Hecker Pass Drive-In

8200 Kern Avenue,
Gilroy, CA 95020

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Additional Info

Nearby Theaters

1953

Located at Kern Avenue and First Street. The Hecker Pass Drive-In was opened around August 1949. This drive-in had space for 490 cars and was owned by J. Peters. The theater was closed in the 1970’s and was replaced by a Taco Bell restaurant, although the ticket booth was still standing as of 2003. Condominiums have since been built on the site

Contributed by Ken McIntyre

Recent comments (view all 8 comments)

jwmovies
jwmovies on October 9, 2012 at 11:34 pm

Approx. address for this drive-in was 8200 Kern Avenue.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 6, 2018 at 6:31 am

The fast food restaurant is Taco Bell.

dansdriveintheater
dansdriveintheater on February 6, 2019 at 7:16 pm

no it was replaced by condominiums.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on February 6, 2019 at 10:26 pm

Why the name Hecker Pass?

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on June 14, 2019 at 11:03 am

An aside in the Sept. 3, 1949 issue of BoxOffice mentioned a sighting of owners Alex Balanesi and Stuart Fletcher and manager Charles Gubser “of the recently opened Hecker Pass Drive-In”.

jwmovies
jwmovies on July 18, 2022 at 4:04 pm

1st Street (Hwy 152) was originally Hecker Pass Rd. It still is further west towards Watsonville by Gileoy Gardens (Gilroy Garlic Festival). FYI.

Kenmore
Kenmore on July 19, 2022 at 1:56 pm

A 1980 aerial shows the screen gone, so it appears that the drive-in closed sometime during the 1970s.

The ticket booth seems to have sat just to the east of the screen. This would make the entrance to the drive-in between what is now the car wash and Safeway.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 27, 2024 at 1:44 pm

Boxoffice, Feb. 16, 1970: “Manuel Duarte’s Hecker Pass Drive-In reopened recently with plans to feature American movies on Fridays and Saturdays and Spanish-language films on Sundays. During the opening weekend every car received a ticket for a free car wash.”

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