Stadium 8 Drive-In
1501 W. Katella Avenue,
Orange,
CA
92867
1501 W. Katella Avenue,
Orange,
CA
92867
4 people
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Saturday July 2nd 1988 My dad took me & brother to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit at this theater. We had a great time Sunday Janurary 1st 1989 the same 3 of us went to see Oliver & Company. Also had a great time. Fun Fact about the night we saw O & C, On the left hand side from where we were at: Another screen was showing Hellbound Hellraiser 2. I would look briefly in that direction but not to the point that my dad would catch me. I stayed focus on O & C.
Drive in with dome snack bars include Sacramento 6, Tucson 5, Scottsdale 6, Glendale 9, Vallejo Auto Movies 3, Solano Twin Concord, Coliseum 4 Oakland, Union City 6 ( screens 5 & 6 only), Burlingame 4, Sunnyvale Twin, Winchester 6 Campbell, Capitol 6 San Jose, Santa Barbara Twin Goleta, Desert 5 Las Vegas, South Bay 6 Carson, Stadium 8 Orange. Only Sac, Col, Solano, Cap and Santa Barbara domes exist. FYI.
Saw Twister here with the wife and son. It was turned into a walk in complex after that
Opened on screen 1 with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and screen 2 with “The Love Bug” and “Darby O'Gill and the little people” and screen 3 with “Easy rider” and Last Summer" and screen 4 with “Mash” and “I love you, Alice B. Toklas”.
Grand opening ad posted.
@ Scott, you are correct. I remember the projection booth was a bit different. Yeah, it was the desert drive in.
You must mean the Desert Drive In, in Las Vegas. LVDI is way different. Some of the drive-ins they built had way smaller domes than others. The domes in Glendale and Scottsdale were much smaller, and the one in San Jose, though similar doesn’t seem like it was built with as many windows as Stadium appeared to have.
@ Scott. Just like the las Vegas drive in. It was a cookie cutter twin of the Stadium Drive-in snackbar/projection booth. Felt like I was in Orange Ca.
I know Syufy built most the drive-ins the same, but the building here looks I-DENT-I-CAL to the Sacramento 6. The Capitol 6 in San Jose doesn’t look as big as either Sac or Stadium.
For anyone living in the Orange area in the 70s/80s, this was a great place to go on a Friday or Saturday night, particularly in Summer. Wide selection of movies and awesome SoCal weather in the evenings. Everyone from families to teenagers on dates or with friends were there. OC was paradise back then. Great times!
I remember my friends and I attending the last night. It was a double feature of the Shining and the Exorcist. Before the second feature they were giving away clear trashbags of popcorn just to get rid of the stuff!! Irritating yet spooky was the Exorcist film kept breaking…queue scary music!!
I started working at the Stadium drive-in 4 in 1975 picking trash from the lots. In 1980 I was running the projection booth after they got rid of the projectionist’s union. It was a glorious time for an 18 year old. Best memories of my life. It went from a 4 screen to a 5 screen to a 6 screen during my tenure. Met my wife of 30 years there. Thanks for the link!
Here is a 1980 aerial photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yf65xv8