6161 Sepulveda Blvd. Van Nuys (Los Angeles), CA 91411 | map |
Opened: May 25, 1955 with "A Man Called Peter" and "The Eternal Sea."
It was built and initially operated by Aladdin Enterprises. The location was the west side of Sepulveda a bit north of Oxnard St.
Thanks to Robert Juzefski for the 1978 photo. David Zornig shared it on Cinema Treasures. "Animal House" was a 1978 release. "Slap Shot" was out in 1977.
Architect: Unknown.
Capacity: 1,500 cars.
The May 25 opening day ad in the Valley Times. Thanks to Mike Rivest for locating it. Visit his site:
Movie-Theatre.org
A May 25, 1955 Valley Times photo now in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It was published with this copy:
"Participating at opening ceremonies of new Sepulveda Super Drive-in Theatre on Sepulveda boulevard, south of Victory boulevard, are, from left, Helen M. Schrank, general manager of Valley Market Town; Don Cottrall, general manager of theater, and Jack Y. Berman, theater owner. Drive-in, along with Valley Market Town, covers 25 acres."
"Super Snack Bar." A June 1955 ad.
The theatre was later operated by Pacific Theatres.
Closing: August 13, 1989. The screen stayed up until 1992.
Status: It's been demolished. Some of the site is used as parking for the Orange Line busway. There's also an L.A. Fitness on part of the site.
1955 - Running the 1954 releases "The Caine Mutiny" and "On the Waterfront." Thanks to Adriene Biondo for locating the photo. It makes an appearance on the site
garbell.com/drive-ins.
c.1955 - Another kiddie ride shot. Thanks to Will Markland for including this one in a post about the theatre on the private Facebook group
Southern California Nostalgia.
The Sepulveda Drive-In in the Movies:
Early in Peter Bogdanovich's "Targets" (Paramount, 1968) we see the back of the Sepulveda Drive-In screen tower as the shooter, played by Tim O'Kelly, drives by on the 405. The film stars Boris Karloff as an aging Hollywood star, Nancy Hsueh as his assistant and Bogdanovich as, of course, the director of Karloff's last several films. The cinematography was by László Kovács. See the
Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for one more Sepulveda shot plus 20 views at the Reseda Drive-In, where most of the film's action takes place.
The theatre gets a cameo in "The Bank Shot" (United Artists, 1974). Thanks to Eric Schaefer for spotting the theatre in the film and getting the screenshot. Gower Champion directed this caper film based on a novel by Donald Westlake. It stars George C. Scott, Joanna Cassidy, Clifton James and Bob Balaban. The cinematography was by Harry Stradling, Jr. See the
Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for three shots from the scene inside the drive-in of the gang painting the bank they've stolen.
We're on a bus in the unfinished Orson Welles
film "The Other Side of the Wind" (Netflix, 2018) when we get this look at
the marquee. They had left Paramount
Studios and were headed to the 70th birthday party at the home of a film
director played by John Huston. Aboard are some actors and execs that
were involved in the day's shoot. The two features on the marquee are 1971 releases. Featured in the film are Oja Kodar, Peter Bogdanovich, Susan Strasberg, Norman
Foster, Lilli Palmer, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Random, Mercedes
McCambridge, Cameron Mitchell and Paul Stewart. The cinematography was
by Gary Graver.
When Welles died in 1985 he left about
100 hours of footage as well as outlines, a partial
workprint, and some edited scenes. He had shot the footage between 1970
and 1976 and worked on editing it into the 1980s. After years of legal
wrangling by various parties, Netflix acquired the film's elements in
2017 and assembled it for a 2018 release. See the
Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for a closer marquee view, a look at an unidentified theatre where they're showing footage of the film-within-the-film, and seven shots from a drive-in sequence at the end of the film.
The Sepulveda on TV:
The theatre appears in several episodes of the series "Chips" including "Baby Food" (season 1, episode 6), "Green Thumb Burglar" (season 1, episode 8) and "The Return of the Supercycle" (season 3, episode 11). Thanks to David Coppock for the data. It was also in an episode of the series "Knight Rider" titled "Halloween Knight" (season 3, episode 5).
More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page about the Sepulveda D-I. The theatre also gets a listing on the "Drive-in Theatres" page of the site www.garbell.com/drive-ins/drive-in.htm.
I saw Animal House and Slap Shot at the Sepulveda Drive in in 1978.
ReplyDelete