Lithia Drive-In
580 Pheasant Run Drive,
Talent,
OR
97540
580 Pheasant Run Drive,
Talent,
OR
97540
1 person
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More background, and maybe a little exaggeration.
Boxoffice, July 24, 1954: “ASHLAND, ORE. - Construction on a new drive-in a few miles north of here on highway 99 is under way and should be completed by the end of July according to the owners, Jack Putney and Jim Selleck. The new 400-car airer will be called the Lithia after a local conventional house which burned two years ago. Selleck had served as manager of the former Lithia and Putney was the projectionist.”
As you said, capacity exaggeration was not at all unheard of. However, note that those six ramps all appear to be double ramps. Counting the poles visible in a very detailed USGS photo, I’d guess that they held 30x2 cars each, which would make 350 a more reasonable figure.
The projection booth sat at the back of the lot instead of the middle.
The entrance to the drive-in was on Creel Road close to where Lithia Way would eventually be.
I’d say the 350 vehicle statement by the owners at the time is a typical exaggeration. The 1976 aerial shows six long ramps which would have to hold 50 cars each just to get to 300. The actual capacity was probably more like 225 to 250, IMHO.