The Gage’s first appearance in the Arizona Republic movie page, in fine print without a mention of a grand opening, was on Sept. 14, 1956. The double feature was “Davy Crockett and the River Pirates” and “Raw Edge”.
As to when it closed, if Kingman phone books suddenly stopped listing it in 1968, that was probably its final season. (We know it opened that year thanks to the sign photo with “Sgt. Ryker”.) The Motion Picture Almanac’s drive-in list was mostly on autopilot in 1967-76.
The Sage / Vale was definitely on West Indian School Road, near where aerial photos show a drive-in by 1958 through 1986. (The screen was gone in 1987.) Please add Sage Drive-In as a Previous Name here.
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1957: “ELKHART, KAS. - The Doric Theatre, completely rebuilt since it was damaged by fire more that a year ago, was reopened recently with “Love in the Afternoon” as the opening attraction. New walls, a modern front and complete new lobby have been built. All seats in the theatre have been refinished and new carpeting and tiling provided. Projection and sound equipment, screen, restrooms, drinking fountains, concessions stand and interior decorations are all new. The building is owned by C. S. McClung. A contract was signed recently by Dr. K. W. Pieratt of Dumas, Tex., and J. B. Mann of Guymon, Okla., with McClung for a long term lease on the theatre building and fixtures. Delbert Stewart, who manages the Sands Drive-In south of here on Highway 95 for Pieratt and Mann, is manager of the Doric as well.”
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1957: “ELKHART, KAS. - The Doric Theatre, completely rebuilt since it was damaged by fire more that a year ago, was reopened recently … The building is owned by C. S. McClung. A contract was signed recently by Dr. K. W. Pieratt of Dumas, Tex., and J. B. Mann of Guymon, Okla., with McClung for a long term lease on the theatre building and fixtures. Delbert Stewart, who manages the Sands Drive-In south of here on Highway 95 for Pieratt and Mann, is manager of the Doric as well.”
The final listing (as “Belair”) in the daily Pacific Theatres' ad in the Los Angeles Times was Sept. 10, 1989. It had the movies that DriveIn101 mentioned a couple of posts ago, but it wasn’t in any Pacific ads after that.
This drive-in opened as the Mt. Vernon Motor-In, the name it showed on its sign probably at least until it was twinned in 1973. The San Bernardino County Sun wrote on Nov. 10, 1972: “The Bombs: There’s a triple bill of motorcycle flicks – “The Hellcats,” “The Sidehackers,” and “Hell’s Belles” – at the Mt. Vernon Motor-In.” That was its final set of movies as a single-screen on Nov. 14 that year.
Pacific Theatres' final listing for the Mt. Vernon in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 10, 1989, was “Turner and Hooch” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” on one screen, and “Lock Up” and “Cage” on the other.
The Los Angeles Times' final listing for the Valley was on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1977, when the drive-in showed a couple of Italian films, “Autopsy” and “Sacrifice.”
Chet Wilkins of the Ontario Neon Co. called the Valley’s screen tower “the largest neon mural in the world”. It was assembled over weeks at the First Baptist Church of Ontario because its basement floor was large enough to accommodate it.
And here’s the Internet Archive link to the Charles Phoenix photo that sameegrl posted about 13 years ago.
The final listing for the Big Sky was in the Sept. 9, 1984 issue of the Monrovia News-Post. The drive-in was showing “Hollywood Hot Tubs” and “Surf II”.
Monrovia News-Post, Nov. 15, 1984: “The landmark orange and yellow Big Sky Drive-In screen rising from the sidelines of the 210 Freeway in Duarte will be torn down in a $4.5 million land sale to make way for the Mountain Vista Shopping Center. Under a deal unveiled Tuesday (13) between the Duarte Redevelopment Agency and developers … The city plans to buy the majority of the Big Sky property from the owners for $3.2 million. A portion of the land fronting Huntington Drive is already owned by the city’s redevelopment agency.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 17, 1957: “The Regent in Winfield, Kas., closed recently by O. L. Sullivan, has been taken over by Fred Munson who operates the Winfield Drive-In there, as well as the 166 Drive-In at Arkansas City and the Scott City Drive-In”
The Showmandiser section of the Aug. 17, 1957 issue of Boxoffice ran the full origin story of the Sunset. Here it is, in full:
A raincheck idea is given credit by G. R. Cheverton for a steady increase in business at his Sunset Drive-In, which he opened last June in Myers Flat up in the giant redwood country in Humboldt County, Calif. Cheverton has a double bill policy, but reverses the order of showing each night. “In this land of the redwoods,” Cheverton writes, “people get up early, and the cannot stay up late.” Sunset patrons may see the first attraction one night, ask for a raincheck then see the other picture on the bill early the next night. Cheverton reports this system has caught on and business has increased ever since he started it. The snack bar at the 250-car Sunset is showing a 50 per cent of gross take.
Thus Cheverton’s finances are looking up once more after he met disaster in the northern California woods in December 1955. At that time Cheverton owned the Maribel Theatre in Weott, a few miles down the river from Myers Flat. Then the floods struck, forcing evacuation of the town. Cheverton returned to find his life’s savings and nearly all his family possessions literally had gone down the river. There had been 15 feet of water in the theatre, and all was ruined.
Cheverton was discouraged but not beaten. He contacted Mrs. E. M. Nelson who owned a small piece of land at Myers Flat, and soon Cheverton was at work. He and his son-in-law Ted Jennings formed a company. They cleared the land, leveled and graded it with a borrowed grader, built a 60x60-foot snack bar and dance hall, welded and raised a metal screen; then after a year of hard work, they opened the Sunset Drive-In.
Were the fearful of themselves - of the motion picture business? Cheverton answers: “All the work was done by two men who had lost everything in the flood, and all they had were a few tools and lots of faith in the theatre business!” The Cheverton-Jennings family operates the Sunset without payroll. Cheverton runs the machines, Jennings polices the place, one wife is cashier and the other operates the snack bar.
Google Maps no longer likes the Stardust Road address for the old drive-in site, now occupied by a multi-level parking lot at the southwest corner of the Resorts World campus. The best permanent address might be for the fire station adjacent to it at 3050 S Sammy Davis Jr Dr. Google Maps thinks the address of the parking lot is 1300 Genting Blvd., the outer road for Desert Inn Road.
The accompanying note in the Nov. 16, 1940 Motion Picture Herald: “A more extreme example (of legibility) is afforded by the Los Feliz in Los Angeles, whose new marquee is equipped with Adler multiple-line frames and recessed-face letters. Here we have, not only liberal "white space” around the copy, but the letters themselves are well spaced, with “easy-reading” accordingly accomplished."
Boxoffice, April 27, 1964: “Paul Love, motion picture advertising service salesman and longtime exhibitor, has purchased the Mount Vernon Drive-In in the town by that name from Joe Nickolick. He opened the airer for three-night weekend operation April 10.”
A column in the May 13, 2016 in the Victorville Daily Press said that the El Rancho was twinned in 1976, and that glimpses of it can be spotted in the movie “Electra Glide in Blue.”
A long article in the July 3, 2016 issue of the Daily Press said that the El Rancho’s grand opening was on June 28, 1950. The final performance, on May 20, 1984, was a free showing of “The Bounty” with Mel Gibson.
At the time of the article, the building was the site of the New Beginning Christian Center.
The history of Barstow’s theaters, as told in a front-page story in the Desert Dispatch, Feb. 16, 1950:
“Grand opening of the new Barstow theatre on West Main St., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, will give theatre-goers of Barstow and vicinity a chance to see the result of weeks of careful planning and construction by Western Amusement Co. in bringing this ultra modern theatre here. Today’s theatre is a far cry from the first theatre, The Fletcher "Opera” house of the year 1910, where “first class entertainment was held for all.” And it is a tremendous improvement over the Forum theatre which has been the only theatre in Barstow city limits …
“Color scheme of the theatre is restful and blends well with the desert. The ceiling is beize (sic?), side walls soft restfull green, front panels blend from a soft fuschia to a deep wine …
“The early opera house originated from a hall in the fall of 1909, owned by Mrs. Mary Fletcher who rented it for social programs in the early days before the arrival of moving pictures. Later Mrs. Fletcher and her grandson, Homer Humble, with Charles Eagon working as projectionists, opened it for several years … H. L. Miller … rented the building from Mrs. Fletcher using it as a movie picture house. In the fall of 1922 sudden fire destroyed the entire structure.
“Charley Wallace rented the Bauer and Slaton building … and opened a new theater advertising for a name. Forum was finally selected. Mr. Wallace installed a pipe organ to furnish background music and the theater became most popular! In the early 1930s, Justin LaFont became the proprietor and he moved the show to First and Main streets, where it is now located.”
(Barstow) Desert Dispatch, Dec. 30, 1948: “Barstow’s new $90,000 Bar-Len drive in theater opened December 29. Visitors will see a screen stories high and an auditorium capable of holding 500 cars.” No grand opening ad the week before, unfortunately. The front-page article mentioned a snack bar, in-car speakers, and regular double features.
After digging through the LA Times, I think the Twin Vue’s final appearance in the Pacific Theatres' ad was on Thursday, Oct. 1, 1981. The double feature that night was “American Werewolf in London” and “Hell Night”.
After digging through the LA Times, I think the final ad for the Harbor in the drive-in theater section (between Covina and La Miranda) was Monday, May 15, 1972. The double feature was “The Hospital” and “Bloody Sunday”. In the next day’s ad, there was nothing between Covina and La Miranda.
The current Electric Dusk web site says its address is now 236 N. Central Ave, Glendale CA 91203.
Conforming to CT’s current style, that would mean that a “new” drive-in page should be created in Glendale, and that this page in Los Angeles should remain as “closed”. Which may be another argument in favor of changing CT’s style.
The Motion Picture Almanac changed its drive-in listing from the Sky-Hi (owner F. Kennedy) in its 1982 edition to the Sundowner (owner R. Bethel) in 1983. The MPA had all sorts of problems noticing changes on a timely basis, but the fact that it bothered to change suggests that the drive-in was active enough to request the update then.
Except that a thorough search of the local newspaper failed to turn up any mention of a Sundowner Drive-In nor any Sky-Hi ads in 1982-83. My guess is that the MPA got a wire crossed with another Sky-Hi and that Lebanon’s drive-in, never renamed, was simply dead by 1982.
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.”
The Gage’s first appearance in the Arizona Republic movie page, in fine print without a mention of a grand opening, was on Sept. 14, 1956. The double feature was “Davy Crockett and the River Pirates” and “Raw Edge”.
As to when it closed, if Kingman phone books suddenly stopped listing it in 1968, that was probably its final season. (We know it opened that year thanks to the sign photo with “Sgt. Ryker”.) The Motion Picture Almanac’s drive-in list was mostly on autopilot in 1967-76.
The Sage / Vale was definitely on West Indian School Road, near where aerial photos show a drive-in by 1958 through 1986. (The screen was gone in 1987.) Please add Sage Drive-In as a Previous Name here.
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1957: “ELKHART, KAS. - The Doric Theatre, completely rebuilt since it was damaged by fire more that a year ago, was reopened recently with “Love in the Afternoon” as the opening attraction. New walls, a modern front and complete new lobby have been built. All seats in the theatre have been refinished and new carpeting and tiling provided. Projection and sound equipment, screen, restrooms, drinking fountains, concessions stand and interior decorations are all new. The building is owned by C. S. McClung. A contract was signed recently by Dr. K. W. Pieratt of Dumas, Tex., and J. B. Mann of Guymon, Okla., with McClung for a long term lease on the theatre building and fixtures. Delbert Stewart, who manages the Sands Drive-In south of here on Highway 95 for Pieratt and Mann, is manager of the Doric as well.”
Boxoffice, Dec. 21, 1957: “ELKHART, KAS. - The Doric Theatre, completely rebuilt since it was damaged by fire more that a year ago, was reopened recently … The building is owned by C. S. McClung. A contract was signed recently by Dr. K. W. Pieratt of Dumas, Tex., and J. B. Mann of Guymon, Okla., with McClung for a long term lease on the theatre building and fixtures. Delbert Stewart, who manages the Sands Drive-In south of here on Highway 95 for Pieratt and Mann, is manager of the Doric as well.”
The final listing (as “Belair”) in the daily Pacific Theatres' ad in the Los Angeles Times was Sept. 10, 1989. It had the movies that DriveIn101 mentioned a couple of posts ago, but it wasn’t in any Pacific ads after that.
This drive-in opened as the Mt. Vernon Motor-In, the name it showed on its sign probably at least until it was twinned in 1973. The San Bernardino County Sun wrote on Nov. 10, 1972: “The Bombs: There’s a triple bill of motorcycle flicks – “The Hellcats,” “The Sidehackers,” and “Hell’s Belles” – at the Mt. Vernon Motor-In.” That was its final set of movies as a single-screen on Nov. 14 that year.
Pacific Theatres' final listing for the Mt. Vernon in the Los Angeles Times on Sept. 10, 1989, was “Turner and Hooch” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” on one screen, and “Lock Up” and “Cage” on the other.
Narrowing the date. Motion Picture Daily, April 5, 1960: “LOUDON, Tenn., April 4. - Valley Drive-in Theatre here has been destroyed by fire.”
The Los Angeles Times' final listing for the Valley was on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 1977, when the drive-in showed a couple of Italian films, “Autopsy” and “Sacrifice.”
Chet Wilkins of the Ontario Neon Co. called the Valley’s screen tower “the largest neon mural in the world”. It was assembled over weeks at the First Baptist Church of Ontario because its basement floor was large enough to accommodate it.
And here’s the Internet Archive link to the Charles Phoenix photo that sameegrl posted about 13 years ago.
For some reason, the Mt. Baldy’s ad continued to call its opening weekend a “Grand Opening,” but opening night was June 8, 1960.
The final listing for the Big Sky was in the Sept. 9, 1984 issue of the Monrovia News-Post. The drive-in was showing “Hollywood Hot Tubs” and “Surf II”.
Monrovia News-Post, Nov. 15, 1984: “The landmark orange and yellow Big Sky Drive-In screen rising from the sidelines of the 210 Freeway in Duarte will be torn down in a $4.5 million land sale to make way for the Mountain Vista Shopping Center. Under a deal unveiled Tuesday (13) between the Duarte Redevelopment Agency and developers … The city plans to buy the majority of the Big Sky property from the owners for $3.2 million. A portion of the land fronting Huntington Drive is already owned by the city’s redevelopment agency.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 17, 1957: “The Regent in Winfield, Kas., closed recently by O. L. Sullivan, has been taken over by Fred Munson who operates the Winfield Drive-In there, as well as the 166 Drive-In at Arkansas City and the Scott City Drive-In”
The Showmandiser section of the Aug. 17, 1957 issue of Boxoffice ran the full origin story of the Sunset. Here it is, in full:
A raincheck idea is given credit by G. R. Cheverton for a steady increase in business at his Sunset Drive-In, which he opened last June in Myers Flat up in the giant redwood country in Humboldt County, Calif. Cheverton has a double bill policy, but reverses the order of showing each night. “In this land of the redwoods,” Cheverton writes, “people get up early, and the cannot stay up late.” Sunset patrons may see the first attraction one night, ask for a raincheck then see the other picture on the bill early the next night. Cheverton reports this system has caught on and business has increased ever since he started it. The snack bar at the 250-car Sunset is showing a 50 per cent of gross take.
Thus Cheverton’s finances are looking up once more after he met disaster in the northern California woods in December 1955. At that time Cheverton owned the Maribel Theatre in Weott, a few miles down the river from Myers Flat. Then the floods struck, forcing evacuation of the town. Cheverton returned to find his life’s savings and nearly all his family possessions literally had gone down the river. There had been 15 feet of water in the theatre, and all was ruined.
Cheverton was discouraged but not beaten. He contacted Mrs. E. M. Nelson who owned a small piece of land at Myers Flat, and soon Cheverton was at work. He and his son-in-law Ted Jennings formed a company. They cleared the land, leveled and graded it with a borrowed grader, built a 60x60-foot snack bar and dance hall, welded and raised a metal screen; then after a year of hard work, they opened the Sunset Drive-In.
Were the fearful of themselves - of the motion picture business? Cheverton answers: “All the work was done by two men who had lost everything in the flood, and all they had were a few tools and lots of faith in the theatre business!” The Cheverton-Jennings family operates the Sunset without payroll. Cheverton runs the machines, Jennings polices the place, one wife is cashier and the other operates the snack bar.
Google Maps no longer likes the Stardust Road address for the old drive-in site, now occupied by a multi-level parking lot at the southwest corner of the Resorts World campus. The best permanent address might be for the fire station adjacent to it at 3050 S Sammy Davis Jr Dr. Google Maps thinks the address of the parking lot is 1300 Genting Blvd., the outer road for Desert Inn Road.
The accompanying note in the Nov. 16, 1940 Motion Picture Herald: “A more extreme example (of legibility) is afforded by the Los Feliz in Los Angeles, whose new marquee is equipped with Adler multiple-line frames and recessed-face letters. Here we have, not only liberal "white space” around the copy, but the letters themselves are well spaced, with “easy-reading” accordingly accomplished."
Boxoffice, April 27, 1964: “Paul Love, motion picture advertising service salesman and longtime exhibitor, has purchased the Mount Vernon Drive-In in the town by that name from Joe Nickolick. He opened the airer for three-night weekend operation April 10.”
A column in the May 13, 2016 in the Victorville Daily Press said that the El Rancho was twinned in 1976, and that glimpses of it can be spotted in the movie “Electra Glide in Blue.”
A long article in the July 3, 2016 issue of the Daily Press said that the El Rancho’s grand opening was on June 28, 1950. The final performance, on May 20, 1984, was a free showing of “The Bounty” with Mel Gibson.
At the time of the article, the building was the site of the New Beginning Christian Center.
The history of Barstow’s theaters, as told in a front-page story in the Desert Dispatch, Feb. 16, 1950:
“Grand opening of the new Barstow theatre on West Main St., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, will give theatre-goers of Barstow and vicinity a chance to see the result of weeks of careful planning and construction by Western Amusement Co. in bringing this ultra modern theatre here. Today’s theatre is a far cry from the first theatre, The Fletcher "Opera” house of the year 1910, where “first class entertainment was held for all.” And it is a tremendous improvement over the Forum theatre which has been the only theatre in Barstow city limits …
“Color scheme of the theatre is restful and blends well with the desert. The ceiling is beize (sic?), side walls soft restfull green, front panels blend from a soft fuschia to a deep wine …
“The early opera house originated from a hall in the fall of 1909, owned by Mrs. Mary Fletcher who rented it for social programs in the early days before the arrival of moving pictures. Later Mrs. Fletcher and her grandson, Homer Humble, with Charles Eagon working as projectionists, opened it for several years … H. L. Miller … rented the building from Mrs. Fletcher using it as a movie picture house. In the fall of 1922 sudden fire destroyed the entire structure.
“Charley Wallace rented the Bauer and Slaton building … and opened a new theater advertising for a name. Forum was finally selected. Mr. Wallace installed a pipe organ to furnish background music and the theater became most popular! In the early 1930s, Justin LaFont became the proprietor and he moved the show to First and Main streets, where it is now located.”
I also saw a reference to the Barstow Theatre in the Desert Dispatch in December 1911, though it apparently opened in 1910.
(Barstow) Desert Dispatch, Dec. 30, 1948: “Barstow’s new $90,000 Bar-Len drive in theater opened December 29. Visitors will see a screen stories high and an auditorium capable of holding 500 cars.” No grand opening ad the week before, unfortunately. The front-page article mentioned a snack bar, in-car speakers, and regular double features.
After digging through the LA Times, I think the Twin Vue’s final appearance in the Pacific Theatres' ad was on Thursday, Oct. 1, 1981. The double feature that night was “American Werewolf in London” and “Hell Night”.
After digging through the LA Times, I think the final ad for the Harbor in the drive-in theater section (between Covina and La Miranda) was Monday, May 15, 1972. The double feature was “The Hospital” and “Bloody Sunday”. In the next day’s ad, there was nothing between Covina and La Miranda.
The current Electric Dusk web site says its address is now 236 N. Central Ave, Glendale CA 91203.
Conforming to CT’s current style, that would mean that a “new” drive-in page should be created in Glendale, and that this page in Los Angeles should remain as “closed”. Which may be another argument in favor of changing CT’s style.
The Motion Picture Almanac changed its drive-in listing from the Sky-Hi (owner F. Kennedy) in its 1982 edition to the Sundowner (owner R. Bethel) in 1983. The MPA had all sorts of problems noticing changes on a timely basis, but the fact that it bothered to change suggests that the drive-in was active enough to request the update then.
Except that a thorough search of the local newspaper failed to turn up any mention of a Sundowner Drive-In nor any Sky-Hi ads in 1982-83. My guess is that the MPA got a wire crossed with another Sky-Hi and that Lebanon’s drive-in, never renamed, was simply dead by 1982.
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.”