Photos below courtesy Craig Morton
Photos below courtesy Craig Morton
March 29,1997 Orange Countey Register article:
Lights out on O.C.'s last
drive-in
ENTERTAINMENT: From June Allyson
and Jimmy Stewart to Beavis and
Butt-Head, families and twosomes have
seen it all at Hi-Way 39 Theater.
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register
From Westminster As the Hi-Way 39 Drive-In Theater
faded to black for the last time early today, an era ended.
"It's a part of American history, but it seems like people
just don't value tradition anymore," Gloria Wheeler said
as the final movie flickered to life on a giant screen at the
Hi-Way 39 Theater on Friday, the last night of the last
drive-in theater in Orange County.
"You think this will always be there and then it isn't," said
Wheeler, who with her husband, Ray, came to witness
the end of the drive-in.
"It seems like everything old is going away, and to me, it's
just so sad."
With the passing of the Hi-Way 39, the nights of movies
and moonlight in Orange County are no more.
All across the county, drive-ins have disappeared. The
Mission Drive-In in San Juan Capistrano closed in 1985.
The Anaheim Drive-In went dark in 1990. The Fountain
Valley Drive-In slipped away in 1994. All vanished from
the O.C. landscape for similar reasons.
More and more, families stayed home to watch movies on
VCRs. When they went to the pictures, they sought the
glitz and glamour of the new movie palaces, the
megaplexes.
The drive-ins also turned into economic dinosaurs. As
land values appreciated, the open-air cinemas could not
provide enough profit to warrant their claim on acres and
acres of valuable real estate. Pacific Theaters decided to
close the Hi-Way 39 Drive-In to build a retail center
anchored by a Wal-Mart store.
"In a way, it does make me feel sad," said Vaughn
Harmon, 80, of Garden Grove, who worked as a
projectionist at the Hi-Way 39 from 1955 to 1972.
"It seems like they could have kept at least one drive-in
going because there's always families who want to go to
the movies with their kids or people who want to go to the
drive-in on dates."
Harmon started work at the Hi-Way 39 a few months
after it opened June 29, 1955. The first picture to light up
the 100-foot-wide screen was "Strategic Air Command"
with Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson.
Among the several pictures screened on its final night was
"Beavis and Butt-Head Do America."
Most of those at the Hi-Way 39 on Friday had no idea
they had come to its last shows.
"I'm totally bummed out," said Lee Harpster of Fullerton.
He said he has come to the drive-in every Friday night for
months because he can see two movies for $5, bring his
dog Cisco and smoke cigarettes while he watches the
show. "Oh, well, I guess I'll have to watch videos."
Millie Babe heard the drive-in was to close and decided to
come to her first-ever outdoor movie Friday.
"I thought I better squeeze it in while I can, because it's
going to be history," said Babe of Huntington Beach. "It's
sad because I really like it so far. It reminds me of a scene
from `Happy Days.' "
Bob Eynon came with his daughter, Jacqueline, 8, and
son, Michael, 6 -- unaware that it was the final night --
just a family looking for a fun time out on the town.
"I put them in their pajamas, we got hamburgers on the
way in, we've got sleeping bags," said Eynon of Long
Beach. "It's an easy way to go out and have fun."
The end, when it came, was swift. The Westminster City
Council gave its final approval to the retail project
Tuesday. The demolition of the drive-in with its landmark
mural of the Orange County coast might start within the
week.
Wal-Mart hopes to open this fall in time for the Christmas
shopping season, City Manager Bill Smith said. The
240,000-square-foot retail center is expected to bring up
to $1 million in sales-tax revenue to the city, far more
than the revenue produced by the sales of hot dogs,
popcorn and soft drinks at the theater snack bar.
Still, the employees of that snack bar and theater did their
best to make each night special for those who came, said
Lee Padilla, manager of Hi-Way 39 for the past 12 years
and a 26-year veteran of the drive-in business.
After locking up the drive-in for the last time around 2 this
morning, Padilla said, she planned to take all 26 of the
drive-in's employees to breakfast for a bittersweet
celebration of the end.
"You can't replace this kind of job -- the craziness, the
fun we have here, the feeling of satisfaction when you
know your customers had a good experience," Padilla
said.
"It's always just been an exciting place to be."