Over 50 years ago, in 1948, 18 acres of land was purchased and construction began on what was to be known as the "La Mirada Drive-In Theatre." At the time, the land consisted of a dairy and an orange orchard. The area was unincorporated and known as "Dairy Valley." This was prior to the existence of the city of Santa Fe Springs and thus the name "La Mirada" was chosen since that was the nearest city to this location.
In 1950, the large single-screen theatre first opened for business. It was one of the largest drive-in theatres in the country with the capacity to hold more than 1000 cars.
One unique aspect of the theatre's design was that a large area in front of the grounds, between the screen tower and the front of the street, was reserved with the idea of building walk-in theatres, restaurants, or other future projects. There was even some speculation to build a "heli-port" and set up a helicopter transportation service to transport executives from La Mirada/Downey to downtown Los Angeles. For whatever reason, this idea never quite materialized. This was all prior to the construction of the Santa Ana Freeway (I-5) which now runs directly south of the property.
It took 15 years for the first swap meet to see the light of day. In 1965, the "La Mirada Swap Meet" opened for the first time and it has been open ever since. The dirt field in front of the property became an ideal parking area for the thousands of visitors who would eventually attend our swap meet. Attendance of more than 700 daily vendors and more than 1,500,000 customers annually has become common throughout the years.
In 1990, with the advent of multi-plex theaters and the general decline of the drive-in movie theatre attendance, coupled with the popularity of the swap meet, the drive-in closed operation (with the exception of special events) and installed stadium lighting. Doing so enabled the opening of the first Los Angeles area outdoor/night-time swap meet "under the lights!"
In the early 90s, the name changed to the "Santa Fe Springs Drive-In Theatre and Swap Meet" to more accurately reflect the actual city where it is located.