Aerial photograph of Studio Drive In Theater, 5250 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, 1961

Aerial photograph of Studio Drive In Theater, 5250 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, 1961

By the time this aerial photograph of Studio Drive-in Theater (open from 1948 to 1993) at 5250 Sepulveda Blvd in Culver City was taken in 1961, a lot of the land had been developed so the triangular site carved out by the drive-in really stands out. I’m also mystified/intrigued by that other block of land to the left, with the two fan-shaped areas. Are they baseball diamonds? Does anybody have an idea?

The triangle formed by Sepulveda, Jefferson, and Machado is where the drive-in used to be. This satellite image is from May 2022.

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

 

7 responses to “Aerial photograph of Studio Drive In Theater, 5250 Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City, 1961”

  1. Keith Baird says:

    In the original photo, Ballona Creek is at the extreme lower right; the photo is better oriented when rotated 180 degrees. The triangle formed by Sepulveda, Jefferson, and Machado is where the drive-in used to be.

  2. Bob Meza says:

    Keith is correct. In the satellite photo of today, the drive in is in the lower right side of the frame. Flip the satellite photo 180 and everything lines up properly. the Drive In photo was take looking south towards Jefferson Blvd with the Creek at the bottom of the photo

  3. Bob Powers says:

    Spot on Keith. The picture is looking towards the southeast.

  4. Gordon Pattison says:

    Exactly what I was going to say. You beat me to it.

  5. Paula says:

    Must have driven past this place thousands of time in my life, but I only actually saw a movie here once.

    The Machado Street name triggered memories. The Machados were the old Spanish land grant family in Culver City. I went to elementary school with Machados.

  6. Bill Wolfe says:

    When the paving for the drive-in was being torn up after it closed, some of the debris got down into the sewer line. The line was clogged and, as a result, there was severe flooding over the area formerly occupied by the parking lot. I know this because the City crew assigned to unclog the sewer line and suction up the overflow instead blew off the assignment, leaving the water standing for a prolonged time. I handled the discipline cases that arose from this in my job in the personnel office of the Department of Public Works with the City of Los Angeles.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *