Winnetka 6 Drive-In
20210 Prairie Avenue,
Chatsworth,
CA
91311
20210 Prairie Avenue,
Chatsworth,
CA
91311
10 people
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The only movie I remember watching here was Toy Story.
The devolution of this location is shock8ng and sad!
1975: Opens with 4 screens (just like Union City, Capitol San Jose, Sacramento, Winchester Campbell, South Bay Carson and Stadium Orange typical Century/Pacific drive ins).
1985: Opens with six screens just like the otbers except Stadium which went 8 screens).
1996: Winnetka D/I demolished for Pacific Winnetka 21 hardtop. Union City and Stadium went the same way in 1998.
2010: Winnetka 21 is reduced to Winnetka 12 closing one wing of the building (think AMC Covina 30 and AMC Deer Valley 30 (AZ) to 17 screens!)
2022: Since Decurion/Pacific gave up during the pandemic, it will now be demolished AGAIN(!!!) for another Amazon Distribution plant! We need this like a toothache!
Where’s the replacemt? NORTHRIDGE 10 AND PORTER RANCN 9 WILL NOT DO! This is what happened in Valencia - 12. Meanwhile Burbank (30), Long Beach (51!), Ontario (66!), Orange (55), Irvine (54) and Glendale (36) are spectacularly 9verscreened!
It’s almost like they don’t care! Demolish this demolish that!
Ok rant off…sigh 🥺🥺🥺
Opened with 6 screens on 6/12/1985 on screen 1 with “Spies like us”, screen 2 with “Rocky 4”, screen 3 with “Santa Claus the movie”, screen 4 with “Young Sherlock Holmes”, screen 5 with “Jewel of the nile” and screen 6 with “Out of Africa”.
6 screens as of December 6th, 1985. Grand opening ad posted.
Opened with 4 screens. Screens 5 and 6 opened in 1985. 2300 cars.
My wife and I saw the very last movie they ever played. I forget the main feature, ironically, but the second run movie was ‘The Rock.’ The other screens had gone dark, but right about midnight, the second run movie began. I fell asleep for a lot of the movie, LOL. My car’s radio did not work, so I had to borrow one of the theater’s loaner speaker thing they loaned out, and I was thinking, “why are they even taking my driver’s license to borrow it, it’s not like the theater will be open tomorrow (meaning I should have been allowed to keep is as a souvenir, LOL. Sad it was closing, but I have to say, to this day, I am so glad it didn’t end up turning into nonsense, like condos or homes, but rather, stayed as a theater! The closing night was so subdued, it really just seemed to be another random weekday night! Bittersweet!!
“The Rocketeer” was presented here in 35mm beginning on Friday June 21, 1991.
Goggle Earth from 1989
One memory I have: being 6 years old, sitting in the backseat of my friend’s Camaro, waiting for the movie to start, and listening to Van Halen’s first record. I think I also saw the flick “Grizzly” at this drive-in.
I have alot of memories going there when I was a teenager,We used to load up our cars n trucks and party at the movies,I remember buying cigarettes for dana plato,rest her soul, But we spent alot of times there,My best friend loved the giant spider invasion movie,and it seems we saw it evey week it played.
Website about the old Winnetka Drive-in:
[url]http://www.drive-insdownunder.com.au/worldwide/ca_winnetka6.htm[/url]
Here is a 1980 aerial photo:
http://tinyurl.com/ygl8jp8
Went to the drive-in once and went to the walk-in once. You can still feel the spirit of the drive-in when you’re standing in the parking lot.
** According to SEVERAL websites here’s the stats for
VAN NUYS DI =
Built (in) 1948 -
Vehicle Capacity 890, Eventually 1400.
Closed August 1996
Demolished in August, 1998.
… a grade school now sits in it’s former location.
Was the LA Times wrong about the Van Nuys Drive-In still being open in May 1996?
That was councilman Wilkinson – the town drunk …. he was also responsible for holding up the refurbishing of the RESEDA walk-in … a real loser!
He did get a local park & rec center named after himself.
Pacific actually wanted to keep 3 screens (Hence the open area up front of the walk in till the 2005-2006 time frame). However the local city coucil member didn’t want the drive in so he stopped the plan. What an Ahole. The Simi also closed the same year and the Van Nuys was the last one standing.
…. The Winnetka 6 was a really dumb idea – If you didn’t get in the correct lane right away, you were off to some other movie you didn’t want to see …
Also – while you were watching YOUR movie, the flicker from the OTHER screens distracted you … Bummer!
Here is a condensed (ahem) version of an LA Times story dated 5/17/96:
The Winnetka Drive-in Theater in Chatsworth, one of only two left in the San Fernando Valley, will be torn down later this year to make way for one of the largest indoor movie theater complexes in the state. On the site of the drive-in at Prairie and Winnetka avenues is to be a multimillion-dollar megaplex with shops, restaurants and 26 movie screens capable of seating 5,500 viewers, Pacific Theatres announced Thursday. It is scheduled to open in June 1997. The demise of the Winnetka Drive-in, which the company said was built in the 1970s, will leave the San Fernando Valley with only one outdoor movie theater, the Van Nuys Drive-in, also owned by Pacific Theatres.
From socaldriveins.com:
View link
The Winnetka Drive-In was built and operated by Pacific Theatres.