Campus Drive-In
4565 College Avenue,
San Diego,
CA
92115
4565 College Avenue,
San Diego,
CA
92115
6 people
favorited this theater
The Campus Drive-In was built in 1948, opening on August 18, 1948 with Dan Dailey in “Give My Regards to Broadway” & Richard Dix in “The Kansan”. It had a capacity for 900 cars. This drive-in closed on February 6, 1983 with Jim Henson in “The Dark Crystal” & Steve Bulen in Dragon Slayer" and was demolished. A shopping center was built on its former site.
One of the most memorable features of this drive-in was the 46 foot high drum majorette outlined in neon lights that twirled a baton. Today the neon lighted drum majorette is “alive and well” and resides at the College Grove Shopping Center which replaced this drive-in.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Crying Shame this Drive-in could not be saved.
This opened on August 18th, 1948. The grand opening ad has been posted here.
Scroll down about one-quarter of the way down on this webpage to see some additional pictures of the Campus Drive-in.
The Campus Drive-In rated this page in Boxoffice of February 3, 1949. There are four photos. The Campus was designed by San Diego architect George Lykos.
Ha! I snuck in, or watch over the walls, many many times at the Campus Drive-In in the mid 70’s… we would ride our bikes from Del Cerro, and climb up on top of adjacent businesses' roofs, and drop over the wall, then crawl up to the seats in the unmaintained “kids play area” in the front part, right under the screen… the old wooden seats there were all covered with ivy, but it was a good place to hide, as long as you didn’t turn the sound up too high (there were speakers next to those ivy-covered seats!)… we sometimes even got the gall to go and buy a soda from the concession stand, once the movie had started! … the only problem was that people with little dogs would let them take a dump in the playground sand, so you had to watch it up there in the “free seating area”.
1979 photo added, photo credit John Morgoies-Library Of Congress Collection.
Opened on 18/8/1948 with “Give my regards to Broadway”, and “The Kansan”.
Closed in February 1983 with “The Dark crystal”, and “Dragonslayer”.
Closed February 6, 1983.
News coverage video in below link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuifbx2TNRg
Address is off. The entrance was at the rear of this theater on Peck Ln.
Now Camino Plaza @ 4565 College Ave, San Diego, CA 92115.
Please update.
Previous address was the screen tower.