Phase 3 (South Bay area) of my series of caches that commemorate where the Drive-In Movie Theaters were or in a few cases, still are. The main source for all of these is a fuller version of a Reader Article that is on Jay Allen Sanford's blog: SAN DIEGO DRIVE-IN THEATER HISTORY 1947 – 2014: June 2014 (sandiegodriveinhistory.blogspot.com) I also used the Historic Aerials website to try to determine where the entrances and exits were located.
Opened in 1958 and still going, it has space for 1,500 cars and three screens.
By 1999, the South Bay’s swap meet had become a local institution, praised by all but a few occasionally unhappy neighbors. Oldknow estimates that the meet brought in around $1 million dollars annually, while the land beneath the theater lot was worth around $8 million. From the article: ""San Diego Reader reader Tony D. Metal emailed me to say “The South Bay Drive-In was always a trip. The back rows were reserved for the lowriders. Somewhat intimidating, they did draw attention. However, everyone got along. The whites and Hispanics showed mutual respect, and we were on their turf, but the drive-in was for all to enjoy. No racial barriers. We all got along very well.”
A swap meet has run on the lot since April 1977, operated by the drive-in's owners rather than being leased out as at other area ozones. "That's why the South Bay survived," says Oldknow. "There was that early recognition of how to turn daytime use into profits on the property. There's no overhead for a swap meet, whereas we're paying 50 percent of our box office take to the studio for movies. Swap meets were the only thing enabling most drive-ins to survive the '80s. We're charging money for parking spaces and keeping all the proceeds...this was so profitable that it would be difficult for other businesses to compete for the property."
The main screen number one at the South Bay blew down during the early 2003 winter storms and had to be replaced that spring, at a cost of around $60,000. In summer 2005, a new Technalight installation was done on the projectors for all three South Bay screens. "That increased the picture brightness from five to nine times brighter," says Oldknow, "so it's as bright as any indoor screen now." Open seven nights a week, 52 weeks a year, it may be the only drive-in in the U.S. to serve menudo.""