Mustang Drive-In
945 AZ-87,
Chandler,
AZ
85225
945 AZ-87,
Chandler,
AZ
85225
1 person
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The Mustang Drive-In opened on April 8, 1952 with Rod Cameron in “Stage to Tucson” & Dick Powell in “Mrs. Mike”. It was still open in 1977.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
The Mustang Drive-in was open into the seventies. The last time I remember going was in 1973, my freshman year in high school to watch “Live and Let Die”.
Above address in incorrect. Approx. address for this drive-in was 950 North Arizona Avenue. Now condos near Ray Rd.
The address of 942 North Arizona is pretty close, the entrance to the condo’s looks likes the entrance to the old drive-in theater. In looking at old maps North Washington almost runs into the drive-in theatre. Maybe at one time, when the drive-in was built, the entrance to the drive-in was located on North Washington. Later on they moved the entrance to North Arizona, so it would be a better waiting area for the cars coming into the entrance.
So I would call the address: 942 North Arizona Chandler, AZ 85225
I do not recall the address of the Mustang Drive-In, but the address of 942 was the home address of the theater owners Joe and Alice Woods. They lived a little less than a mile from the drive-in. Mail for the drive-in was probably sent to the 942 address. The entrance to the drive-in was just south of the Arizona Ave./Ray Rd. intersection on the east side of the road. I want to think that the drive in was sold to someone else around 1969 and did stay open for a few years longer. I want to think that I watched Smokey and the Bandit from the Mustang Drive-In, so that would have been in 1977.
I know it was still open in 1976, my wife and I watched food of the gods and they came from within. Both were released in 1976.
A closer address is 945 AZ-87, Chandler, AZ. That puts it right next to what use to be the old entrance road of the drive-in. However, the road itself is listed in Google as “unknown”, so the address of the car lot (which use to be a convenience store) is the next best.
Today, the property is mostly apartment buildings with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/yc5vqgvu
April 26, 1952 Boxoffice: “CHANDLER, ARIZ. – Mr. and Mrs. Joe H. Woods have opened a new drive-in here, the Mustang, with accommodations for 400 cars. It includes a children’s playground. The Woods are celebrating their twentieth year as theatre operators in Chandler. They opened the Rowena Theatre in February 1932, and the Parkway in May 1945. Both are downtown houses.”
Boxoffice, May 18, 1959: “Sid Pink adds two more theatres to his growing chain with the addition of the Mustang Drive-In and Parkway Theatre in Chandler, Ariz., where he takes over from A. J. Woods.”
Boxoffice, July 4, 1960: “Tom Schneider has taken over the Parkway and Mustang Drive-In theatres in Chandler, Ariz., formerly operated by the Sid Pink organization”
Opened April 8th, 1952. small grand opening ad posted.
Opened in 8th April 1952 with “Stage to Tucson” and “Mrs Mike”.