Midway Drive-In
8901 S. Alta Avenue,
Reedley,
CA
93654
8901 S. Alta Avenue,
Reedley,
CA
93654
2 people
favorited this theater
Located on S. Alta Avenue and E. Manning Avenue, to the east of Reedly, CA and north of Dinuba, CA. The Midway Drive-In was opened on June 22, 1950 with Gary Cooper in “Task Force. It was operated by Unicorn Theatres. By 1955 it was operated by Roy Cooper Theatres. It had a capacity for 490 cars. It was later twinned and was closed in 1995. The screens still stand in 2018.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
if so it wouldn’t be hard to reopen it.
I always wondered how this place was even built. Seems to me that it was built at the height of drive-in theatres when every town wanted one. Its location between Reedley and Dinuba really doesn’t lend itself toward attracting crowds on a regular basis.
no but if you think about it the towns of sanger, parlier, and orange cove are near by and this would have been the closet theater to them unless they wanted to drive to fresno or visalia to catch a flick.
uploaded aerial from when it was a single screenn theater.
my mom wet here a couple of times in the early 1990s with the last being in 1995 and my dad went here with his brothers in the early to mid 80s until the late 90s which supports the notion that it closed in 1995
now a trailer/porta potty/construction supply company it appears and according t a 2020 google street view aerial most of the screen one parking area has been paved over with asphalt when i went by with my grandparents i saw that there were backhoes and tractors there also further backing my suspicions
8901 S Alta Ave, Reedley, CA 93654. This points directly to the theater…
Across the street.
After 30 years, the drive in is more or less intact!
Please update.
Opened on June 22, 1950 with Gary Cooper in “Task Force” with no extra short subjects. Twinned in Spring 1976.
One curious bit is that the 1984 aerial makes it appear that the projection booth/concession stand was torn down. It’s not a good photo, but the square-ish blotch where the structure should be looks like a foundation, not a building.
It’s certainly a far different shape compared to the structure as seen in the 1963 and later in the 1998 aerial.
Did the building undergo an extensive remodel or perhaps was torn down and then rebuilt? Even taking away the 1984 aerial, that building does look significantly different from 1963 as compared to 1998.
Another minor question is the the location of the projectors inside the structure that aimed at the second screen. The projectors would have to sit at a pretty sharp angle given the location of the windows in the building. Or, were the projectors in another structure that was taken down after the drive-in closed?
Boxoffice, May 14, 1955: “The Midway Drive-In reopened recently with a new widescreen … Manager James B. Bell reports that the speakers also have been overhauled, a new playground area provided and the snack bar enlarged.”