Hecker Pass Drive-In
8200 Kern Avenue,
Gilroy,
CA
95020
8200 Kern Avenue,
Gilroy,
CA
95020
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Located at Kern Avenue and First Street. The Hecker Pass Drive-In was opened around August 1949. This drive-in had space for 490 cars and was owned by J. Peters. The theater was closed in the 1970’s and was replaced by a Taco Bell restaurant, although the ticket booth was still standing as of 2003. Condominiums have since been built on the site
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Approx. address for this drive-in was 8200 Kern Avenue.
The fast food restaurant is Taco Bell.
no it was replaced by condominiums.
Why the name Hecker Pass?
An aside in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned a sighting of owners Alex Balanesi and Stuart Fletcher and manager Charles Gubser “of the recently opened Hecker Pass Drive-In”.
1st Street (Hwy 152) was originally Hecker Pass Rd. It still is further west towards Watsonville by Gileoy Gardens (Gilroy Garlic Festival). FYI.
A 1980 aerial shows the screen gone, so it appears that the drive-in closed sometime during the 1970s.
The ticket booth seems to have sat just to the east of the screen. This would make the entrance to the drive-in between what is now the car wash and Safeway.
Boxoffice, Feb. 16, 1970: “Manuel Duarte’s Hecker Pass Drive-In reopened recently with plans to feature American movies on Fridays and Saturdays and Spanish-language films on Sundays. During the opening weekend every car received a ticket for a free car wash.”