Torrance Drive-In
5501 Torrance Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90503
5501 Torrance Boulevard,
Torrance,
CA
90503
5 people
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Opened with “Foxfire” and “Double Jeopardy”.
This opened on June 29th, 1955. Grand opening ad posted.
Here is an aerial view circa 1972:
http://tinyurl.com/y89wt2b
Here is a June 26, 1955 item from the LA Times:
The new Torrance Drive-In Theater, another link in the fast-growing Aladdin chain, will open Wednesday. The opening screen attractions are Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler in “Fox Fire†and Rod Cameron in his latest full length film “Double Jeoaprdyâ€, costarring Gale Robbins.
Officials of Aladdin, civic leaders and others are expected to attend the opening event. Fred Chancia is resident general manager.
Correction: My wife and I were married on 12/31/87 so the Torrance Drive-In would have closed the first half of 1988. Sorry for any confusion.
After being married on 12/31/81 the first place that my wife and I lived was in the Margarita Townhouse apartments which are around the corner from where the Torrance Drive-In was located. From our bedroom window we could see the films being screened but, alas, the drive-in was closed soon after to make way for the gated community that occupies the land today. This would have been sometime in the first half of 1982. Our daughter now goes to Bishop Montgomery High School and just about every time I pick her up from school I think about the old drive-in.
A couple of classics from September 1973, per the LA Times. Rev up the Pinto, Ma:
http://tinyurl.com/ytnj9a
http://tinyurl.com/2y9v79
The LA Library website has an archive of past LA Times articles dating back to 1881. You need a library card to access the archives, however.
Where did you find the newspaper listing, Ken?
Here is a January 1958 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/39yyu2
No, unfortunately.
That’s a great item, ken mc! Does the paper show what was playing that night?
Paging Richard Kimble:
One-Armed Man Helps Subdue Bandit
4/17/56 – A Torrance theater manager and his one-armed assistant subdued an armed bandit with his own gun Monday afternoon after they had been tied with bailing wire and then released with orders to open another safe. Just after being untied, Fred Chancia, manager of the Torrance Drive-in Theater, 5503 W. Torrance Blvd., slugged the bandit on the head with an electric heater. Then one-armed Leonard Cicorio, a maintenance man at the theater, grabbed the robber’s gun and fired five shots, all misses. But it took another 20 minutes of scuffling to subdue the man.
Booked at the Lennox Sheriffs station on suspicion of armed robbery was Louis Baca, 32. Deputies said he could have escaped safely with $700 but his greed got him in trouble. After walking into the theater office and producing a .32 caliber revolver, Baca tied up Chancia and Cicorio, deputies said, after forcing the manager to open the safe. Baca calmly removed more than $700 from the safe, counted it and put it in two cloth bags. Then he became convinced there was a second safe in another roomâ€"and untied both victims, so they could lead him to it. That’s when Chancia and Cicorio turned the tables on Baca, deputies said.
I saw some Elvis Presley films there in the mid 60’s. Bishop Montgomery High was located across the street.
Way back when…
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Thanks for the great pictures, ken mc!
From socaldriveins.com:
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What I miss most about the Torrance Drive-In is the music you heard on your window-speaker while you waited for the movie to start. Also the trees as the sun went down. Also The Swinging Cheerleaders.
Also there was a children’s play-area in front of the screen. During 1941 (the movie) a friend and I took places at the edge of the play area, and every time there was a forward-tracking shot in the movie, we’d run toward the screen. Anyone who hasn’t done this should try it, if there are any drive-ins left to try it at. You feel like you’re running super fast and you barely keep your balance. 1941 on laserdisc was a real disappointment after that.