Pullman Drive-In
SE Riverview Street and SE Benewah Street,
Pullman,
WA
99163
SE Riverview Street and SE Benewah Street,
Pullman,
WA
99163
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A short-lived drive-in, the Pullman Drive-In was opened on October 1, 1952 near the Pullman City Playfield. This one didn’t last long, as there were two other drive-in’s in town, and this one was closed in June 1954. An old box office book showed that it had a capacity of 250 cars.
Contributed by
John Book
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Here is aerial view
So it would have been at the south west corner of the intersection of NE Stadium Way and SE Nevada St.
Good eye. I actually did look at the aerial before posting it, and if the circle is the rotunda, the drive-in would have been on the corner of SE Nevada Street & Olympia Avenue. I have a bit of an issue with it, though.
Here are some photos I found from a WSU photo archive. There’s a bridge in these photos that doesn’t correspond with the intersection. It does show it being close to the Pullman playfield and baseball field, along with a railroad that goes along Riverview Street. http://digitalemerson.wsulibs.wsu.edu/items/show/3672 http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/hutchison&CISOPTR=311&CISOBOX=1&REC=4 http://kaga.wsulibs.wsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/hutchison&CISOPTR=453&CISOBOX=1&REC=11
On the left of the playfield is the Main Street bridge.
SE Riverview St at SE Benewah St
Pullman, WA 99163
Here is a 1953 aerial photo.
From what I’ve found, the owners declared bankruptcy in the middle of 1954 with the drive-in being sold off at the end of the year. Didn’t last long at all.
Boxoffice, Sept. 20, 1952: “Russell Tate and J. M. Hutchinson will open the new Pullman Drive-In in Pullman around October 1. Smith Enterprises, headed by Buck Smith, will do the booking and buying.”
Boxoffice, Nov. 8, 1952: “PULLMAN, WASH. - Russell Tate and Jack Hutchison have opened their new Pullman Drive-In. The airer is situated on the site of the old Pullman trailer court. The land has been leased from Lloyd Bury, who in turn had leased the area from the city.”
A note in the April 18, 1953 issue called the co-owner G. R. Tate.
Boxoffice, May 1, 1954: “George Blair and E. W. Smith of Smith Enterprises have taken over the operations of the Pullman Drive-In, Pullman, Wash.”
(Spokane) Statesman-Review, June 29, 1954: “BANKRUPTCIES FILED: John McCune Hutchinson and G. R. Tate, Pullman Drive-In theater, Pullman, Wash., liabilities $45,450, assets none.”