El Rancho Drive-In
2000 W. Capitol Avenue,
West Sacramento,
CA
95691
2000 W. Capitol Avenue,
West Sacramento,
CA
95691
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Blumenfeld Theater Circuit
Previous Names: Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Drive-In was opened by Joe Blumenfeld of Blumenfeld Enterprises Inc. on March 29, 1946 with Fred MacMurray in “Pardon My Past”. It was a single screen Ozoner and could accommodate 780 cars. In March 1950 it was renamed El Rancho Drive-In. It was closed on September 6, 1963 with Robert Stack in “The Caretakers” & Danny Kaye in “The Man from Diners Club”. It has been demolished and is now a mobile home park.
Contributed by
Chuck
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
Even by 1964 it was a mobile home park. Didn’t seem to last long as a drive-in.
I made a quick stop here in 2005, on the way up to the Marysville Drive-In. I understand that the booth/snack bar building is still there but I did not go that far back into the lot. The screen tower base is still there but the marquee was removed a few years after these pictures were taken.
I was born (1952) and raised in West Sacramento. I have fond memories of the old El Rancho Drive-In, as we only lived 3 blocks away from it. I remember that Dad would regularly load us up in the family wagon (a beautiful bronze/white ‘57 two-door Chevy Nomad) which Mom had already fully stocked with snacks and drinks, of course. I think the last movie we saw there together was Ben-Hur (1959). If you want to understand how truly magnificent this place looked to my young eyes back in those days, pay a visit to Tom Spaulding’s Flickr account at the below link to see a photo taken on October 31st, 1946 (FYI: the theater was built and opened in 1933). LINK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tspauld/2998750029/in/photostream/
The mobile home park sign may be the drive-in marquee?
Opened on 29/5/1946 and closed in the fall of 1963.
This opened as Drive-In on March 29th, 1946 and closed in February 1950. It reopened as the El Rancho Drive-In on March 17th, 1950. Both grand opening ads in the photo section.
Are we sure that this and the Drive-In on Davis Highway are the same Drive-ins? Not being from the area I’d feel better having somebody confirm this.
Boxoffice, Sept. 30, 1963: “The El Rancho Drive-In at Sacramento has been dismantled by Blumenfeld Theatres, which is turning it into a trailer court”
The last El Rancho ad I could find in the Sacramento Bee was Sept. 6, 1963. The program that night was “The Caretakers” with Robert Stack and “Man From the Diners Club” with Danny Kaye.
The old marquee as seen in the photo section is long gone. It was replaced before August of 2007.