Airport Drive-In
140 Frederick Lopez Road,
Santa Barbara,
CA
93117
140 Frederick Lopez Road,
Santa Barbara,
CA
93117
3 people favorited this theater
Showing 11 comments
Now the parking lot for the airport @ 140 Frederick Lopez Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93117.
Please update.
worked at the Airport Drive-In around 1963 while attending Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. I remember packing the letters for the marquee in a box and using a rope to pull the box up to the the marquee. I sold a lot of sodas and hot dogs. It was a great part time job. Jeff email address:
Referring to the ad.
Woo-hoo, Bruce Lee poser madness!
The Airport Drive-In at Goleta would be “…completed and ready for an opening any day now,” according to an item in the April 7, 1951, issue of Boxoffice Magazine.
Here is a January 1980 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2nr66u
Oops! Should have put my email address in that last comment I posted.
I grew up in Goleta during the early
60's through high school in the
70’s. I remember playing in my pajamas at the Airport Drive-In as a small child and taking my first high school date there in 1976. Like Keith said, the neon plane sign was beautiful and it was very sad to see it go. I now teach Multimedia at Righetti High School in Santa Maria up the road. I have hopes of having my students build a virtual copy of the Airport Drive-In and have emailed Randy with a request for a copy of those blueprints. Hopefully he will get the email and can help out.BTW, our Hi-Way Drive-In is still up and running here in Santa Maria! Took my granddaughter to see Superman Returns there last week.
Adios!
I have much information about this theatre, I have the blueprints and details of construction.
Those mounts anchored the screen. The backside of the screen faced Hollister Ave and had a beautiful neon sign image of a four prop airplane. That was the first thing to go, then the screen came down a few years later. It was a wonderful place to be. I enjoyed many films there over the years. It is a shame that it has been demolished. The City of Santa Barbara owns the land and is negotiating to build offices or retail buildings on the site.
Actually, I’m supposing those mounts I mentioned were for the marquee / signage seen from the street, not for the screen itself.