Pacific's Century Drive-In

3560 W. Century Blvd. Inglewood, CA 90303  | map |

Opened: June 30, 1949 with Kirk Douglas in "Champion" along with "The Big Cat," starring Lon McCallister and Peggy Ann Garner.  This Pacific Theatres operation was located on the south side of the street between Crenshaw Blvd. and Hawthorne Blvd. 

 

Thanks to Bill Gabel for locating the 1949 trade magazine photo. At the time of the shot they were running "Edward My Son" with Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr. The co-feature was "Not Wanted," a film about an unwanted pregnancy starring Sally Forrest and Keefe Brasselle. Both were June releases.   

 

 

A June 30, 1949 opening night ad. Thanks to Comfortably Cool for locating it for a post on Cinema Treasures.

Architects: William Glenn Balch and Louis L. Bryan of the firm of Balch & Bryan.

Capacity: 1,100 cars originally. It was 918 as a Cinerama operation.  

 

 

Cars at the boxoffice. It's an undated photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.  

 

 

Intermission time in 1949. It's a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

 

 

A 1964 view to the north by Howard D. Kelly that's in the Kelly-Holiday Mid-Century Aerial Collection at the Los Angeles Public Library. Also see a 1961 shot.

Cinerama at the Century: They ran 3-strip Cinerama films from April 17 to June 30, 1964. 

 

Looking northwest after the installation of the Cinerama screen in 1964. At the left it's the snackbar building. The jacked-up van farther forward housed the three Cinerama machines. The smaller structure even closer to the screen was the normal projection booth. It's a photo by Howard D. Kelly that's in the Kelly-Holiday Mid-Century Aerial Collection at the Los Angeles Public Library. 

 

A detail from the May 1964 photo above. That's the Hollywood Park track in the distance.

Screen size was 62' by 180' with a 30 foot deep curve. The bottom was 25 feet above the ground. The throw was 310 feet. The lamps were Ashcraft Core-Lite, lenses were by Bosch and Lomb, sound was by RCA. A separate dubber wasn't used. The center machine had an RCA mag head on top. These special Cinerama prints for the B machine had two mag stripes, as had been done for mono backup in Cinemiracle installations. The sound was on one stripe, the second was just for balance in the film gate. 

An ad from April 12, 1964, while the Cinerama installation was underway. Thanks to Greenbriar Picture Shows for including this ad and the one below on their "Cinerama Out Of Doors" page.  

 

"This Is Cinerama" opened April 17, 1964 for a three week run. 

On the marquee: "This Is Cinerama." It's a photo looking east by Howard D. Kelly that's in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. 

 

 

A May 1964 view to the southeast by Howard D. Kelly. It's in the Kelly-Holiday Mid-Century Aerial Collection at in the Los Angeles Public Library. 

 

Looking to the northeast. It's a photo by Howard D. Kelly in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Also see a slightly different view to the northeast. 

 

A May 6 ad for "Seven Wonders of the World" and "McLintock!" This program ran for five weeks. Thanks to Roland Lataille for locating the ad for the Century Drive-In page on his site InCinerama. See the page for several additional ones.  

 

 

"3rd Smash Week!" Thanks to Greenbriar Picture shows for locating the ad.

 

"Many more drive-ins are to be converted," said Bill Forman, head of both Pacific Theatres and Cinerama, Inc. This story about the Cinerama installation appeared in the June 8, 1964 issue of Boxoffice: 

 

Thanks to Roland Lataille for sharing the Boxoffice story on the Century Drive-In page on his site InCinerama. 

 

A June 10 ad for "South Seas Adventure" and "The Wackiest Ship in the Army." This was the last of the Cinerama presentations. June 30, 1964 was the closing day. Thanks to Roland Lataille for locating the ad. 

The Cinerama screen was later removed. The Century got twinned in 1973. 

Closing: It was demolished in the 1984.

Status: It's now the site of a Costco and other development. The new SoFi Stadium is across the road.

More information: See the InCinerama page about the Century. Cinema Treasures also has a page about the theatre. 

Check out Brian D. Zachel's post about the theatre on the Cinema Treasures Facebook page for many interesting comments.  

At least two other drive-ins ran three-strip. See Roland Lataille's pages on the Super 50 Drive-In in Ballston Lake, New York (running "Windjammer" from July 6 to July 27, 1960) and the Twin Drive-In in Cincinnati (running "Windjammer  from July 20 to August 8, 1960).

 

The truck for "Windjammer" at the Twin in Cincinnati. Thanks to Roland for locating this item that appeared in the July 18, 1960 issue of Boxoffice. 

A few drive-ins ran 70mm. The Twin Drive-In in Cincinnati evidently ran "Around the World in 80 Days" in 70mm in August 1959. See Roland's page on the Mann's France Avenue Drive-In in Minneapolis, one that advertised as being Cinerama equipped when it opened in 1966.  

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