Santa Barbara Drive-In Abruptly Closes

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Colorful tractor-train carries kids through the parking lot

Free Movie Night festivities, from the Santa Barbara Drive-In Facebook page

Some drive-in closures tease out slowly, like the Cascade in West Chicago. Most are like a phone that stops ringing; you only know for sure when it doesn’t reopen the following spring. The Santa Barbara Drive-In in Goleta CA just gave us a rare form of sadness – the closure that’s a bolt from the blue.

As first reported in the Santa Barbara Independent, the drive-in announced on its Facebook page Friday, “Thank you for supporting the Santa Barbara Drive-In for the past nine years. We are now closed.”

This was a West Wind drive-in, one of several owned by Syufy Enterprises, and the announcement came just hours after it held its Free Movie Night, an annual company-wide tradition that primes the pump for summer viewing season. The Independent said that it couldn’t reach Syufy for comment on its sudden action. Indeed, as I type three days later, the Santa Barbara is still included on the West Wind web site.

When I stopped by for a virtual visit two years ago, I pointed out that the site doesn’t offer many other options. The Santa Barbara Airport immediately to the west probably prevents anything too tall from replacing the drive-in, and creeks to the east and west prevent encroachment from anything else.

I have no info yet on this event, but my interactions with Syufy have always shown it to be a class organization. I remember that years ago it regretted having to close a different drive-in because it couldn’t renew the lease with the landowner, and I can’t imagine any other reason for it to fold. I’ll update this post when I hear more.

Ciné-Parc Templeton Closes In Quebec

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The CBC reported this week of a closure with a possible silver lining in Quebec. The Templeton Drive-In Theatre, or Ciné-Parc Templeton, will not reopen this spring.

As I wrote during my virtual visit there in 2017, the Templeton had been open since 1974, always with the same owner, Paul Touchet. It was the only drive-in in North America, or probably anywhere, that showed movies in French and English, one screen each.

The good news, according to the CBC report, is that Touchet sold the Templeton’s equipment to the Belle Neige ski resort in Val-Morin, northwest of Montreal, and the resort plans to open its own drive-in later this spring. As always, I hope for the best.

Video: Madera Opens For 72nd Season

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KFSN, Fresno CA’s News Leader, ran a nice little video about this season’s reopening of the Madera Drive In Theatre, one of the few drive-ins to survive over 70 years with three distinct names.

The Madera opened as the El Rio Drive-In in 1948. According to the drive-in’s page at Cinema Treasures, it was purchased by the Gran brothers in 1972. Some time between 1964 and 1977, possibly at the time of the sale, the name changed to the Park Vu Drive-In. Eventually, that name changed to the Madera, but when? This 2003 photo shows a Madera Drive-In sign at the ticket booth, but this 2005 photo still shows a faded Park Vu sign.

Somewhere along the way the drive-in also added a second screen. It might have been when the name changed from the Park Vu to the “Madera 2” that was in the 2003 photo.

Except for the original opening year, none of that was mentioned in this little video, featuring employee Dulce Garcia and a table full of snacks. If someone out there has better name-change details or photos, I’d love to hear about it. Meanwhile, enjoy this slice of life in Madera.