Rediscovering the Peninsula: Nickelodeon, Drive-In movie theaters, etc

• The Geneva Drive-In opened at 2150 Geneva Ave., in San Mateo County near the Cow Palace. It had 10 acres with the screen 500 feet from the projection booth. The projection booth was placed beneath the old stadium seats that were used when an auto race track was on the site. Two more screens were added in the 1970s as the public responded favorably to the cheap prices and the fact that the family didn’t have to dress up. The family loaded all of its kids, and sometimes the neighbors’ kids, packed the car with pop and food (although there was a concession stand at the site), threw in blankets and pillows for the kids that went to sleep, and went to spend a evening of pleasure. The Geneva Drive-In closed September 1998.

• Mission Drive-In opened at 5500 Mission St. in Daly City actually at Guttenberg Street in Daly City. They thought the San Francisco address would draw in more customers. It opened May 2, 1951; closed Oct. 5, 1976, due to rowdy crowds.

• Starlite Drive-In at 30 S. Linden Ave. and South Canal Street (by Lindenville housing) in South San Francisco. It opened Aug. 19, 1947, with 150 to 200 sites. The day of dressing up to go to a movie was over. Bring the kids, all for one price. It was torn down and later the Spruce Drive-In opened to the north. On May 10, 1966, the Spruce Drive-In opened behind the South San Francisco Lumber Co. at 55 Spruce Ave. The South San Francisco Fire Department has a facility there now.

• El Rancho Drive-In at 517 Hickey Blvd. in South San Francisco opened March 26, 1949. “Wings” were added to the original screen to show wide-screen films. Sound was broadcast over FM radio thus they got rid of the individual car speakers hung onto the door of the car. A second screen was added by 1975 but usually older films were shown. By the 1980s, the drive-in was closed and housing was built on the site.

• UA Cinemas 4 opened at Tanforan Shopping Center Dec. 19, 1974. It was short-lived.

• At 10 Noor Ave. in South San Francisco, Century 8 opened June 3, 1985, but it was shut down by 2008.

• The Century 14 in Tanforan Shopping Center opened to satisfy the movie-going public with a choice of many movies at once.

• Century Twenty 1901 on Junipero Serra Boulevard opened June 21, 2002.

• Serramonte 6 (American Multi-Cinema) at 4915 Junipero Serra Blvd. It opened March 22, 1972, with a seating capacity of 1,700. It was the first sixplex in the Bay Area. It closed in December 1996.

• ABC Theater’s Plaza I and 2 at 311 Serramonte Plaza. It was a twin operation with two spacious auditoriums. It closed December 1996

• UA the movies, later known as Metro Center 6 at 200 Colma Blvd. opened in 1987 but closed in 2003 and razed.

• The Burlingame and Peninsula Twin Drive-In at 350 Beach Road in Burlingame. Capacity of 1,500 cars was good but the location confused drivers and many gave up and left without getting off Highway 101. It remodeled and reopened with two more screens and was called the Burlingame 4. It closed in 2001 and plans for a bio-tech center at this site have been talked about.

• The Redwood Drive-In, with a capacity of 1,300 cars, opened at 557 E. Bayshore Blvd. June 14, 1961. Its screen measured 90 feet in height and 130 feet in width. By the mid-’70s, it had expanded to four screens. It boasted a large children’s playground and a huge snack bar that provided plenty of soft drinks, popcorn and pizza to keep the kids happy as mom and dad sat in their car enjoying the movies. It closed Sept. 13, 1967, and was torn down. Three years later, the Century Park 12 opened on May 18, 1990, but closed in 2006.

• Century 20 opened at Broadway and Theater Way next to the Fox in Redwood City.

• Theater-in-the-round (Hyatt Music Theater) at 1304 Bayshore Highway in Burlingame opened Sept. 5, 1964. Broadway shows and big name stars were thought to be the key to success in the $2.5 million, 2,500-seat innovation but it wasn’t professional enough for the Peninsula crowd and it folded only 18 months after it opened. On March 29, 1966, however, it opened after remodeling as Hyatt Cinema and it reopened six years later as the Hyatt Twin after being cut in half. On Oct. 5, 2006, in its last gasp tried to succeed as a triplex. It finally closed April 20, 2007, and now stands empty.

Rediscovering the Peninsula runs every weekend. It is compiled through our archives created by Jim Clifford and the late Darold Fredricks.