Mineralite Drive-In
250 K. Street,
Hawthorne,
NV
89415
250 K. Street,
Hawthorne,
NV
89415
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Nearby Theaters
The Mineralite Drive-In was opened in 1953. It was owned by Charles P. Leonard and had room for 350 cars. A new screen was installed to enable screening wide-screen movies at the start of the 1955 season.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
Here is part of an article from the Reno Evening Gazette dated 8/30/57:
Theater Sale is Announced in Hawthorne
HAWTHORNE â€" Mrs. Elizabeth Bearden, owner of the Cactus and Desert theaters in Hawthorne, recently purchased the Mineralite Drive-In Theater and the lease on the Babbitt Theater and will assume active management of these two theaters on Sept 1.
The sale was made by Charles Leonard who has operated the Babbitt theater since 1949 and who constructed the Mineralite Drive-In, Hawthorne’s only drive-in theater, in 1953. Mrs. Bearden has announced that her Desert theater will be closed on Sept 1 and that the Babbitt theater, which has been closed during the summer months, will re-open on Sunday, Sept 1.
It looks like this was on the east side of Highway 359 south of town. It’s just south of Spanish Springs Road.
If I recall correctly, the Drive-In was without the 1-mile square footprint of Hawthorne, roughly where the 200 block of K Street is now.
The drive-in was located inside the grid of the town, at 250 K St, Hawthorne, NV 89415. Here is an aerial photo from 1974 which vaguely shows the footprint of the drive-in.
http://flic.kr/p/92KhaA
The projection building is in the center of the lot, and the screen is facing due south.
Odd name!! Why was it called Mineralite?
350 cars.
As NYozoner implied, the drive-in site was roughly bounded by modern-day J & L streets and 2nd & 3rd streets. I uploaded a 1954 UGSG aerial photo that shows it just outside the edge of town back then.
Boxoffice, Aug. 15, 1953: “Chuck Leonard, operator of the Babbit Theatre in Nevada, opened his new drive-in at Hartshorne (sic) July 31”