Motor-In Theatre

Boxoffice, Aug. 18, 1951: “The county sheriff’s office got a strange telephone call the other evening, asking, “I know it’s against the law to break INTO a place, but is it against the law to break OUT?” The law officers then learned that H. A. Robinson, his wife and two children had gone to the Motor-In Drive-In, had a flat tire about the time the last show broke. By the time theatre patron Robinson got the tire changed, the ozoner had locked all the gates for the night. So he climbed the airer’s high board fence and walked to a phone to call the sheriff. Deputies located the theatre manager, who came with a key and let the long-suffering movie fan, his wife and two sleeping kids out of the place. That was some two hours after the last show.”

This opened on June 5th, 1946. Grand opening ad posted.

A 1972 aerial photo showed the Motor-In still intact and in good shape. It stayed on topo maps through at least 1981. The Motion Picture Almanac included it on its drive-in lists through the 1976 edition, but the MPA rarely noticed changes during 1967-76. The Motor-In fell off the list for good when the list rebooted in 1977.

Then again, that might have been because of the Motor-In’s content. I found a June 25, 1975 ad in the Fresno Bee for an X-rated triple feature there.

BTW, Google Maps prefers 3115 E Cartwright Ave for the current address. And the screen was still up as of a July 2015 Google Street View.

1962 aerial uploaded here. notice the weird placement of the concession stand.

YouTube video..Here

Motor-In Theater is spelled wrong…It should be “Motor-In Theatre"

the screen still exists in 2018!

Above address no longer exist. Now S. Golden State Frontage Rd. Use 3103 East Cartwright Avenue,Fresno, CA 93725 to map.