Just like when Grandma and Grandpa were kids
The drive-in is alive and well in the City of Industry! Seven nights a week, rain or shine, Pacific Theatres Vineland Drive-In projects double features on four outdoor screens. Talk all you want in the privacy of your car without being shushed by fellow moviegoers. Discreetly bring your well-behaved canine friend. Crying baby? No problem.
The original theater opened with just one screen, more than 60 years ago, in 1955, with a showing of Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It’s been in operation continuously ever since, with the exception of a dark week after 9/11.
Info
Address 443 North Vineland Avenue, City of Industry, CA 91746, +1 626.961.9262, www.vinelanddriveintheater.com, vinelandd@decurion.com | Hours Mon–Thu gates open 6:30pm, Fri–Sun gates open 6:45pm. Screenings begin when darkness falls. Pricing varies by day; check website for details. FM radio is required for audio.| Tip Come early and spend time at Bassett Park across the street (510 Vineland Avenue, La Puente, CA 91746). The county park offers a water play area for kids in the hot months.
Owning a single-screen drive-in is a recipe for going broke in modern times. To make the business more viable, Pacific Theatres remodeled in 1981, adding three more screens, and now hosts a swap meet during the day. By hook or by crook, the Vineland somehow keeps chugging along.
The snack bar is definitely worth a visit. The lure is not so much the classic movie fare: popcorn, hot dogs, candy, and pizza. Nor is it the clean, well-maintained bathrooms, although that is a bonus. The crowning feature is the old film projector on display and the gigantic metal circular plates that served up the film back in the pre-digital days. The plates revolutionized movie screening by allowing reels of film to be spliced together and held on a round tray before being fed through one projector. No longer did theaters need two projectors per screen to show an uninterrupted film.
Showtimes are when darkness falls. Some audience members like to go old school and turn the truck or wagon around and stretch out in back. Others bring camp chairs to sit outside their car. If movie popcorn is not your thing, feel free to bring your own snacks. A food truck is also known to park on location offering different culinary options, including that old street-fair mainstay: deep-fried funnel cake – with ice cream, no less.
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