River-Vu Drive-In
2000 E. Main Street,
Green River,
UT
84525
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The first issue of the Green River Journal, July 21, 1955, mentioned a drive-in on the east side of the river. It later advertised in the Journal as River-Vu Drive-In “Just across the bridge”.
Was the drive-in renamed? A much later Denver Post article quoted drive-in photographer Zachary Malham, “In 1983, my wife and I were on a trip in Green River, Utah, and saw the Dunham drive-in, closed because not much was going on there by then. That was the first one I shot. Three years later, we were in the same area, and we decided to go through Green River so I could shoot it again — and it was gone! They’d put up a food stand”.
Today, Dunham Melons has a small fruit stand on the northwest corner of the old drive-in site. The ramp pattern is still visible in aerial photos.
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
One source suggests that because the Drive-In was “across the river” it was actually in Elgin, Utah.
The Drive-In was operated by local Green River residents and closed on November 28, 1955.
I have uploaded a 2011 photo of the downed pylon by Grant Smith and a 1977 aerial U.S. Geological Survey photo from the utahtheaters.info site. In the aerial photo the projection building is in the center of the image and the screen at the bottom.
The site makes no mention of “Dunham” as an alternate name for the drive-in.
This Means That This Theater Only Operated For One Partial Season.
From Yumpu’s online hosting of a bound copy that cut off a few letters at the margin:
Boxoffice, May 21, 1955: “Lewis D. All?? and Leland R. Carroll are opening a new drive-in at Green River, Utah, one of the cities booming because of Utah’s uranium activities. Jack Swonson will book and buy for them.”
Boxoffice, May 28, 1955: “The Riverview Drive-In opened at Green River, Utah, booming uranium city.”
As of May 2021, part of the screen which has fallen over is still present on the property.