Compton Drive-In
2001 Rosecrans Avenue,
Compton,
CA
90221
2001 Rosecrans Avenue,
Compton,
CA
90221
8 people
favorited this theater
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Now a residential neighborhood.
Way off!
The actual address is 2001 Rosecrans Ave, Compton, CA 90221.
Please update.
The stars were out in Compton including Hoot Gibson, Andy Clyde, Tim McCoy, Andy Devine, Rex Allen, the Sons of the Pioneers and Frankenstein. On the big screen was a double feature of “Everybody Does It” and “Blue Lagoon” supported by a newsreel and two cartoons all on January 6, 1950. It closed at the end of a 25-year lease one day after its 25th Anniversary.
Appears that it was a double bill of “Street Fighter” and “Junior”, what a way to go out…
This closed on January 7th, 1995, and reopened as a church called “The Vision” on January 15th, 1995.
Compton Drive-In found God. Sat, Jan 7, 1995 – Page 177 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com
The Compton Drive-In opened on January 6th, 1950 by Pacific Theatres. Grand opening ad posted.
“A temporary injunction against a used car lot and restaurant adjacent to the Compton Drive-In, a Pacific Drive-In operation, for using brilliant lights to the detriment of the ozoner customers was secured in Superior Court. The action state that the defendants installed the lights after the start of the drive-in to distract patrons of the latter.” — Boxoffice, July 4, 1960
Ted Mann built this drive-in with a partner according to this Minneapolis newspaper article from 1952.
Found on Newspapers.com
The Fiesta Four Drive-In, opened in 1949 as the Whittier Drive-In, was actually in Pico Rivera, a few miles south of El Monte.
Such a beautiful drive in…I was shocked when they razed the El Monte Fiesta Drive-in back in the late 90s.
Circa 1951 photo added featuring Sam Barris' `49 Mercury custom next to the Compton sign.
Charles Phoenix wrote recently about his all-too-brief encounter with the Compton Drive-In.
Uploaded some Goggle Earth views.
This place is one of my earliest memories as a child. We lived in Lynwood and would pass by this place on the way to Paramount on the weekends. It was a magnificent structure that I still remember almost 40 years later. Compton and El Monte had my favorite screen tower murals.
That’s a huge empty lot at that address now.
Here is an August 1973 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/y26leud
Here are some additional photos:
http://tinyurl.com/oxh627
http://tinyurl.com/p76z9n
Here is a January 1958 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/p55p6m
Here is a 1982 photo:
http://snipurl.com/gjz3j
And you can also see that “Sleeping Beauty” was playing over at the Fox Wilshire Theatre in 70MM.
He was the mini-Vin Diesel back then, I guess.
Mickey Rooney action film? Those are two things you don’t hear together everyday.
Here is a January 1959 ad for a Mickey Rooney action film, showing at the Compton. Click on the ad to zoom in.
http://tinyurl.com/aesgyv
This drive-in was in the documentary “Drive-In Movie Memories” in 2001.
One of at least two classic basketball films released in that year, along with “The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh”.
Here is a 1979 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/3ast9c