Valley 5 Drive-In
401 49th Street NE,
Auburn,
WA
98002
401 49th Street NE,
Auburn,
WA
98002
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 55 of 55 comments
This is one of the last drive ins in washington it would be a shame to destoy a piece of our history . I think that if they put some $ into it the people would flock to it becase how many teens\twentys can say they have been to a drive-in , soon no teens will be able to say it . I don’t see anyone tearing down museums because they are in disrepair . They just tore down the midway drive-in sign it would be ashame to lose another one . I went to this drive-in when I was a teen 15 years ogo and it was one of the most memerable time I have ever had at a theater . We went with some of our close friends and sat in the back of a truck with lounge chairs and blankets and sipped hot cider . Now I have a back problem and new theater seats no not recline so I will only go to the drive-ins !!! Thanks for posting this comment box Jeff Wuestenhoefer ( ) P.S I hope all teens get a chance to sit in a pick up and drink hot cider .
This is one of the last drive ins in washington it would be a shame to destoy a piece of our history . I think that if they put some $ into it the people would flock to it becase how many teens\twentys can say they have been to a drive-in , soon no teens will be able to say it . I don’t see anyone tearing down museums because they are in disrepair . They just tore down the midway drive-in sign it would be ashame to lose another one . I went to this drive-in when I was a teen 15 years ogo and it was one of the most memerable time I have ever had at a theater . We went with some of our close friends and sat in the back of a truck with lounge chairs and blankets and sipped hot cider . Now I have a back problem and new theater seats no not recline so I will only go to the drive-ins !!! Thanks for posting this comment box Jeff Wuestenhoefer ( ) P.S I hope all teens get a chance to sit in a pick up and drink hot cider .
The Valley Drive-In is the last of what was a very large Washington drive-in chain. They were known in Washington state as “United Drive-Ins”, and were part of the Forman/Pacific chains of California.
In their time, the United drive-ins were state-of-the-art theatres, though it is true that they deteriorated in later years.
As for the Valley; most of its problem is that there’s been an ongoing effort to redevelop the property for years. I first heard of them closing over 14 years ago, and as has been noted, it’s opening is an annual event, far from certain.
The story I get is that the property owners actually did get the permits to redevelop, but stopped when the bottom fell out of the rental market. The drive-in sits on 56 acres of prime real estate, and operating the business goes a long ways toward paying off their substantial taxes, so it remains open as the owners wait for commercial footage to be needed again. As I understand it, the permit package has a life of some 10 or 15 years, and the owners can begin the demolition process anytime within that period without re-permitting.
Of course, the main problem with this kind of operation is that they don’t see any reason to dump a lot of money into the place IF it actually turns out they’d be tearing it down. The catch is they never tear it down, and the money doesn’t get invested, so everything does tend to go downhill.
They have done some work on the screens recently, and they’ve installed FM in one of their screens. They have AM sound on the rest of them, with wires you have to clip on your antenna or tape on your window.
In its time, this was a pretty impressive place. It’s still worth checking out, though it admittedly doesn’t represent the best a drive-in could be right now. If nothing else, it’s worth being able to say you went there, as drive-ins all tend to be unique experiences.
Every spring, we hear that it will be the last year of the Valley 6. And then every summer, the drive-in opens. This dance has gone on for years. With the place in disrepair as Ken describes, I wonder if this will finally be it. Then again, the story lostmemory references above says the Valley 6 is a money maker for Pacific Theaters. (The story above also says that the City of Auburn has development plans for that land, although there’s no real timeline for “the end.”)
This theater is poorly run and has become a dump. The projection and sound are bad. Pictures on all screens is very dim.