Los Angeles' very first drive-in!
It was simply called “Drive-In Theater” as the practice of applying monikers to outdoor theaters had
not yet become common. Later on it would become known as the Pico drive-in due to its
proximity to Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles' first drive-in was located on the corner of Pico and Westwood in West Los
Angeles and was built by California
Drive-In Theaters, Inc., which later became known as Pacific Drive-In Theaters. The original
drive-in was built to accomodate 500 automobiles with speakers mounted on the parking rows
intended to throw the audio towards the cars. The first movie shown was "Handy Andy" starring
Will Rogers. Admission was $.25 cents for adults and $.10 cents for children.
The drive-in would stand at its original location on Pico and Westwood (The Westside Pavillion is now located on the site of the Pico) until the late 1940s when
it was literally picked up and moved about
two miles to the west to a site near Olympic and Bundy and now called the "Olympic".
Towards the end, the Olympic did what many drive-ins were doing at the time - showing X-rated flicks. It closed
for good on October 14, 1973 and the last movies shown were "School Girls", "School Girls Growing", and "Swinging Wives.
Many thanks to Evan Warech for his research and contributions.