Kailua Drive-In
917 Kalanianaole Highway,
Kailua,
HI
96734
917 Kalanianaole Highway,
Kailua,
HI
96734
3 people
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Consolidated Amusement Co. Ltd.
Architects: J. Arthur Drielsma, Ernest Hara
Nearby Theaters
Designed by Los Angeles based architect Arthur J. Drielsma and Ernest Hara of Honolulu. The Kailua Drive-In was opened May 12, 1965 with Sean Connery in “Goldfinger” and Jerry Lewis in “The Patsy”. It was equipped to play Todd-AO and Cinerama movies on its 85ft x 140ft wide screen. It was closed May 19, 1991 with Michael Keaton in “One Good Cop” & Wesley Snipes in “New Jack City”.
Contributed by
William Gabel, Lowell Angell
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
Kailua Drive In was located on Kaapa Quarry Road at Kalanianaole Highway in Kailua Hawaii.
The entrance was a long up hill drive way that paralleled Kaapa Quarry Road . The site is now occupied by the Le Jardine Academy (green roofed buildings in aerial) http://www.lejardinacademy.com/ from the aerial photo below it appears that the same drive is used.
Google maps: View link
Article of Saturday, April 5, 2008 mentioning theatres of Old Kailua Town..
View link
Thanks guys.
I posted the USGS aerial photo here.
Went to this drive-in many times as a kid in the 1970’s, I think this was one of my dad’s favorites since he was raised in Nu'uanu, so it was just a mere drive over the Pali before getting to Kailua.
Grand opening ads in the photo section and below
Found on Newspapers.com powered by Newspapers.com
I was stationed at MCAS Kaneohe Bay from late 1983-early 1987, working as an air traffic controller, and have many fond memories of the Kailua Drive-In. Great nostalgia.
Final night of operation was May 19, 1991 with “One Good Cop” and “New Jack City”
The Joe Bob Report, May 3, 1993: “Republican Alert! The Kailua Drive-In, located at the foot of the Koolaus in Honolulu, on the slopes of the Kawainui Swamp, opened in 1965 with a James Bond flick and closed twenty-seven years later with One Good Cop and New Jack City. Why? Because some guy decided they needed the space (it holds 1,600 cars) for yet another golfers' driving range for Japanese tourists. Price of the driving range: $4.7 million. Pitiful.”