Crest Drive-in Theatre (Demolished)
Bakersfield, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Crest Drive-in Theatre of Bakersfield appears to be for sale
now. This grand theatre just off Route 99 will soon disappear off the
roadside landscape.
Mooney Drive-in Theatre (Demolished)
Visalia, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Mooney Drive-in Theatre of Visalia, California not only features
a fantastic marquee, it's still open! Drop by on any summer evening and
join the throng of cars entering the driveway. Or else say hello to "Mr.
Mooney" on the marquee.
Check out this YouTube video showing the last day of the Mooney.
Woodward Park Drive-in (Demolished)
Fresno, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Despite its location in the middle of the Central desert of California,
Fresno is a very active city. From movie theaters to drive-ins, Fresno
has fun for everyone. Take the Woodward Park Drive-in Theatre for
example. Always seemingly busy on weekends. 06-99
Kings Drive-in Theatre ticket booth (Closed)
Hanford, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Kings Drive-In Theatre near Hanford had a ticket booth worth tracking down. Check out the little Dutch-style windmill guarding the entrance. Not exactly the usual box-office window, and certainly more eye-catching than the rather plain screen tower behind it. Sometimes the smallest building on a drive-in lot turns out to be the best roadside find.
Off Route 99 in Hanford, California is the Kings Drive-in Theatre.
A rather unique ticket booth adorns this drive-in site, however the screen
tower is rather drab. Nothing like racing against the clock to see the
ticket booth though, especially when the mapping software gets the addresses mixed up...
Getting there could be an adventure of its own. The theatre sat near the Hanford and Armona boundary at 14th Avenue and Lacey Boulevard, a location that seemed to give mapping software trouble. Nothing like chasing an address around unfamiliar roads while the daylight disappears. That little windmill was worth finding before dark.
The Entranceway
Hanford, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
The Kings opened on October 20, 1949, with a double bill of Susie Steps Out and Red Canyon. It arrived during the postwar drive-in boom, when an evening at the movies increasingly meant pulling into a parking space rather than walking down an auditorium aisle.
George Peterson acquired the property in 1955, and the theatre became a long-running family operation. His daughter, Geraldine Graff, and granddaughter, Catherine Graff, helped keep the outdoor movies going for decades. While other Central Valley drive-ins lost their screens, the Kings continued welcoming cars through its unusual entrance.
King's Drive-in screen tower
Hanford, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
There was another curious feature tucked into the property. The owners lived on-site in a residence beneath the main screen tower. Now that’s a short commute to work. From the road, the screen might have looked fairly ordinary, but there was more going on underneath it than moviegoers might have guessed.
The Kings also moved ahead of the familiar window-speaker routine. In 1978, it introduced Cinema Radio sound, allowing patrons to hear the movie through their car radios. No speaker box to hang on the glass, and no cord to remember before driving away. Later drive-ins adopted radio sound widely, but the Kings made the change while plenty of theatres still relied on speaker posts.
By 2012, keeping the place operating had become increasingly difficult. Declining attendance, vandalism and the expense of converting to digital projection added to the pressures on the family business. The projectors went quiet that October, ending a run of more than six decades.
The Entranceway
Hanford, CA Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
UPDATE: The Kings Drive-in closed in October of 2012 after its summer movie season. The drive-in is supposed to be torn down and turned into some retail shops. 07-09
UPDATE: According to ABC30 News, the owner is closing due to dwindling attendance, continuous and costly vandalism, and a required pricey investment in digital projection equipment that would also require a building retrofit. Many thanks to David Hughes for update. 07-13
UPDATE: The Kings Drive-In has been demolished, including its screen tower and distinctive windmill ticket booth. The exact demolition date remains uncertain, but the old entrance photographed here is gone. 09-26
Kings Drive-in Theatre ticket booth (Closed)
The Entranceway
King's Drive-in screen tower
The Entranceway
