Subject: Drive-in theaters - UCLA Library Digital Collections Search Results

Description:: A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:: October 4, 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:: October 5, 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:: October 15, 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: A series of snapshots taken at the construction site shows how the screen structure was framed on the ground and then tilted up using wooden wheels as fulcrums. This innovative construction technique was borrowed from concrete tilt-slab construction pioneered in Southern California in the early part of the century by Irving Gill and later used by other Southern California modernists.
Date:: October 5, 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: Lee gave the sign (4) a Streamline Moderne look, but the screen structure (5) itself is almost completely utilitarian.
Date:: 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Photographer:: Lee, S. Charles, 1899-1990
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: The drive-in theatre concept was first tried in the mid-1930s but only after World War II did the idea gain widespread acceptance. Lee designed several drive-in theaters, a type especially suited to the mild climate and car-dependent economy of Southern California. The drive-in allowed the whole family to go to the movies in the family car, with no need for a baby-sitter. It also proved especially popular with dating teen-agers, who found drive-ins the ideal refuge from watchful adult eyes. The drive-in was also cheap to build. A large piece of land, a structure to display the screen and smaller buildings for tickets, refreshments and the projector were all that was needed. The parking lot was usually graded to provide the parked cars with a good angle for viewing the screen, and each space was equipped with a speaker that could be hooked to the dashboard to bring the sound into the car.
Date:: 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Photographer:: Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: To give the screen structure a more substantial-looking base, Lee designed a series of tall ladder-like structures (6) that he covered with translucent corrugated plastic panels. This structure may have been illuminated from within at night to attract customers.
Date:: 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Photographer:: Lee, S. Charles, 1899-1990
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

Description:: Lee gave the sign (4) a Streamline Moderne look, but the screen structure (5) itself is almost completely utilitarian.
Date:: 1948
Resource Type:: still image
Photographer:: Lee, S. Charles, 1899-1990
Collection:: S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962

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