Mustang Drive-In
945 AZ-87,
Chandler,
AZ
85225
945 AZ-87,
Chandler,
AZ
85225
1 person
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Opened in 8th April 1952 with “Stage to Tucson” and “Mrs Mike”.
Opened April 8th, 1952. small grand opening ad posted.
Boxoffice, May 18, 1959: “Sid Pink adds two more theatres to his growing chain with the addition of the Mustang Drive-In and Parkway Theatre in Chandler, Ariz., where he takes over from A. J. Woods.”
Boxoffice, July 4, 1960: “Tom Schneider has taken over the Parkway and Mustang Drive-In theatres in Chandler, Ariz., formerly operated by the Sid Pink organization”
April 26, 1952 Boxoffice: “CHANDLER, ARIZ. – Mr. and Mrs. Joe H. Woods have opened a new drive-in here, the Mustang, with accommodations for 400 cars. It includes a children’s playground. The Woods are celebrating their twentieth year as theatre operators in Chandler. They opened the Rowena Theatre in February 1932, and the Parkway in May 1945. Both are downtown houses.”
A closer address is 945 AZ-87, Chandler, AZ. That puts it right next to what use to be the old entrance road of the drive-in. However, the road itself is listed in Google as “unknown”, so the address of the car lot (which use to be a convenience store) is the next best.
Today, the property is mostly apartment buildings with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/yc5vqgvu
I know it was still open in 1976, my wife and I watched food of the gods and they came from within. Both were released in 1976.
I do not recall the address of the Mustang Drive-In, but the address of 942 was the home address of the theater owners Joe and Alice Woods. They lived a little less than a mile from the drive-in. Mail for the drive-in was probably sent to the 942 address. The entrance to the drive-in was just south of the Arizona Ave./Ray Rd. intersection on the east side of the road. I want to think that the drive in was sold to someone else around 1969 and did stay open for a few years longer. I want to think that I watched Smokey and the Bandit from the Mustang Drive-In, so that would have been in 1977.
The address of 942 North Arizona is pretty close, the entrance to the condo’s looks likes the entrance to the old drive-in theater. In looking at old maps North Washington almost runs into the drive-in theatre. Maybe at one time, when the drive-in was built, the entrance to the drive-in was located on North Washington. Later on they moved the entrance to North Arizona, so it would be a better waiting area for the cars coming into the entrance.
So I would call the address: 942 North Arizona Chandler, AZ 85225
Above address in incorrect. Approx. address for this drive-in was 950 North Arizona Avenue. Now condos near Ray Rd.
The Mustang Drive-in was open into the seventies. The last time I remember going was in 1973, my freshman year in high school to watch “Live and Let Die”.
Aerial photos starting at 1957 at View link
Had a capacity for 400 cars and owned by Howell Theatres.