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Going to L.A.’s First Drive-In Theater, the Pico, and Beyond

Posted on October 3, 2021January 9, 2022 by L1OTB

It was California’s first, as well as the fourth in the entire USA. The Pico Drive-in theater . . .  seen in the photo below . . . opened on September 9, 1934, at 10850 Pico Boulevard and Westwood Blvd. It was demolished in 1943. Today, the Westside Pavilion Mall near UCLA occupies the original site.

(Courtesy LAPL/TESSA)
Night view of the Pico Drive-In taken at the closing of the first show on September 9, 1934. Shot from the roof of the movie screen and showing a capacity crowd. (Courtesy, Los Angeles Public Library)

It also turns out that L.A. was home to California’s second drive-in theater, the San Val. (Back then, Southern California land was cheap and plentiful enough to build these massive open-air theaters—and the mostly dry and temperate climate meant almost year-round outdoor movie viewing.)

San Val Drive-in, Burbank. (Courtesy, LAPL/TESSA)

The San Val (here the name is an abbreviated spin-off of its location in the “San Fernando Valley”) opened in 1938 at 2720 Winona Street and San Fernando Road in the city of Burbank. It survived into the mid-1970’s and is now the site of various businesses.

Another gem, Gardena’s Vermont Drive-in (17737 Vermont Avenue) featured a huge painting of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a misty forest and castle in the background on the exterior of its movie screen (which were essentially giant advertising billboards). The Vermont Drive-in once held 900 cars at a viewing. It was demolished in 1999 to make way for housing development.

Vermont Drive-in theater entrance. (Courtesy, LAPL/TESSA)

Patented in 1933, the drive-in theater was the brainchild of a New Jersey businessman/inventor, Richard M. Hollingshead. He placed a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car— which was parked in his home driveway—and used it to project onto a cloth screen nailed to trees in the backyard. A radio placed behind the screen provided the sounds. Once Hollingshead figured out the right angle for cars and how to raised the front ends with ramps for optimal viewing . . . well, the rest, as they say, was history. (Sound system refinements would follow later to allow for individual car speakers.)

Rows of speakers in the parking lot of an empty drive-in theater. (Courtesy, USC Digital Library)
(Courtesy of LAPL/TESSA)

Movie drive-ins really hit their heyday in the 1950’s-1960’s, when family cars became plentiful, and they remained popular into the late 70’s. From a kid’s standpoint, the best part was getting there early enough to play on the swings and merry-go-round at the base of the enormous movie screen, then load up with goodies from the snack bar (XLNT tamales in a paper boat, anyone?). The cartoons and previews would come on as the sky slowly darkened. Then it was time to switch into pajamas, grab your pillow, a stuffed animal and . . . fall asleep.

Drive-in theaters have mostly become a thing of the past throughout California and nation-wide. Sometimes the occasional one remains as a retro novelty site for summer entertainment. But mid-century, they were plentiful and a vital part of the So Cal landscape. Back when “going to the drive-in” was often a weekly outing.

El Rancho Drive-in theater, Sacramento. Opened in 1946, demolished in 1963, and replaced by a trailer park. (Credit: Sacramento Public Library)

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