Sahara Drive-In

1570 U.S. Route 66,
Grants, NM 87020

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Kenmore
Kenmore on October 28, 2023 at 11:47 pm

A closer address is 1570 U.S. Rt. 66, Grants, NM.

The entrance road leads to a waste management center. You can still see the ramps and outline of the northern part of the drive-in. The marquee is also still in place.

https://tinyurl.com/39us6myj

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on June 29, 2021 at 5:34 pm

Cibola County Beacon (Grants, NM), March 31, 2006: “Business Hall of Fame … 1958 … The Sahara Drive In Theater opened east of Grants. The 90-feet wide and 58-feet tall theater could accommodate up to 400 cars. “Battle Cry,” starring Van Heflin, was the inaugural screening.”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on February 7, 2020 at 3:57 pm

Boxoffice, June 29, 1964: “J. C. West has closed the Sahara Drive-In, Grants, N. M., and is operating the Trails and West theatres”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on January 20, 2020 at 2:44 pm

(Note: Please ignore my earlier comment about the Trail, which was in adjacent Milan NM.)

Boxoffice, May 26, 1958: “J. C. West, owner of the Trail Drive-In and the Lux here, has opened his new 400-car Sahara Drive-In at Grants, N. M.”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on February 5, 2019 at 3:57 pm

Based on photos from Historic Aerials, the entrance was on Route 66 about 925 feet west of the intersection with Sakelares. What’s left of the marquee was still visible on Google Street View as of June 2018 in the middle of what is now the entrance to a Waste Management Hauling facility.

The screen faced south in the 1971 aerial photo, in which the back rows already looked untended. The 1973 topo map shows a drive-in there, but by the 1981 photo, the screen is gone and the southern half of the field is being used by another business.

I guess someone needs to add a Cinema Treasures entry for J.C. West’s other drive-in in Grants: the Trail. Historic Aerials shows it in 1955, screen facing north, in the middle of nowhere off Route 66 just west of town. Now there’s a sizable residential area around its intact (no screen) remains behind the Immanuel Baptist Church on Valencia Avenue. The 1981 aerial photo shows it still looking good, though the screen was gone by the 1997 photo.

Motion Picture Almanac mentions for Grants NM:

  • 1955-59: The Trail DI, capacity 225, owned by J.C. West
  • 1960-62: Both the Trail and the "Schara" (sic) capacity 275, also J.C. West
  • 1963-66: Trail and Sahara, still J.C. West
  • 1969-76: Trail and Sahara, no owner info
  • 1977-79: Only the Trail, capacity 200, owner Grants Inc.
  • 1980-88: Trail, 200, Thea. Opera.