El Rancho Drive-In
2000 W. Capitol Avenue,
West Sacramento,
CA
95691
2000 W. Capitol Avenue,
West Sacramento,
CA
95691
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Blumenfeld Theater Circuit
Previous Names: Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Drive-In was opened by Joe Blumenfeld of Blumenfeld Enterprises Inc. on March 29, 1946 with Fred MacMurray in “Pardon My Past”. It was a single screen Ozoner and could accommodate 780 cars. In March 1950 it was renamed El Rancho Drive-In. It was closed in the fall of 1963 and has been demolished. It is now a mobile home park.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
1957 aerial: View link
Even by 1964 it was a mobile home park. Didn’t seem to last long as a drive-in.
I made a quick stop here in 2005, on the way up to the Marysville Drive-In. I understand that the booth/snack bar building is still there but I did not go that far back into the lot. The screen tower base is still there but the marquee was removed a few years after these pictures were taken.
I was born (1952) and raised in West Sacramento. I have fond memories of the old El Rancho Drive-In, as we only lived 3 blocks away from it. I remember that Dad would regularly load us up in the family wagon (a beautiful bronze/white ‘57 two-door Chevy Nomad) which Mom had already fully stocked with snacks and drinks, of course. I think the last movie we saw there together was Ben-Hur (1959). If you want to understand how truly magnificent this place looked to my young eyes back in those days, pay a visit to Tom Spaulding’s Flickr account at the below link to see a photo taken on October 31st, 1946 (FYI: the theater was built and opened in 1933). LINK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tspauld/2998750029/in/photostream/
The mobile home park sign may be the drive-in marquee?
Opened on 29/5/1946 and closed in the fall of 1963.
This opened as Drive-In on March 29th, 1946 and closed in February 1950. It reopened as the El Rancho Drive-In on March 17th, 1950. Both grand opening ads in the photo section.
Are we sure that this and the Drive-In on Davis Highway are the same Drive-ins? Not being from the area I’d feel better having somebody confirm this.
Boxoffice, Sept. 30, 1963: “The El Rancho Drive-In at Sacramento has been dismantled by Blumenfeld Theatres, which is turning it into a trailer court”