Coalinga Drive-In

MichaelKilgore on March 25, 2026 at 11:27 pm

After reading through old editions of the Coalinga Record (where I couldn’t find any drive-in ads), my guess is that the drive-in opened in 1951. A 1990 retrospective said the opener was “in the early 1950s”, and that Boxoffice note shows it couldn’t have happened any later.

In its final years, Jim Berry owned and ran the drive-in. He failed to reopen in 1986 because of the death of his assistant(?), Vida Sue Scantling. “Vida was my right arm. I could not replace her expertise on short notice, and emotionally I could not handle it alone.” Berry said later.

But Berry reopened the Coalinga for weekends in 1988, probably for just that one season. By the time of that 1990 retrospective, the newspaper wrote that the “Coalinga Drive In Theater is now a derelict that has been an ever worsening eyesore for several years.”

MichaelKilgore on January 4, 2025 at 10:43 pm

Boxoffice, Aug. 11, 1951: “Messrs. Harris and Cuthbert reported a 135-degree temperature at their Coalinga Drive-In”

MichaelKilgore on November 28, 2019 at 5:05 pm

Boxoffice, Aug. 25, 1975: “COALINGA, CALIF. – The State Theatre in Elm Street is closed temporarily. The only theatre now operating in town is the Coalinga Drive-In on Jayne Avenue. The ozoner is owned by Connie Bell.”

dansdriveintheater on October 24, 2018 at 12:57 pm

the ramps still remain so does the foundation of the projectors booth. nothing of the actual screen remains though you can clearly see where it stood!

karuth on July 14, 2008 at 8:08 pm

I remember going to the Coalinga Drive-In as a teen back in the early 1970’s. Mr.Bob Carson (Ark)was security for the drive-in. After it closed it was used in the 80’s in a music video.