Edgewood Drive-In
13159 Bess Avenue,
Baldwin Park,
CA
91706
13159 Bess Avenue,
Baldwin Park,
CA
91706
2 people
favorited this theater
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Hoping I can’t still get arrested for this but my friends and I use to frequent the place because they showed alot of exploitation triple bills. Anyway, when we found out they were closing a friend and I got drunk and stole two of their speakers…which is not easy because they’re attached by steel cables. Still have mine proudly hanging on my wall as I write this, lol.
I think the site is now a medical center(Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical center and a big multi story car park)?
Opened with “Long John Silver” and “Mad at the World”.
I remember this drive-in very well, off the “10 Freeway” in Baldwin Pk. I used to drive my dad’s pick-up truck from Rosemead and bring my brothers to watch movies here because of the cheap entrance. We would bring our own homemade hot dogs and kool-aid with us to save money. This must have been around 1976-1978. These were 2nd run/B-movies with crazy titles (Grizzly,Planet of Dinosaurs,Deathsport,etc.). Great memories for sure.
Closed and demolished in 1985.
June 17th, 1955 grand opening ad in photo section.
Tequila Shot, I was there that night with the UFO. I remember it well. I remember like 70-80% of the cars headed like crazy out the exit, and the line and everyone freaking out. At first it seemed like a helicopter, but as close as it got to the screen, there was no way it was a helicopter, as it also didn’t make any helicopter noise.
1985 photos added. Photo credits Mark Ferris.
I just found a payroll sheet that says I worked as a projectionist here Aug 16 & 17, 1985. The features were Secret Admirer, Just One Of The Boys & Fraternity Vacation.
This place ran alot of second/third runs triple features in its last 15+ years
Somewhere between the year of 1981-1984 my family and I witnessed a UFO sighting at this drive-in location. It’s an experience the four of us will never forget. A strange, bright craft hovered near the upper right corner of the projector screen for almost 2 full minutes before disappearing at such a rapid rate that one would miss it’s departure at the blink of an eye. The drive-in was almost full and I remember folks panicing and fleeing the theatre. Anybody with any information please post any information that can help us get in contact with any of the other people who witness this amazing event.
Here is an October 1958 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yjzxr6f
Here is an aerial photo circa 1980:
http://tinyurl.com/yklulbk
With all that drama, Pacific probably couldn’t wait to tear this place down!
This drive in was located along the east bound lanes on the San Bernardino freeway (10) and from your car speeding along you could always tell from the marquee what was playing. I remember they charged $5 for admission by the carload. We used to go to the In and Out Burgers stand not far away and take burgers in with us.
From the LA Times, 8/22/76:
Boy Killed, Two Wounded in Shootings at Drive-In
A boy was killed and two persons were wounded early Saturday during a shooting spree at a drive-in theater in Baldwin Park. Police attributed the shootings to youth gangs. A bystander, 13, was fatally wounded while watching police question youths in a van parked in the Edgewood Drive-In Theater’s back row.
Police were called by the theater manager after he heard gun shots in the early morning hours Saturday. Led to the van by an unidentified girl who later disappeared, officers were questioning the van’s occupants when shots were fired from outside the fenced drive-in, hitting the three people. Occupants of the van did not return the fire, but were arrested when police found a shotgun in the vehicle.