LA Drive In Movie Theaters (Los Angeles, Torrance: renting, house, buying)

[LaoTzuMindFu]

The recent thread on Zodys, White Front, etc. got me to thinking about some of the other iconic places in LA that are no longer with us. Does anyone remember these following DRIVE IN movie theaters.

I remember as a little kid going with my parents to these theaters:

Twin View Drive in - Gardena
Vermont Drive in - Gardena
Studio Drive in - Culver City
Century Drive in - Inglewood (now a costco or Home Depot) http://www.decopix.com/New%20Site/Pa...s/century.html
Centinela Drive In - Los Angeles
Paramount Drive in - Paramount
Rosecrans Drive In - Paramount
Roadium Drive In - Torrance
Torrance Drive in - Torrance

[majoun]

Originally Posted by DaBeez

The recent thread on Zodys, White Front, etc. got me to thinking about some of the other iconic places in LA that are no longer with us. Does anyone remember these following DRIVE IN movie theaters.

I remember as a little kid going with my parents to these theaters:

Twin View Drive in - Gardena
Vermont Drive in - Gardena
Studio Drive in - Culver City
Century Drive in - Inglewood (now a costco or Home Depot) Century Drive-In Theatre - Los Angeles
Centinela Drive In - Los Angeles
Paramount Drive in - Paramount
Rosecrans Drive In - Paramount
Roadium Drive In - Torrance
Torrance Drive in - Torrance

I only remember 3 drive-ins being a West LA boy: the Studio, the Centinela, and the Olympic in Santa Monica, which you didn't mention.

Of those 3, the Olympic was the first to go due to higher property values in SM than in Culver City or Ladera Heights (where the Centinela was located) The Centinela had a rougher crowd than the other west side drive-ins due to the proximity to Inglewood. It closed in the mid 80s IIRC as the VCR killed drive ins. The Studio managed to last into the '90s due to the efforts of preservationists, but they couldn't delay the wrecking ball forever. It tended to be more family oriented than the Centinela but did show horror and action films as well as Disney etc.

Never made it to any of the drive-ins outside the West Side.

[Fontucky]

I remember going to the Century as a 4 or 5 year old, with the family in the Ford station wagon. My dad was cheap, so instead of buying snacks from the concession, we'd bring our own Shasta soft drinks and pick up a dozen doughnuts from The Big Donut (now the iconic Randy's). I still have a weakness for good doughnuts.

My parents would sit up front smoking their Kents and Parliaments, and every once in a while Momma would reach back and smack one of us if we wouldn't shut up.

Ahhh.... life in Inglewood in the fifties.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

I remember going to the Century as a 4 or 5 year old, with the family in the Ford station wagon. My dad was cheap, so instead of buying snacks from the concession, we'd bring our own Shasta soft drinks and pick up a dozen doughnuts from The Big Donut (now the iconic Randy's). I still have a weakness for good doughnuts.

My parents would sit up front smoking their Kents and Parliaments, and every once in a while Momma would reach back and smack one of us if we wouldn't shut up.

Ahhh.... life in Inglewood in the fifties.

A little slice of '50s Inglewood - a campy educational film commissioned by the Inglewood Police Department.


YouTube - Girls Beware

It's utterly ridiculous and absurd, but it does show what the 'wood looked like back then, before my time. (From the scene at the malt shop it seems that adjusted for inflation the price of taquitos has increased much less than the price of other things in California!) Fontucky, perhaps you'd be able to identify the places where this was filmed.

[Fontucky]

Too bad renting a house didn't stay even with how the price of tacos and taquitos have gone up. 85 bucks a month rent... jeeze.

I recognize the 31 flavors ice cream store that was on Century Blvd West of Crenshaw. Oddly enough, the cleaners seen in the background, Century Park Cleaners at 3201 W. Century, is still in business, although it looks as if the ice cream store moved West a couple of blocks to 3351 in the intervening years. That was my "hood", as they'd say nowadays... South Inglewood near Crenshaw and Imperial.

I can't believe I remember the stuff I do, as I was pretty young when we moved and headed down to South Orange County. You probably see a common thread in what I remember, what was important to me back then... doughnuts, ice cream and entertainment. I haven't changed.

[ferretkona]

Back in 77 my father was the building superintendent responsible for the Vermont Drive in - Gardena.
It was only a single screen and he built it up to a 3 screen. He also did the rebuild in Fullerton.

[Fontucky]

By the way, the last picture I saw at a drive-in theater: Cujo in '83 or '84, at the Torrance.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

By the way, the last picture I saw at a drive-in theater: Cujo in '83 or '84, at the Torrance.

The last movie I saw at a drive-in was "Rambo:First Blood Part 2". Don't remember if it was at the Studio or the Centinela. The Olympic closed in about 1975 or so thus it wouldn't have been there.

[Fontucky]

Closed Drive-Ins