Valley Drive-In Will Make Way for Megaplex

CHATSWORTH — The Winnetka Drive-In theater, one of only two left in the San Fernando Valley, where once they thrived as a symbol of the classic suburban car culture, will be torn down later this year to make way for one of the largest indoor movie theater complexes in the state.

On the site of the drive-in at Prairie Street and Winnetka Avenue will rise a multimillion-dollar megaplex with shops, restaurants and 26 screens, capable of seating 5,500 viewers, Pacific Theatres announced Thursday. It is scheduled to open in June 1997.

The announcement was the latest move in a war for moviegoers’ wallets between large theater chains like Pacific, fought with ever-bigger complexes equipped with ever-more-sophisticated technology.

“Our company’s mission is to build the biggest and best state-of-the-art theaters during this time of aggressive expansion,” said Chan Wood, Pacific’s executive vice president and head film buyer.

The Chatsworth complex will have a high-tech digital stereo sound system, stadium-style seating and a large lobby with three concession stands. Its 26 screens surpass the recently opened AMC Theater megaplex in Woodland Hills, which has 16 screens, and the 18-screen Cineplex Odeon theaters at Universal City.

Even the new Chatsworth megaplex would be surpassed, however, by a 30-screen megaplex that the AMC chain is building in Ontario. A number of other multiscreen projects have recently opened or are under construction throughout Southern California, including a 21-screen complex by the Edwards chain that opened in Irvine last fall.

The demise of the Winnetka Drive-In, which the company said dates to the 1970s, will leave the Valley with only one outdoor movie theater, the Van Nuys Drive-In, also owned by Pacific Theatres.

The dozens who parked their cars and vans for Thursday night’s showing of “Twister”--$5 a head, children under 12 free--were dismayed to find yet another piece of their past about to be paved over.

“It’s just something else they’re taking away,” said 36-year-old Dan Darnell of Granada Hills, who grew up attending movies at the drive-in. “They’re making money, cramming more in less space, more concrete.

“At least this was something different--you get out with your buddies or do the Lover’s Lane thing,” he added as he wiped off his windshield.

The amorous couples of drive-in legend were outnumbered by families Thursday, and it was parents who fretted most about losing a safe, inexpensive place to take their children. “Drive-ins are more like a family thing,” said Robert Fuentes, 32, as his wife, Rosie, and their son, Robert Jr., 3, huddled together on the bench seat of their car.

“It’s more private than a regular theater.”

Jeanette Molino of Chatsworth agreed. “This is a good opportunity to get the family in one car,” she said with her husband, Jean Corretjer, 26, beside her. “A regular movie theater kind of loses its intimacy.”

Not that affectionate couples could not be found. “This is the old school, how people used to watch movies,” said Chris Bustamante, a 25-year-old Granada Hills firefighter, as 19-year-old Rosanne Ruiz of Sylmar reclined against him in a gleaming Honda. “You kick back, stretch out in your car, and you don’t have to hear anyone talking.”

Both Bustamante and Ruiz grew up seeing movies at the Winnetka. “Generations come here,” Bustamante said.

He dismissed plans for the fancy, new “walk-in” megaplex. “It’s no big deal. There’s a cineplex in my neighborhood.”

Drive-ins have been dying a slow death, pushed along by changing lifestyles and increasing property values. A theater owner can get more paying patrons onto an expensive tract of land in an indoor multiplex than a drive-in, where cars take up much of the space. And in an age in which consumers are dazzled by an array of entertainment options, theater operators see little choice but to join the high-tech bandwagon or go the way of the neighborhood soda shop.

The number of drive-ins, which hit 4,000 nationwide in their 1950s heyday, had dropped almost 80% to 859 by 1994, according to the National Assn. of Theater Owners.

In addition to the Chatsworth megaplex, Los Angeles-based Pacific said it would turn two of its other outdoor theaters into indoor megaplexes--the Anaheim Drive-In and the Woodward Park Drive-In in Fresno. The company, which currently operates 350 screens in California and Hawaii, is investing $100 million in the new projects.

“We feel that the megaplex, walk-in theaters are our future,” said Jay Swerdlow, Pacific’s executive vice president and general manager.

The three new Pacific Theatres complexes will be built on the existing 25-acre sites, and each will be 100,000 square feet. The rest of the properties will be used for restaurants, shops and other entertainment-related businesses, Pacific said. Each will have more than 2,000 parking spaces.

Although they stressed that they had only the most rudimentary information about the proposed multiplex, Chatsworth homeowners who live nearby had mixed reactions to Pacific’s plans.

Doreen Rusen, co-president of the Chatsworth Community Coordinating Council, thinks that replacing the aging drive-in with a modern entertainment complex will benefit the area. “That drive-in leaves a lot to be desired,” she said. “I might be nostalgic about a lot of things, but a drive-in is not one of them.”

But Coleen Briggs, a community activist who lives between Winnetka Avenue and Corbin Street, said the community would be better served and have fewer traffic headaches if the site were not a movie theater of any kind.

“I think we are saturating our communities with this form of entertainment. I question the need,” Briggs said. “There is not a resident base here to support that magnitude of development.”

Briggs said she would prefer to see the drive-in property used for a Valley government center or an open-air shopping area that would provide an alternative to the Northridge Fashion Center.

A secondary casualty in the death of the drive-in will be the demise of the swap meet that is held regularly on the theater’s grounds.

City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, said Pacific Theatres executives presented preliminary plans for the development to his office last month.

Bernson said he and his staff recommended that the new theater be moved back from the street to minimize its impact on the neighborhood. The next step is for the redrawn plans to be reviewed by his citizens advisory committee.

“It’s a little early to make any judgments on it,” Bernson remarked, saying the city permit process will probably offer plenty of opportunity for public comment.

Many filmgoers Thursday night said they’d be willing to fight to save the drive-in, though none knew how.

“This is like taking your living room to see a movie,” declared Gerald Clark, 35, of Canoga Park, smoking a cigarette as he reclined on a plastic patio chair with rock music blaring from his minivan. “I’ll be really disappointed if it disappears. I don’t care if the new one has 1,000 screens. I want these six.”

Clark’s girlfriend, Cathy Waters, and Waters’ 12-year-old daughter, Jamie, wandered by. “They’re going to tear down our drive-in,” Clark told them.

“Cool,” said Jamie.

Clark and Waters glowered, telling Jamie she could walk home that night.

“This is a good part of town. I think it’s too bad,” said Waters, 34, who said she has been watching movies at the Winnetka since she was a child. “But it goes along with the rest of the world.”

Apodaca is a Times staff writer and Riccardi is a correspondent. Staff writers Lisa Leff and Greg Johnson contributed to this story.