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Los Altos Drive-In

2800 N. Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90815 | map |

Opening: Pacific Theatres opened this drive-in on June 3, 1955 with Dale Robertson in "Son of Sinbad" and Randolph Scott in "Rage at Dawn." Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the 1972 photo. The theatre was on the east side of the street just north of the 405.

Capacity: 2,100 cars initially. It was triplexed in 1972 and then had a total capacity of 2,700 cars. 
 
 
 
A June 3, 1955 ad located by Mike Rivest.  
 


A 1961 view. Thanks to Gary Palumbo for sharing this as a post on the Growing Up in Long Beach private Facebook group. The caption:
 
"Aerial view of Los Altos Drive-In Theater, located at 2800 N. Bellflower Blvd. in Long Beach; view is looking northeast. Bellflower Blvd. is diagonally at left corner; Los Coyotes Diagonal is bottom right to top middle; Woodruff Ave. is middle right to upper left; Studebaker Rd. is horizontally at top; Willow St. and the San Diego (405) Freeway are visible bottom right; Deborah St. is lower left, curving to middle right; Los Cerritos Channel is middle left curving to middle right; Spring St. is middle left to upper right. Photograph dated June 3, 1961."
 

 Reopening after the triplexing on June 28, 1972. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating the ad. 
 
 

A 1996 photo. Thanks to Michael Kilgore for sharing it on Cinema Treasures. He noted that he spotted it on Pinterest and has no data about its origin.  
 
Closing: 1996
 

A post closing shot. Thanks to Les Smaltz for locating this for a post about the theatre for the Lovers of Long Beach Only Facebook group. 

Status: The site was redeveloped with a K-Mart.   

 Looking north on Bellflower. The Los Altos site is on the right. Photo: Google Maps - 2019

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Los Altos Drive In.

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2025 at 4:33 PM

    Does anyone have photos of the theater parking during the weekdays in the 80's. The reason I ask is that it was used as parking for the employees of Worthington Ford.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 21, 2025 at 6:13 PM

    I used to go there a lot with my high school bf

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM

    I used to hide in the trunk and get in free

    ReplyDelete

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