Pine Drive-In

The Pine Motor Theater opened June 1, 1950 with Walt Disney’s animated feature “Melody Time” & Claudette Colbert in “Family Honeymoon”. It was the first drive-in theater in Roseburg. It was owned by Donn Radabaugh & Eino Hemmila, under their Umpqua Amusements theater chain. Located at the corner of Alameda Avenue & Vine in North Roseburg on 12 acres of land. The original screen tower was 54' high by 62' wide. It was expanded in 1956 to 92' wide for CinemaScope pictures.

The theater was speaker only sound and had no platter, it was reel-to-reel changeovers every night. The entrance was at the back of the field & the snack bar had two sides to accommodate the crowds. There was a small playground up front, that was taken out in the 1970’s.

After Mr. Hemmila passed away in 1983, the Pine Drive-In was leased to Vern & Nancy Jewell who ran it the last 3 years of operation. In the summer of 1987, the decision was made to close the drive-in. The final program was “Beverly Hills Cop 2” with “Crocodile Dundee” on August 30th. Although a lot of the former staff came out to help on the last weekend. The ending was bittersweet as Vern Jewell passed away the week before.

The property was divided into 3 lots, but the only new tenant is the New Life Christian Church. They have remodeled the snack bar into a teen center, the box office is now a storage shed.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.