Opened by Pacific Theatre on June 3, 1955. The Los Altos Drive-In was originally a single screen theatre with a capacity for 2,100 cars.

It was built, as so many of us were, in 1955 as part of Los Altos developer Lloyd Whaley’s grand plan for the new and freshly annexed eastern part of town.

...Like other drive-in theaters around the country and locally, including the Lakewood (1948-1989), the Circle (1951-1985), and the Long Beach (1955-1979), the Los Altos was a fairly profitable way to hold onto land (more than 25 acres in the Los Altos instance) until demand warranted its sale. Today, there’s a car dealership there, along with a K-mart, a Lowe’s hardware and a smattering of other shops...

Tim Grobarty; Press-Telegram
image - Kathy Beyers, 2003

Aerial view of Los Altos Drive-In Theater, located at 2800 N. Bellflower Blvd. in Long Beach; view is looking northeast. Bellflower Blvd. is diagonally at left corner; Los Coyotes Diagonal is bottom right to upper left; Woodruff Ave. is middle right to upper left; Studebaker Rd. is horizontally at top; Willow St. and the San Diego (405) Freeway are visible bottom right corner; Deborah St. is lower left, curving to middle right; Los Cerritos Channel is middle left curving to middle right; Spring St. is middle left to upper right.

Part of the Kelly-Holiday Collection of Negatives and Photographs. Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.

Photograph dated June 3, 1961. LAPL 00103334

Howard D Kelly (LA Public Library)