Roadium Drive-In
2500 Redondo Beach Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90504
2500 Redondo Beach Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90504
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Several folks have asked about the origin of the name Roadium. I don’t know but I’d guess it’s a portmanteau of “road” and “auditorium.”
This drive-in also a 18 hole miniture golf course(most unusual in The World), The 40 foot rocket seen in the above photo, is part of the miniture golf course.
Boxoffice reported that this Roadium opened on May 19, 1950.
Boxoffice, May 27, 1950: “GARDENA, CALIF. – Added to the swelling list of ozoners in the southland territory was the Roadium No. 2, 480-car drive-in which opened here (19). Dale Gasteigen is the owner and managing operator of the new showcase and is a partner with Joe Bianca in the operation of the Roadium No. 1, located in the nearby township of Paramount.”
Boxoffice, July 15, 1950: (opened 1950 list) “Roadium, 480, Dale Gastigen”
Correction: This opened on September 8th, 1950. The Roadium Drive-In in Paramount (now Paramount Drive-In opened on May 21st, 1948.)
Responding to some older comments above about covered over projection ports on the back of the concession stand and the pre-opening matchbook cover. Going by the aerial shots on historicaerials this drive in was planned as a 2 screen. In the 1952 aerial the lot has only been half graded. But in the 1962 Aerial some ramps have been added to the back half of the lot pointing toward the front screen. It may have been that after the owners started the flea market that they realized that they could make more money with the flea market than they could ever make with a second screen that they decided to forgo it altogether and only have a single screen. I think that now that they are showing movies again they should add the second screen.
Is it near a military or NASA base, hence the missle(or rocket?) seen behind the screen in the above photo?
now roadium open air market!
i don’t know why it was called roadium but that is a very interesting question.
Opened in 1950 and closed in(late 1980’s?). Is the missile(or rocket?) seen behind the screen in the above photo still there? Why the name Roadium?
the marquee screen and ramps still remain.
Referring to a previous comment from years ago, this could have been originally designed as a twin. I saw a matchbook cover online that describes this as a dual drive in theatre. I posted in the photo section…
Is it known what year movie screenings finished there?
when i used to go to the roadium there was a mini golf course there and just to the right was a sizzler restaurant. when i first went there there was a playground in front of the screen. 3 mins before the movie started they would dim the lights for a moment and we would all run to the car.my dad had a spotlight and he would play tag with other spotlights on the screen
Here is the swap meet site:
http://www.roadium.com/
Here is a photo taken early this morning:
http://tinyurl.com/yj6ware
Here is a 1980 aerial view. In the 1952 photo, it looks like the drive-in is under construction.
http://tinyurl.com/y8n6n6j
Capacity in 1963 was 480 cars. Operator at that time was Pioneer Theatres, Inc, by Jim Finkler.
From the LA Times, dated 8/15/57:
Torrance Brawl Ends in Fatal Stabbing; Five Held
A Hawthorne teen-age youth staggered fifteen feet out of a drive-in theater lounge late last night and collapsed face down, with a fatal stab wound in his chest. The stabbing occurred just after four men knocked down another unidentified youth outside the lounge. The men then went inside and fought with the teenager who was killed, witnesses told police.
In the ensuing uproar at the Roadium Theater, 2500 Redondo Beach Boulevard, police hurriedly searched every car and brought in five adults for questioning. Dead on arrival at Harbor General Hospital was John Nelson Edwards, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Edwards, 243 E. 137th Street, Hawthorne.
I worked the booth in 1975. Here’s something odd I found. On the back (south facing) wall of the booth was what looked like projection ports but covered up. It looked to me like this drive-in was originally designed as a twin but the second screen tower was never built.
Drive-in theaters may die, but swap meets live on forever…
It would be easy to open this up again as a drive-in if somebody wanted to be daring.
The theater listings of the Los Angeles Times issue of February 10th, 1971, have the Roadium listed among the independent drive-ins. I can’t find it listed at all in the August 24th, 1986 issue of The Times.
I lived in Manhattan Beach in the late 1950’s and we often went to the Roadium Drive-In. Nothing really special. Just a big lot with speakers and a big screen. Not really too much fun in the family stationwagon. I preferred going to the GRAND theaters downtown Los Angeles. They were all so magnificent.