Opened in 1949, by Ted Mann (later of Mann Theatres fame) and operated by Pacific Theatres for some forty-five years, the Compton Drive-In was a community showpiece for decades. The 1,196 capacity lot and Viking ship screen tower mural set the stage for generations of moviegoing memories. However, today’s memory comes from the venue’s wanning years, when the lot full of families had given way to a different sort of crowd and wholesome fun had been supplanted by questionable activities.
Back when I was managing a theatre in La Mirada, one of my veteran staff members was an individual who had worked at the Compton Drive-In during the venue’s final few years. Having never worked at a drive-in myself, I was naturally curious about what the experience had been like and inquired about his time at the Compton. While I was ready to hear some tales of catching amorous couples and various automobile mishaps, I was generally expecting the sort of bygone americana we have come to associate with drive-ins, memories of a golden age. His reflections didn’t quite live up to my expectations.
After sharing a few stories about how often the police were called and weekly vandalism repairs, he turned to more personal reflections. Among his many duties at the drive-in was patrolling the lot for inappropriate behavior. The general idea being that when he came across a couple becoming a bit too romantic or someone enjoying something a tad stronger than soda, he was supposed to shine his flashlight into the offending vehicle, as a warning to “knock it off”. Unfortunately, the days of patrons feeling embarrassed about being caught and scrambling to rectify their misstep had passed. Instead, the most frequent response, during his tenure, was for the individuals to become hostile and, far too often, rob him under the threat of violence. He stated that this became such a regular occurrence he decided to try leaving his wallet in the office one night. The result being that he was instead robbed of his shoes and pants. To compound matters, at the end of his shift, our bottomless theatre worker discovered that his car had also been stolen over the course of the evening. Suffice to say, his memories of the drive-in experience proved to be anything but recounting the “good ol’ days”.
The Compton Drive-In closed in January of 1995 and was utilized as a church, before being razed to make way for housing. As with most things which have passed, there is a natural tendency to create an idealized image of a place like the Compton Drive-In, focusing on a “golden age”, as if that made up the whole of the story. Yet, few stories are truly that perfect or straight forward.
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