![]() Project spearheaded by Dusty Bernard, along with assistant manager Bob Belchez. In the mid-fifties, the entire lot was paved over, in a modernization ![]() In 1953, theater operators Sero Amusements Company (who had tried and failedįirst drive-in on the lot the Frontier Drive-in later occupied) purchasedģ0,000 of the 110,000 outstanding shares of common stock in the Midway Drive-In “and he walked right into the snack bar and started shaking hands withĮverybody. “We were showing Hondo,” Floyd Bernard’s son Dusty told one San Diego paper (9-8-80), John Wayne unexpectedly showed up at the Midway in either 1951 or 1952. The Screen tower would double as anĪdvertising billboard for the nearby Pie Piper restaurant and a Heavenly Donuts To top each other's all-fer-one ticketing. Pricing was instituted, as the Midway and several other local ozones competed Was lined up alongside the Midway marquee. Nearby screen-ad sponsor Genie ("with the magic towel!"), whose sign Warmers, a real-cloth diaper service, in-car heaters, a free car wash from There were also bleacher-style benches for up toĮarly gimmicks used to get patrons parking included free baby bottle From that point onward, the projection booth was located on Of the screen, though this was later replaced with a standard concessionīuilding, sitting in the middle of the lot, a few feet below the rest of the The original snack bar was a makeshift Quonset hut in front Maintained his stake for the entire life of the theater, later working with hisīy late 1948, individual car speakers on poles protruded from cement islands The Midway Drive-In Theatre Corporation was incorporated Street and Navy barracks stood on acreage later Screen I could find within safe driving distance of downtown (about 45 miles, Vehicle (of sorts, an old Rambler) and I was frequenting every outdoor movie I vowed to return as soon as I owned a car, and before long I did have a ![]() Were wheeled past their comfy, warm cars and dropped outside the exit gate. As soonĪs our feet hit the pavement, some guys rolled up in a beach-buggy-style cartĪnd hauled us off the premises to the sound of paying patrons laughing as we The other side, and it was obvious that half the lot was staring at us. Proved easy enough to scale, but it made the damnedest noise as we slid down To what we'd do once inside (I guess we assumed we could sit near a speaker poleĭusty-yellow and surrounded by palm trees, the Midway's sloping hollow wall The single-screen Midway to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with no plan as Held our spots while three of us went down the road to attempt sneaking into Nearby arena parking lot (Frank Zappa, well worth the cold 'n' cramps). It was December 1979, and I was already camping out for concert tix in the The Midway, on the northwest corner of Mission Bay Drive and Sports Arena Boulevard. ![]() The first drive-in theater I ever snuck into in San Diego was also the first one built here, The original version is now text-only, with the photos removed, while thisĮxpanded and updated draft has all the original photos, plus several dozen This is an expanded “director’s cut” of an article that originally appeared
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