On November 5th, 1953 the La Mirada Drive-In Theatre opened with Wings of the Hawk and Golden Blade playing and forever established itself in La Mirada pop culture history that continues to this day.
A dairy and orange orchard occupied the land that was purchased in 1948 in an unincorporated area known as Dairy Valley. It was named La Mirada Drive-In after the closest town to the location and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
It was one of the largest drive-in theaters in the country, with the capacity to hold more than one thousand cars.
PHOTO: Looking southeast, a pristine La Mirada Drive-In (bottom right) sparkles in this image captured on December 3, 1957. On the bottom left you cane barely make out the remnants of the McNally Olive Oil facilities along Stage Road including the train station before it was destroyed in 1960. To the left on the edge you can see the newly-constructed homes. The Neff family had sold their land for subdivision just three years earlier in 1953. In the center is the old Standard Oil Field and neighborhood for the workers and their families along Lamont Avenue (today's Trojan Way). Nothing yet developed at Valley View Avenue and the new Santa Ana Freeway except the junk yard that eventually became Star Scrap Metal. This area is La Mirada's section of the Central Manufacturing District, the industrial area of town that today is the economic engine that drives La Mirada. Santa Fe Springs, which had incorporated just six months earlier, tried to claim this land, which is what spurred La Mirada to begin its own efforts to incorporate, ultimately succeeding in March of 1960 (Photo: LA County Library Kelley-Holiday Collection).
In 1965, La Mirada became one of the first drive-in theaters to host an ongoing swap meet, on weekends, which is now common in California. Today, a weekday flea market is held in the front parking lot three days a week.
For myself, being born and raised in La Mirada, I have fond memories of the drive-in growing up here, there were the usual visits with the family, although maybe not as often as others. The metal box speaker hanging on the window, the cartoons, the walks to the snack bar, good times.
Also as a youngster I can remember driving southbound on Valley View Avenue in the family car many times and my sister and I trying to guess which movie was playing as we passed by, as the screen was visible from the street. I suspect other kids did this also.
In high school of course I went there with buddies or dates and an occasional date in later years.
For many, its legacy was the weekend swap meet, where there was a great opportunity for high school kids to get a job, even before the age of 16. For two summers I rode my bike down North Fork Coyote Creek from La Mirada (before there was an official bikeway) on weekends at 5:00 a.m.
You had to get there early to hook-up with a vendor as a helper and they would pay you at the end of the day. If you were lucky, you could secure the same vendor for the entire summer!
PHOTO: Captured December 22, 1967 looking northwest with the drive-in at the upper left. The Valley View Avenue/Alondra Boulevard intersection can be seen bottom center. That's the La Mirada Creek, yes that La Mirada Creek that spawned a park name that flows through the center of town adjacent to Biola University and the old trestles at Stage Road. This cemented portion of the creek terminus is seen merging with the North Fork Coyote Creek which eventually merges with the San Gabriel River and empties into the ocean near Seal Beach. Note the area between the screen tower and marquee. Here, it is still undeveloped, appears to be all dirt. Apparently, this area was planned for a heliport and restaurants and other facilities, but it never happened. This is now a parking lot for the weekend swap and serves as the area for the weekday flea markets. Rumor has it, the huge lot in the center of this image was supposed to be a Gemco, but it never materialized (Photo: LA County Library Kelley-Holiday Collection).
It was a haven for teenagers of course when you weren’t working. Two things will always stand-out to the 15-year-old me from the summer of '79-radio was big then and all the vendors always had their favorite stations playing and it seemed Just What I Needed by The Cars was playing everywhere that summer almost ushering in the New Wave genre, also who could forget that very unique smell of the snack bar so early in the morning!
It was the end of an era in 1990 (not surprisingly, it seems everything good ended in the 90's) when the daily operation of the drive-in was closed (with the exception of special events); stadium lights were installed and the first Los Angeles metro area outdoor/night-time flea market was born.
Shortly thereafter, it was the end of another era when the facility officially changed its name to the Santa Fe Springs Drive-In to more accurately reflect the city in which it was actually in.
Santa Fe Springs was incorporated in May of 1957 and with its irregular and crawling-like city boundaries, the drive-in sits on the extreme southern edge of the city limits, six miles away from city hall!
However, for me and other generations of area kids, it will always be the La Mirada Drive-In.
In 2019, with the popularity of the Friday night swap continuing, the existing entertainment area was expanded to hold larger crowds for the weekend concerts. A new stage and bar was constructed and a new covered seating area with multiple TV’s for sports watching was added.
And the original snack bar, yes the beloved snack bar we all are so fond of, was remodeled!
Ironically as I’m writing this, just yesterday, the Time Tunnels featuring Steve Gage, Steve Bravin and others from La Mirada band fame were performing in the new entertainment area. How awesome is that!
PHOTO: Looking south, an almost two-year-old La Mirada Drive-In can be seen way back there in the upper right corner of this image captured August 31, 1955. Piece of Valley View Farms dairy is seen on bottom, left to right along Rosecrans Avenue. Stage Road center left to right, Valley View Avenue at left. Marsden Iron Works Inc. in center, with Iseli Dairy to the right, today's Iseli Road and last days/remnants of Blackburn property which would become Big A, etc. to the left. (Photo: LA County Public Library Kelly-Holiday Collection)
PHOTO: The vintage marquee sign structure remains today as seen in this 2020 photo. You can see the sign from the 5 freeway! (Tony Aiello/La Mirada Blog)
PHOTO: The screen tower as seen from the south parking lot market area in June of 2020. (Tony Aiello/La Mirada Blog)
Sources: La Mirada Blog https://sfsswapmeet.com/about-us/; https://www.driveinmovie.com/ca/santa-fe-springs/santa-fe-springs-drive-in/; https://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/driveintheaters.aspx?id=2256&type=1; https://www.roadarch.com/drive...
Photos: Los Angeles County Library Kelly-Holiday Collection; Tony Aiello/La Mirada Blog
