El Rancho Drive-In

In the 1970s we called it the El Rauncho because the place was so raunchy. On Thursdays it was $2 a carload, so we’d cram six or eight kids in a car. There’d be triple bills &amp sometimes they’d show FIVE films so that the last film was playing as the morning sun was rising. The third, fourth, &amp occasionally fifth film would be like 64-minute monster cheapies & we could almost never stay awake for the last one. I can remember only once being awake enough for the very last film, & it was a badly dubbed European (possibly Russian) science fiction film with a crazy story that probably had nothing to do with what the story was in its original language. It was so bad that after that I never even wanted to try to stay for the last film. www.weirdwildrealm.com

A correction for the commentator who thought the El Rauncho was torn down in the 1960s. It closed mid-August 1979, & I’m unsure how soon thereafter it was torn down. The last films it ever showed were “Love At First Bite” with “Old Dracula.”

When it first opened in July 1954 it was the first theater in the region that provided both Stereo & Cinemescope widescreen, so it was briefly state of the art, even though it got run down more quickly than any other outdoor screen. The first doublebill it showed was “Pony Express” with “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine,” which were by no means new movies, so it was down-market from the start. The original owners were O. L. Chinquy, Elton Fay, & Lloyd Honey. www.weirdwildrealm.com

My dad Robert “Bob” Reynolds was manager of El Rancho Drive-in in 1954 and 1955. Dad moonlighted from his day job as a precision machinist model-maker for the Boeing wind tunnel. He was not involved in the grand opening. Our entire family worked at the theater. My mother, Lillian “Enid” Reynolds, was the snack bar supervisor. She oversaw the snack bar staff. As a newly pubescent guy I had crushes on the farm-girls who worked behind the counter. My brother Robert “Dusty” Reynolds was one of the cashiers. He was a student at Highline High School. I’m Frank “Tank” Reynolds and I worked the snack bar in addition to being the groundsman. I was in charge of maintaining and replacing broken and “stolen” speakers. I was a student at Puget Sound Junior High. My brother and I were both members of Local B22 of the Theatrical and Stagehands Union. With union wages and long hours we were two of the richest kids around. My brother and I and a hired hand cleaned up the theater during day. I also mowed the grass on a sit-down mower. My brother and I “set” the marquee every week. The marquee was a two-story free-standing rustic structure. Dad, ever the promoter, raffled a car that was only guaranteed to be driven off the property. He also had a mason build an enormous brick barbeque in the patio in front of the snack bar to advertise the custom one that one lucky customer would win in a raffle to have built at his home. Our family used the barbeque to make dinner before we opened and for breakfast after our all-night shows. I have to state that my mother was a stickler for cleanliness and I can assure anyone who ate there had hygienic, spotless and carefully prepared food service. The Honey chain of theaters which included the Duwamish Drive-in did not understand the rural sensibilities of their loyal patrons, many of whom were families who came every week. One week they booked “Garden of Eden” a nudie film at the El Rancho. After a family council it was agreed that I could work that week. Since it was the “A” film my groundsman job required that I be on duty through both nightly showings all week long. I was the envy of my junior high school friends. I got pretty blasé’ by the end of the week.

A more accurate address for this theater is 19815 85th Ave S, Kent, WA 98031. This is the headquarters for the Washington State division of FARMERS BROTHERS COFFEE!

The entrance to this property was the D/I entrance.

Please update.