Campus Drive-In

4565 College Avenue,
San Diego, CA 92115

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Additional Info

Architects: George Lykos

Nearby Theaters

1979 photo credit John Margolies-Library Of Congress Collection.

The Campus Drive-In was built in 1948, opening on August 18, 1948 with Dan Dailey in “Give My Regards to Broadway” & Richard Dix in “The Kansan”. It had a capacity for 900 cars. This drive-in closed on February 6, 1983 with Jim Henson in “The Dark Crystal” & Steve Bulen in Dragon Slayer" and was demolished. A shopping center was built on its former site.

One of the most memorable features of this drive-in was the 46 foot high drum majorette outlined in neon lights that twirled a baton. Today the neon lighted drum majorette is “alive and well” and resides at the College Grove Shopping Center which replaced this drive-in.

Contributed by Lost Memory

Recent comments (view all 28 comments)

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on June 14, 2010 at 12:46 pm

Crying Shame this Drive-in could not be saved.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 6, 2012 at 10:39 am

This opened on August 18th, 1948. The grand opening ad has been posted here.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on October 1, 2012 at 10:51 am

Scroll down about one-quarter of the way down on this webpage to see some additional pictures of the Campus Drive-in.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on March 18, 2014 at 1:54 pm

The Campus Drive-In rated this page in Boxoffice of February 3, 1949. There are four photos. The Campus was designed by San Diego architect George Lykos.

horseshoe7
horseshoe7 on November 15, 2015 at 8:34 pm

Ha! I snuck in, or watch over the walls, many many times at the Campus Drive-In in the mid 70’s… we would ride our bikes from Del Cerro, and climb up on top of adjacent businesses' roofs, and drop over the wall, then crawl up to the seats in the unmaintained “kids play area” in the front part, right under the screen… the old wooden seats there were all covered with ivy, but it was a good place to hide, as long as you didn’t turn the sound up too high (there were speakers next to those ivy-covered seats!)… we sometimes even got the gall to go and buy a soda from the concession stand, once the movie had started! … the only problem was that people with little dogs would let them take a dump in the playground sand, so you had to watch it up there in the “free seating area”.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on September 15, 2017 at 7:02 pm

1979 photo added, photo credit John Morgoies-Library Of Congress Collection.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 4, 2018 at 1:31 am

Opened on 18/8/1948 with “Give my regards to Broadway”, and “The Kansan”.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 4, 2018 at 4:02 am

Closed in February 1983 with “The Dark crystal”, and “Dragonslayer”.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on July 27, 2021 at 7:51 am

Closed February 6, 1983.
News coverage video in below link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuifbx2TNRg

Jamey_monroe45
Jamey_monroe45 on July 25, 2023 at 6:44 pm

Address is off. The entrance was at the rear of this theater on Peck Ln.

Now Camino Plaza @ 4565 College Ave, San Diego, CA 92115.

Please update.

Previous address was the screen tower.

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