Bakersfield, CA - Looking to catch a movie under the stars? The Crest Drive-in Theatre was once one of multiple drive-ins located in the Bakersfield area. With familiar names to locals like the Edison Drive-in, the 99, Terrace, and South Chester Drive-in, the Crest was a local hangout for 40 years.
Crest Drive-in Theatre
Bakersfield, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Crest Drive-In Theatre in Bakersfield did not need a movie playing to catch the eye. Its enormous screen tower carried the Crest name above a giant stylized “C,” turning the back of the screen into a roadside attraction of its own. Along Pacheco Road near Wible, this was a place that looked ready for a show even in broad daylight.
After dark, the scene changed. Cars pulled through the entrance, headlights swept across the parking rows and the big screen finally went to work. Find a space, adjust the speaker and make a trip to the snack bar before the opening credits. The family car became the theatre seat, complete with whatever blankets, pillows and snacks had made it aboard.
Crest Drive-in projection booth
Bakersfield, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Crest opened on May 29, 1963, with Black Zoo and Play It Cool. A horror film followed by a British musical starring Billy Fury made quite an opening-night combination. Something frightening, then something swinging. With space for roughly 1,000 cars, the new drive-in brought another big outdoor movie venue to a city that already knew how to spend an evening beneath the Central Valley sky.
During its working years, the theatre passed through operators including Fox West Coast, National General and Mann Theatres. The names behind the business changed, but the routine out on the lot remained familiar. Arrive before the feature, find a decent view and hope the speaker was behaving. Those little metal boxes could be remarkably stubborn when they wanted to be.
Originally opening in 1963 as a single-screener, the Crest added a 2nd screen in 1977. The drive-in eventually shut down in 1998 and was torn down in 2003. Today, there are no open drive-in theatres remaining in the Bakersfield area.
Crest Drive-in entrance sign
Bakersfield, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
A second screen was added in March 1977, creating the Crest Twin Drive-In. Now there was another choice of movies without leaving the property. It also meant paying attention to which screen your car was facing. Watching one feature while listening to another would certainly make for an unusual plot.
Over time, Bakersfield’s other drive-ins disappeared. The Edison, South Chester, Terrace and 99 all closed, leaving the Crest as the city’s last outdoor movie theatre. What had once been one choice among several became the final place in town where a movie night could still happen behind the windshield.
The Crest’s own run ended in the late 1990s. Accounts differ between March 1998 and 1999 for the final closure, but the result was the same: the screens went dark and the parking rows emptied. The towers remained for a time, standing above a lot that no longer filled at sunset.
The entranceway and ticket booths
Bakersfield, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
A powerful windstorm damaged the abandoned screen structure in 2001. Without regular maintenance or another season of movies ahead, the old drive-in continued to deteriorate. In February 2003, the remaining screen towers, projection facilities and snack bar were demolished. Bakersfield’s last drive-in had reached the end of the reel.
UPDATE: The Crest Drive-in met its fate with a bulldozer in 2003. 04-09
UPDATE: The former Crest grounds were redeveloped as Bakersfield RV Resort and Pacheco Plaza. Neither the roadside marquee nor the screen towers survives, but the resort’s Crest Bar & Grill keeps the name in use and displays artwork of the old theatre. Visitors still park and settle in for the night here, although the big picture outside the windshield is gone. 09-26
Crest Drive-in Theatre
Crest Drive-in projection booth
Crest Drive-in entrance sign
The entranceway and ticket booths
