Category Archives: California

Bryan TX hosts drive-in event Saturday

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photo from the City of Bryan TX web site

Bryan TX is hosting a Valentine’s Day weekend drive-in showing of “Top Gun: Maverick” at the soccer lot of the Bryan Regional Athletic Complex on Saturday, Feb. 15. You’ve got to be a grown-up (18+), and you have to bring cash ($10 per vehicle). The City of Bryan web site has more details, including the promise of a family-friendly “Lilo & Stitch” drive-in double feature on May 16.

That’s all good news, though it has stirred my old existential question – what is a drive-in theater? Should this qualify? Bryan has been doing this since at least 2022, apparently always in the same place. The photo from its announcement appears to be an inflatable screen, which isn’t a surprise given the multipurpose uses of its location. It’s running multiple drive-in nights per year, though less often than once a month.

That’s a pretty good argument in favor of including what I’d call the Bryan Drive-In as part of my list of active drive-in theaters. For example, the Blue Starlite in Austin just two hours down the road uses inflatable screens…

(Oh dear. When I went to get a link, I found that the Blue Starlite, which had shown movies as recently as January 2025, is on “extended hiatus from public showings so the creators can focus on their family during a difficult time.” Good luck and hurry back.)

Anyway, if inflatable screens aren’t disqualifying, how often does a location have to show movies to be on the list? The Highway 2 in Manistique MI scheduled only four nights last year. Heck, the Roadium in Torrance CA is mostly a flea market that shows movies once or twice a season to satisfy its zoning or something.

To include as many drive-ins as possible while omitting the once-a-year pop-ups, I’ll try to define it this way: If you’ve got a permanent screen like the Roadium or the Highway 2, any regularly scheduled showings are sufficient to remain an active drive-in theater. If it’s a temporary screen, then maybe four nights a year should be the minimum? I’ll need to consider where to draw the line. What do you think?

Santee Drive-In reportedly sold to developers

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Santee Drive-In sign
Photo by “Chris1982” via CinemaTreasures.

Which is better? To have a drive-in suddenly close, as Mitchell SD’s Starlite did this week? Or to know that a local drive-in is on borrowed time, giving patrons an opportunity to pay their respects? Given that unhappy choice, I’d pick the latter, so that’s a small bit of comfort that comes with today’s news that the Santee Drive-In Theatre is in escrow to a company that erects large industrial buildings.

The East County Magazine reported today that the Santee is in escrow to North Palisades Partners from Los Angeles. A city official said that North Palisades has filed for approval to build a 291,000-square foot edifice on the site, and that the approval process would take “at least six months.”

What of the Santee’s current, or is that previous owners? On its web site and Facebook page, the drive-in is still promoting movies, selling merchandise, and hosting a popular swap meet, all with no mention that 2023 might be its final season. The magazine article said that requests for comment went unanswered, and the city official said that the owners “don’t want to answer questions about the closing.”

So there you have it. If you live anywhere near the Santee, this might be your chance for one last visit. It’s sad to see venerable drive-ins close just for redevelopment, but it least we got a bit of warning this time.

Update: Somebody, maybe the owners, has been adamant in stressing that the Santee hasn’t been actually sold yet; it’s still in escrow. Which is a necessary step that one normally undertakes only with the goal of selling, but yeah, that’s true.

My secret: The Internet Archive

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Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle showing off one of beloved 78 rpm records on a century-old Victor Talking Machine.

After I put Drive-Ins of New Mexico to bed (mostly) last week, I had the rare opportunity to visit one of the best sources for my research. The Internet Archive is accessible through the internet from anywhere, but to tour the physical plant, you need to be in the right place on a Friday afternoon.

The Archive, perhaps best known for the Wayback Machine of preserved web pages, also hosts the Media History Digital Library for the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. That’s a huge resource for drive-in theater history, especially up to 1955 or so.

And that’s not all. Browsing around a couple of years ago, I found a collection of Motion Picture Heralds from 1950 to 1954. Another section includes bound copies of California Highways and Public Works, another 1950s publication full of aerial photos in the public domain. There are probably more research resources that I haven’t discovered yet.

Then there’s the content. There’s a section of Drive-In Movie Ads to use for your own intermission trailers. There are thousands of Feature Films to put together your own double features around the intemissions. Or if you want someone else to do all that for you, there’s a series of prepackaged Shocker Internet Drive-Ins.

If you want something that’s not drive-in related, the Archive has over two million books available. For music, you can choose from over 100,000 LPs. And then there’s the collection that I think is founder Brewster Kahle’s favorite: over 400,000 78 rpm and cylinder records.

Really, I’ve just scratched the surface in this post. Go wander around the Archive the way you would any other extensive library. I’m sure that you’ll find something you didn’t expect, and something that you’ll love.