Marin County Motor Movies
55 Bellam Boulevard,
San Rafael,
CA
94901
55 Bellam Boulevard,
San Rafael,
CA
94901
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Blumenfeld Theater Circuit
Previous Names: Rafael Motor Movies
Nearby Theaters
The Marin County Motor Movies was opened by Blumenfeld Theater Circuit on May 21, 1948 with a 600-car capacity. It was closed around 1982. The site of this former drive-in is now the Marin Square shopping center.
Contributed by
Chris Ellinger
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
We used to go there when I was kid. You could see the Screen as you rounded Redwood Highway. It was always really cool to be driving by at night and to catch a few glimpses of the Movie that was playing.
55 Bellam Boulevard is the correct address not 555. Please update. This drive in now shopping center is located between Hwys 101 & 580. 555 is further east in the Canal District.
From the Marin Independent Journal’s History Watch:
Marin County’s first drive-in theater, Marin Motor Movies opened in 1948 and featured a 41- by 52-foot screen and “hook-on” car speakers that could be tuned loud or soft “depending on the amount of attention the occupants wish to devote to the screen.” [Capacity was 600.] A sunken building (to avoid obstructing vision) housed the projection room, snack bar and rest rooms. The Marin Square shopping center now occupies the site.
The drive-in appeared to be intact in a 1982 aerial photo, but a 1983 aerial showed construction of the shopping center underway.
Boxoffice, May 22, 1948: “Blumenfeld Theatres opened the Marin County Motor Movies May 21.”