Arcata Drive-In
1635 Heindon Road,
Arcata,
CA
95521
1635 Heindon Road,
Arcata,
CA
95521
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Previous Names: Maribel Drive-In
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Located at Highway 101 and Guintoli Lane, Arcata, CA. The Maribel Drive-In was opened on June 27, 1957 with Randolph Scott in “7th Cavalry” & Dale Robertson in “Sitting Bull”. On April 28, 1960 it was renamed Arcata Drive-In. It was closed around 1988.
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David coppock
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
A closer address (at least for Google Maps) is 1635 Heindon Rd, Arcata, CA. This is the current address of the Arcata Chamber of Commerce which sits at the front of the old entrance road to the drive-in.
Today, the chamber, a couple of federal offices, and a trailer park sit on the property. There is no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/y5wjejrl
The 1956 aerial showed an empty field. It’s there by 1972 and gone by 1989 even though a 1988 topo map shows its outline.
Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list mentions:
By the way, the MPA eventually added a second drive-in in Arcata, though it could have been the decades-old Midway that was between Arcata and Eureka.
The North Coast Journal wrote on March 26, 2009 that Bob Rickard’s career “included running the 299 Drive-in in Willow Creek then the Arcata and Midway drive-ins”.
Boxoffice, July 27, 1957: “Walter Bell recently opened his new 600-car drive-in just north of Arcata in northern California. The $140,000 operation covers ten acres. Bell opened his first "airdome” theatre back in 1911. It cost a total of $225 and seated 96 persons on wooden benches. It proved so profitable that Bell built four others on the prairie in Kansas. Later he moved to Humboldt County, Calif., and built three theatres in a span of five years."
The Maribel Drive-In Theater was launched by and named for Mary Bell who operated the venue along with her husband, Walter Bell. It opened on June 27, 1957 with Randolph Scott in “7th Calvary” and Dale Robertson in “Sitting Bull.” It had a 6,600 square foot Manco Vision screen promising a 300% brighter picture. Under new operators, it was renamed the Arcata Theatre when it reopened for the season on April 28, 1960. It likely closed at the end of a 30-year lease in 1987.