1961: “Excellent turnouts greeted the reopening of the redecorated, remodeled Lemoore Theatre by the new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Wood. Associated with the Woods in the operation of the theatre are Mr. and Mrs. Guy Scott. The Woods and Scotts are former residents of Salinas, where Wood also operated a motion picture theatre. The Woods purchased the theare from A. O. Leino last spring, after he had operated it for several years. Before opening, the Woods installed new seating.”
Boxoffice, Oct. 2, 1961: “Fourteen Walt Disney productions have been booked for showing this fall by Manager Charles Heitz of the Marcha Theatre. Heitz reopened the theatre late in the summer after closing for a thorough remodeling and renovation of the theatre’s interior. Improvements include 71 new loge seats, new wallpaper, new drapes and new booth equipment.”
Yet another transaction. Boxoffice, Sept. 4, 1961: “Ralph Stephany of Douglas, Wyo., has closed the Elite Theatre, Crawford, Neb., and does not anticipate reopening”
Boxoffice, Nov. 28, 1960: “Chris Gorder, Poplar, Mont., exhibitor who has a habit of successful promotions, leased his drive-in for one night to the local Chevrolet dealer, who then advertised free admission on that night to all Chevrolet owners, plus a chance to win a hunting car given by the dealer. Successful? Over 500 cars tried to get in the 185-car drive-in, and the Chevy dealer was obliged to lease the theatre for three additional nights.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 28, 1960: “TRINIDAD, COLO. - New seating installed at the Isis Theatre is proving immensely popular with customers, according to Ben Naccarato, the manager. The new International seats were installed on the wide center plan, and while theatre capacity was reduced, the comfort and convenience for patrons were increased. Naccarato also has placed new Mohawk carpeting throughout the theatre and carried out a painting program inside the theatre. Attractive murals of mountain and lake scenes have been added to the auditorium and lobby walls.”
Boxoffice, June 20, 1960: “CUSTER, WASH. - A $50,000 drive-in theatre is to be built at the corner of the Haynie and Birch Bay-Lynden roads north of here as the building boom in this section of Whatcom County continues. Whatcom is the most northwesterly county in the U. S. Building the theatre are Philip Cook, Arline Dent, Mrs. John Laxdarhl and Wallace Dent.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 2, 1959: “The Park Theatre, a south Denver subsequent-run situation prior to its closing several years ago, is undergoing a complete remodelling and renovation and will reopen soon as the new Capri Theatre.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “Harold E. and Mayme C. Brown have closed and dismantled their Cactus Drive-In, Shoshone (sic), Wyo., and will not open the Regent in town this fall. They are devoting all of their time to their grocery business.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “Harold E. and Mayme C. Brown have closed and dismantled their Cactus Drive-In, Shoshone (sic), Wyo., and will not open the Regent in town this fall. They are devoting all of their time to their grocery business.”
Boxoffice, May 11, 1957: “The Firebaugh Drive-In at Firebaugh is to be dismantled”
Boxoffice, May 4, 1957: “The Ord Theatre, dark since the first of the year, has been put into operation on a Friday through Sunday policy. The house is under the management of Hugh Haynes, former manager, who moved to Fowler in 1950. Haynes hopes business will justify his going to a fulltime schedule in the near future.”
Boxoffice, May 4, 1957: “Col. Charles A. Watt, commander of Vincent Air Force base just outside Phoenix, has termed a new drive-in theatre near the base a "hazard to air navigation” and ordered it off limits to base personnel. He cited the Tab Drive-In’s 60-foot-high screen as the safety hazard. The theatre is just outside the western boundary of the base on a line with an east-west runway which air force officials hace ceased to use except in emergencies."
The Oceanside’s final advertisement was on Tuesday, April 2, 1974, showing “From China With Death” and “Lust For a Vampire”. It was gone from the Siegels' ads the next day. In October that year, First Baptist Youth staged a haunted house in “the snack bar building at the old Oceanside Drive-In”.
I believe we have misnamed this drive-in. It ended its life as the Oceanside.
The 1968 Los Angeles Film Exchange directory included the Oceanside Drive-In, address 1823 Mission. It was run by Sero Amusement. (In the 1963 LA directory, it was listed as the Midway at the same address.) Its final entry in the Motion Picture Almanac’s annual drive-in list was Oceanside.
Oceanside’s North County Times ran a drive-in retrospective article on April 14, 2002. In it, one of the Siegel brothers said they operated but didn’t own the Midway on Mission Avenue. “The family ran that drive-in in the 1960s until the owner closed it and sold the land.”
In fact, I can’t find any evidence that the Midway/Oceanside was ever called the Vista, which was the name of a drive-in in Vista CA (less than 10 miles away) that also advertised in North County Times. LebowskiT1000 had the right address for that one, and it wasn’t Mission.
Exhibitor, May 6, 1953: “Flexer Theatres announced plans for a new 450-car drive-in at New Albany, Miss. Flexer has also revealed that New Albany will probably be the first city, regardless of size, to have its theatres 100 percent equipped for 3-D and CinemaScope. He is also planning to equip the local Ritz and the Varsity, Amory, Miss., with CinemaScope projection equipment, as well as the Magnolia and the Albany Drive-In, New Albany, now being built.”
Motion Picture Herald, April 10, 1954: “David Flexer of Flexer Theatres, Inc., Memphis, Tenn., has announced the start of construction of his new drive-in at New Albany, Miss.”
Thanks for the note, Ron Pierce! That Sept. 29, 1966 Blue Lake Advocate page also included a grand opening ad (just uploaded here) for the 299. The drive-in charged $2 a carload to see “Paradise Hawaiian Style” and “The Last of the Secret Agents.”
Motion Picture Herald, March 14, 1953: “David Flexer, head of Flexer Theatres, Inc., is building the new 500-car Union drive-in at New Albany, Miss., which he expects to have in operation by May 15.”
Despite that note, a USGS aerial photo taken Oct. 11, 1953 showed no trace of a drive-in at the future Union site. However, another mention indicates that it was open by 1954.
Motion Picture Herald, Nov. 13, 1954: “A. J. Benya, manager of the Magnolia theatre and the Union Drive-In, New Albany, Miss., used life-size cut-outs and street ballyhoo to good advantage on recent pictures.”
Google Maps doesn’t like the old Knoll Street address. The closest I could find to the entrance is 42 N Knoll St, Cedar City, UT 84721.
The viewing field is adjacent to a car dealership which faces Main Street, but the old Hyland entrance is clearly on Knoll.
Boxoffice, April 9, 1973: “Eldon Yergenson, owner of the Hyland Drive-In, Cedar City, announced recently that he’s going to expand his theatre. Plans call for installing EPRAD car heaters and the addition of a new theatre with a capacity of 200. Construction is to begin this spring.”
Independent Film Journal, Nov. 5, 1960: “The Main Street, indoor theatre, and the Major Drive-In, Paris, Mo., have been closed.”
NYozoner is right. We need to add Thunderbird Drive-In as a previous name. Plus, its final name was the no-direction Lamont Drive-In, so CT style says that should be the name for this page.
The 1963 Los Angeles film exchange directory included the Thunderbird Drive-In in Lamont, run by Sero Amusement.
The drive-in was advertising in the Bakersfield Californian as the Thunderbird by September 1960, and those ads continued into September 1966. By December 1966, it was advertising as the Lamont Drive-In. The last Lamont ad I could find in the Californian was Nov. 1, 1968. That one featured Spanish-language films, so it’s possible that the drive-in continued to operate without advertising in an English-language newspaper.
The Motion Picture Almanac was often slow to respond to changes. The MPA drive-in list entries serving Lamont changed from Lamont (1950-54), to South Lamont (1955-62), to Thunderbird (1963-76). When the MPA rebooted its list in 1977, there was nothing active in Lamont.
The MPA listed owners as Karr & Kendig (1950-55), then spelled Karr & Kendic (1956-61), then C. E. Langford & Assoc. (1962), then Los Angeles Drive-In Thea. Co. (1963-66). MPA did not include owner info in its 1967-76 drive-in lists. All of these entries showed a capacity of 450 cars.
From the Jan. 1, 1962 issue of Boxoffice, which appears to be in the public domain.
Boxoffice, Dec. 18, 1961: “Smellerama” came to Humboldt quite by accident during a recent showing of Paramount’s sports reel, “Speedway.” Sunday matinee patrons at the Humota Theatre were so impressed by the realism of the short, filmed during auto races at Daytona Beach, that they stopped by the theatre office on the way out to compliment Manager Fred Meyer. “So real,” several remarked, “you could even smell the rubber as the drivers gun around the track!” Others told Meyer it was “the greatest theatre stunt they ever had seen.” And they were going to recommend the show to all of their friends, because seeing it was “just like being in one of the cars, especially with that smell of hot tires!” Meyer agreed it was a good film, but lost no time investigating. He finally found the “realistic” scent of burning rubber was coming from a faulty fan belt on the furnace blower.
Boxoffice, Oct. 2, 1961: “Excellent turnouts greeted the reopening of the redecorated, remodeled Lemoore Theatre by the new owners, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Wood. Associated with the Woods in the operation of the theatre are Mr. and Mrs. Guy Scott. The Woods and Scotts are former residents of Salinas, where Wood also operated a motion picture theatre. The Woods purchased the theare from A. O. Leino last spring, after he had operated it for several years. Before opening, the Woods installed new seating.”
Boxoffice, Oct. 2, 1961: “Fourteen Walt Disney productions have been booked for showing this fall by Manager Charles Heitz of the Marcha Theatre. Heitz reopened the theatre late in the summer after closing for a thorough remodeling and renovation of the theatre’s interior. Improvements include 71 new loge seats, new wallpaper, new drapes and new booth equipment.”
Yet another transaction. Boxoffice, Sept. 4, 1961: “Ralph Stephany of Douglas, Wyo., has closed the Elite Theatre, Crawford, Neb., and does not anticipate reopening”
Boxoffice, Nov. 28, 1960: “Chris Gorder, Poplar, Mont., exhibitor who has a habit of successful promotions, leased his drive-in for one night to the local Chevrolet dealer, who then advertised free admission on that night to all Chevrolet owners, plus a chance to win a hunting car given by the dealer. Successful? Over 500 cars tried to get in the 185-car drive-in, and the Chevy dealer was obliged to lease the theatre for three additional nights.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 28, 1960: “TRINIDAD, COLO. - New seating installed at the Isis Theatre is proving immensely popular with customers, according to Ben Naccarato, the manager. The new International seats were installed on the wide center plan, and while theatre capacity was reduced, the comfort and convenience for patrons were increased. Naccarato also has placed new Mohawk carpeting throughout the theatre and carried out a painting program inside the theatre. Attractive murals of mountain and lake scenes have been added to the auditorium and lobby walls.”
Boxoffice, June 20, 1960: “CUSTER, WASH. - A $50,000 drive-in theatre is to be built at the corner of the Haynie and Birch Bay-Lynden roads north of here as the building boom in this section of Whatcom County continues. Whatcom is the most northwesterly county in the U. S. Building the theatre are Philip Cook, Arline Dent, Mrs. John Laxdarhl and Wallace Dent.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 2, 1959: “The Park Theatre, a south Denver subsequent-run situation prior to its closing several years ago, is undergoing a complete remodelling and renovation and will reopen soon as the new Capri Theatre.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 2, 1959: “Frank and Lorraine Valuskis sold their Valuskis Theatre in Buena Park to the Orange County Furniture Co.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 18, 1954: “Glenn Harper has sold his Arrow and Fontana theatres in Fontana to Paul Mart.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 17, 1959: “Al O'Keefe and Associates closed the Arrow Theatre in Fontana due to lack of business”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “Harold E. and Mayme C. Brown have closed and dismantled their Cactus Drive-In, Shoshone (sic), Wyo., and will not open the Regent in town this fall. They are devoting all of their time to their grocery business.”
Boxoffice, Sept. 1, 1958: “Harold E. and Mayme C. Brown have closed and dismantled their Cactus Drive-In, Shoshone (sic), Wyo., and will not open the Regent in town this fall. They are devoting all of their time to their grocery business.”