San Pablo Auto Movies
5200 Riverside Avenue,
Richmond,
CA
94806
5200 Riverside Avenue,
Richmond,
CA
94806
1 person
favorited this theater
The San Pablo Auto Movies was opened July 29, 1953 with Fernando Lamas in “Sangaree” (presented in 3D using 2 projectors) & Howard Duff in “Roar of the Crowd”. Located in Richmond, CA at Contra Costa Avenue and Riverside Avenue. They gave miniature train rides to all the kids before the movie would start. The train was located at the bottom of the movie screen. It was operated by United California Theatres Inc. and was closed prior to 1960.
Contributed by
billspain
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The Drive-In was operated by United California Theatres, Inc. during the 1960’s, that company became United Artists Theatres, Inc. . The company listing has it in San Pablo, California. It’s car capacity was 750.
The San Pablo Auto Movies opened on July 29, 1953 with a dual projector 3-D presentation of Paramount’s “Sangaree” with “Roar of the Crowd” (in flat 2-D) as the second feature.
This was a very nice drive in with nice facilities and a big wide CinemaScope screen, easily the best in the Richmond-San Pablo-El Cerrito area when it opened.
The comment above “A shopping center now sits on the site.” is incorrect. There is a small shopping center in the area, but that’s not where the drive-in was. Also, it was not at the corner of Dam Road as it was so often described in the newspaper ads. The drive-in was at the end of Ventura Avenue off of Riverside Ave. I posted a topo map showing the exact location.
Thanks for the topo, rockyroadz. Old aerial photos show a very narrow viewing field with the screen at the west corner. The San Pablo was still in great shape in a 1959 photo, but the 1968 aerial shows the ramps run down and the screen gone.
Google Maps shows that site is now occupied by the Villa Alvarado Apartments, so a better address would be 1330 Contra Costa Ave, San Pablo, CA 94806.
The above information is once again incorrect.
This theater was located at 5200 Riverside Ave, San Pablo, CA 94806. Conta Costa was the entrance. THIS has nothing to with the shopping center to the west of this location OR Ventura Avenue. Per Historical Aerials in 1959. The screen was located in the NW corner west of Contra Costa…please update.
In revisiting my old maps, I realize @jwmovies is correct about the location. I incorrectly commented it was “end of Ventura Avenue off of Riverside Ave” when I should have said “end of Contra Costa Ave off of Riverside.” I was looking at an old map of the area which didn’t have street names and confused one street for the other. So, the description by “billspain” on the main photo above should also be corrected.