Pico Drive-In
10860 W. Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90064
10860 W. Pico Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90064
11 people
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It’s actually “The Wise Little Hen”, notable for Donald Duck’s first appearance and the only Silly Symphony short Donald Duck has an appearance on, before moving right along as a cameo in Mickey Mouse cartoons for a few years while under the United Artists' banner until his first full-titled Donald Duck self cartoon “Don Donald” in January 1937. United Artists continued with Donald himself (and the gang of course) until his last United Artists appearance in his own “Modern Inventions” short later that May, and then RKO had to take over the rest of Donald (including his gang)’s lineup with a darn load of Buena Vista reissues.
Also opened with a Disney cartoon “Little Red hen”.
Here’s a pre-opening drawing of the drive-in. It looks a lot like one of Hollinghead’s patent drawings, but the ramp height is more pronounced.
Larger opening ad
Boxoffice, Feb. 17, 1951: “Seth D. Perkins, 63-year-old pioneer theatrical man, who built the first drive-in in California, died recently following a long illness. … Perkins' first drive-in, the second in the world, was built in 1934 on Pico boulevard in Los Angeles. Later he built a chain of theatres throughout southern California.”
1934 photo added credit Dick Whittington.
Ads mention by MichaelKilgore posted in the photo section.
The Pico Drive-In closed on Oct. 1, 1944, showing Double Indemnity and Candlelight in Algeria, per its listings in The Los Angeles Times. Its Oct. 2 listing read “Closed. Watch for Opening Date.”
From the Motion Picture Herald, Feb. 8, 1936:
“Guy Douthwaite, operator of the open-air Drive-in theatre in Hollywood, is applying for patents on horns which he invented when complaints about noise forced him to abandon a loudspeaker. In his invention, sound is carried by wire to each car and is released through horns placed in front of the radiators.”
Address should be corrected to read 10860 W. Pico Blvd. Evidence is in the image posted 04/17/15.
Pacific Drive-In print ad or matchbook cover added to Photos Section.
I’ve found a “gem” of a photograph of this drive-in theatre at the website below! The detail of the photo is amazing, and I’m wondering if this was taken the same day or week of its grand opening? Enjoy!
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15150coll2/id/3452
Here are the USC photos:
http://tinyurl.com/ygptrdt
http://tinyurl.com/yhbxwfx
Here is an LA Times ad from January 1938:
http://tinyurl.com/mh95lv
Here is a 1938 photo from Life Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/5sddjp
From the LA Times, July 29, 1934:
The Auto Drive-In Theater, which Rian James, producer, and Karl Freund, director, are to sponsor, will probably be located in Santa Monica. The theater which they plan is patterned after the one in Camden, NJ, and is graded in such a way that persons parked in everycar in the parking space may see the show.
It was Clifford Balch who designed this theatre, according to Southwest Builder & Contractor of July 27, 1934.
I assume this drive in was on the south west corner, same the the Picwood Theatre? Or was it on the South East corner? …former location of the Westland Shopping Center and current location of the Westside Pavillion.
Here are two photos from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/2xjxyx
http://tinyurl.com/22pv7j
A 12 plex is opening soon on this site.
The Drive-In theatre opened on Sept. 9th 1934.
The above picture is from the old Drive-In theatre. The Drive-In opened in the 30’s and lasted till the 40’s at Pico and Westwood Blvd. Soon a new walk-in theatre would open around 1948 called the Picwood Theatre. The Olympic opened at Olympic and Bundy in West Los Angeles. The Olympic Drive-In closed on Oct. 14, 1973. On the comment below moviemanforever states the mural as two skiers moving a ski slope. That mural of the two skiers Tri-City D/In Two Skiers Van Nuys D/In Spanish Horsemen nr spanish house Vermont D/In Woman surrounded by bird & trees Whittier D/In Spanish Dancer
All of the above murals are just memories near. Other Pacific Drive-Ins had Neon signs .