Concord Auto Movie
1200 Concord Avenue,
Concord,
CA
94520
1200 Concord Avenue,
Concord,
CA
94520
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Century Theatres, Syufy Enterprises
Architects: Gale Santocono
Nearby Theaters
The Concord Auto Movie in Concord was located north of Willow Pass Road between Routes 680 and 24. It opened July 1, 1960 with Pat Boone in “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, Glenn Ford in “Cowboy”, Albert Sharpe in “Darby O'Gill and the Little People” & Marilyn Monroe in “Some Like It Hot”. It played some first-run titles but very often picked up titles from other Syufy drive-ins such as the Solano Drive-In, and would run them for a few weeks prior to going to second-run houses.
Originally, the Concord Auto Movie was owned by the Enea Brothers. As such, it was not one of the higher-end drive-ins of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Syufy Enterprises did very little to upgrade the look of the place. It was located between two busy freeways and was often in the final approach for the local airport. So it was a noisy place and could not offer good screen brightness.
The Concord Auto Movie ceased operation in 1977 and was demolished. The land then housed office buildings and a Waterworld USA parking area. In recent years a Cerus Medical Equipment Company have occupied the land.
Contributed by
Jeffrey Frentzen
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
This Drive-in was located directly behind the FOX Concord on Willow Pass Rd. The former FOX is currently in use as an athletic facility.
The Eneas also ran the Showcase(aka Enean) in downtown Concord as well.
Yet another Enean theatre still stands in the delta town of Pittsburgh. Long closed and used for other things, it was a deco style house which opened in 1932, and reportedly was the last new theatre in the Bay Area to open with an organ.
The April 25, 1960, issue of Boxoffice Magazine ran a brief item saying that the Concord Auto Movies was expected to open sometime around July 1. The theater was designed by San Francisco architect Gale Santocono.
This was on Concord Av & John Glenn Drive.
Aerial from 1968 at View link
Now a business park. Approx. address was 1200 Concord Ave. John Glenn Dr. runs through where the drive-in stood.
Please update address to:
1200 Concord Ave, Concord, CA 94520
Opened July 1st, 1960.
Concord Auto Movies opening Thu, Jun 30, 1960 – 69 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) · Newspapers.com
Grand opening ad posted.
Now Cerus Medical Equipment Corp. Please update.