Sunset Drive-In
2050 Washington State Route 26,
Othello,
WA
99344
2050 Washington State Route 26,
Othello,
WA
99344
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cherokee Amusement Company, Columbia Basin Theaters
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One source states the drive in was opened on March 12, 1952, it started out as a mainstream drive-in and showed movies for all ages. One newspaper advertisement dated September 21, 1951 shows that they showed a new movie every day that way, sometimes offering a double feature. The advertisement would also mean that it existed in 1951 and may have been around earlier.
By the mid-1970’s, it had started showing adult films. Townspeople had complained due to ‘community standards’. The film that was cited as offensive was “The Resort Girls” (from 1971). By the spring of 1977, had gone back to showing family-oriented films. The drive-in closed in 1985.
The drive-in was technically at the end of S. 7th Avenue, which cuts off right before Washington State Route 26.
Contributed by
John Book
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
Boxoffice, June 1, 1957: “OTHELLO, WASH. – George and Clayton Finkbeiner have sold their Sunset Drive-In to the Cherokee Theatres, which has renamed the airer the Powwow.”
Now WSDOT (Transpotation department of Othello).
2053 WA-26, Othello, WA 99344.
Please update.
The entrance was off 7th Street about where Columbia Street now intersects.
And, 7th Street was never connected to WA-26. It’s somewhat difficult to tell in the 1955 aerial, but the 1964 aerial shows no road off WA-26 that would allow access to 7th Street. I suppose you could drive on the dirt, but there was no road connection. Which is rather curious since WA-26 is not elevated, so connecting it to 7th would be easy, it seems.
Today, despite being an open field with only Columbia Street intersecting the northern part of the property, there is no trace of the drive-in remaining. It appears that a considerable amount of soil was placed on the property which covers all remnants of the drive-in.