Pioneer Twin Drive-In
1255 S. State Street,
Provo,
UT
84606
1255 S. State Street,
Provo,
UT
84606
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One one hand, Boxoffice got the twin’s opening date right, June 18, 1975. On the other, it looks like it called itself the Pioneer Twin.
Boxoffice, June 30, 1975: “Marv Cox, owner and operator of the Pioneer Drive-In, Provo, opened the new addition to the ozoner, which now will be called Pioneer Drive-In 1 and 2. The gala debut of the twin facility was Wednesday (18) with "Bite the Bullet” playing in Pioneer 2 and “The Return of the Pink Panther” in Pioneer 1. The two theatres have a 1,200-car total capacity. The new screen area is utilizing the existing snack bar; however, a new projection booth was built and equipped with Ballantyne projectors, Christie lamphouses and Autowinds and radio sound. The screen tower was built out of heavy-gauge corrugated metal."
Opened with Dick Haymes in “Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and Ellen Drew in “Dark Mountain” (unknown if extras added)
Closed on August 11, 2001, exactly one month before 9/11.
Pipneer Twin drive-in opened with on screen 1 with “Tom Sawyer” and “The return of the Pink Panther” and screen 2 with “big Jake” and “Bite the bullet”.
Opened with “Irish eyes are smiling” and “Dark mountain”. First drive-in theatre in Utah.
Today, the local Daily Herald ran photos of “15 fun places in Utah County that sadly only exist in your memories”. One of them was of the dismantling of the Pioneer in 2002. According to the caption, the drive-in “closed in the summer of 2001 after owners Marv and Jeanie Cox sold the land.”
Became a twin on June 25th, 1975
This opened on May 23rd, 1947. Grand opening ad posted.
Chuck,I’m just thankful that it,amazingly,has survived,mostly intact.Yes,SLC once had one of the finest collections of downtown movie venues.Remember TAMPICO,between Main & State,in an alley.That and the Heidelberg,were my favs for dates when coming up from Happy Valley.Were you around when the Sound of Mucus played for over a year on Main St.?
SO-you are saying Utah is a “different” kind of place? You betcha.I liked you till you said you wore RED.(lol) I am glad I am old enough to have lived in downtown SLC when most of the old theaters still operated.Walking to those wonderful bygone places was a thrill I did not appreciate enough at the time.I still wait to see the final fate of the UTAH.
Very popular with both locals and the BYU crowd for many years.What was so nice about the Pioneer,the Art City just to the South,as well as the two in Orem-they were CLEAN,safe and well-run.
I spent many happy hours there in the mid sixties and a very few later.
Here is a 1983 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/nutyfr