Mt. Baldy Drive-In

3515 N. White Avenue,
La Verne, CA 91750

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Fox West Coast Theatres, Mann Theatres, National General Theatres

Nearby Theaters

Clearer version of the 1973 photo via Dirk Dabel.

The Mt. Baldy Drive-In was located off of N. White Avenue, where the Post Office currently exists. It opened June 8, 1960 with Ernie Kovacs in “Wake Me When It’s Over” & Jerry Lewis in “Visit to a Small Planet. In the summer of 1961 it was taken over by Fox West Coast Theatres.

Contributed by Chris Flora

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 12, 2019 at 9:51 pm

Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list mentions:

  • 1963(!)-66: Capacity 1,200, owner N. T. & T. Amuse. Corp.
  • 1967-76 1,200 (no owner info)
  • 1977-82: 1200, Mann Theas.
  • 1983-88: 1 screen, L. Jacobs

I don’t know what NT&T was supposed to stand for; in the MPA’s circuit lists, Fox West Coast Theatres Corp, a subsidiary of National General, owned the Mt. Baldy in 1963-69. NGC Theatre Corporation (National General) owned the Mt. Baldy in 1970-72. Mann Theatres bought National General in 1973.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on May 13, 2019 at 3:32 am

Is Mt Baldy a nearby mountain?

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 13, 2019 at 8:32 am

Appears to be an unincorporated community with a ski resort 16.5 miles away, so likely within view of the drive-in. Per Wiki: “The community was established as Camp Baynham in 1906; it changed its name to Camp Baldy in 1910 and became Mt Baldy in 1951.” The ski lifts were installed in 1952.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 13, 2019 at 8:49 am

DavidZornig, what was the source of your 1973 Mt. Baldy photo? I’m working on a project and could use clearance on some of the pictures you’ve uploaded.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 13, 2019 at 9:19 am

My source was Dirk Dabel via Facebook. But I just did another TinEye reverse image search, and it appears it was used on a 1994 CD release by a band called The Undertoad. They were represented by Extablishment which still exists. Below is a link to their website’s licensing page. Most likely for music licensing requests, but you could ask them about the photo.

https://www.extablisment.com/creative-commons-licensing

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on August 12, 2019 at 9:26 am

So far, the only place I’ve seen the Mt. spelled out is this note in the March 28, 1960 issue of Boxoffice: “The Mount Baldy Drive-In, to be located at 3515 North Lincoln Ave., will be built this spring by Walter G. Long & Associates. The drive-in will be designed for 1,200 cars and will require an investment of around $200,000.”

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on January 27, 2020 at 1:24 pm

Here’s one more spelled-out mention, from the Aug. 14, 1961 issue of Boxoffice: “Cecil Carlton will continue to manage the Mount Baldy Drive-In in La Verne, which has been acquired by Fox West Coast Theatres. … FWC leased the drive-in from the Mount Baldy Drive-In Theatre Corp. in accordance with recent federal court aprpoval for the acquisition.”

rivest266
rivest266 on March 27, 2021 at 4:51 pm

Grand opening ad posted.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on July 8, 2021 at 10:30 am

For some reason, the Mt. Baldy’s ad continued to call its opening weekend a “Grand Opening,” but opening night was June 8, 1960.

Mt. Baldy Drive-In grand opening adMt. Baldy Drive-In grand opening ad 08 Jun 1960, Wed Progress-Bulletin (Pomona, California) Newspapers.com

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on August 11, 2021 at 11:52 am

Boxoffice, July 1990: “Larry Jacobs, former owner of the Eagle Rock Theatre in Eagle Rock, Calif., died at the age of 43. He was the former owner of a theatre in Bell, Calif., as well as drive-ins in Ventura and Mount Baldy. He came to the Los Angeles area from New York while working for Pacific Concessions.”

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