Please plan on joining us for a special double Feature on Saturday October 22. In honor of Halloween, we will be screening two Hollywood classics from 1931, “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” We will be at our newest “pop-up” location, on Congress Street between Scott and Stone Avenues.
Check our Facebook page for more information soon!
The Cactus Drive-In Theatre Foundation will be showing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( the one with Johnny Depp) Saturday. September 17 at their new downtown temporary location. They are pursuing a permanent location for the future.
The new location for the “pop-up” Cactus Drive in Theatre events is 26-72 East Congress street downtown. It’s on Congress between Scott and Stone
Bookmans is sponsoring this month’s drive-in fundraiser since our movie fits with their “Fight Censorship” September theme. They will be passing out FREE Bookmans t-shirts to the first 50 through the gates, and we will also raffle off some Bookman’s gift baskets! Pick up a coupon for a FREE popcorn or soda at any Bookman’s location.
The gates open at 5:30 PM with the feature film starting at 7 PM. Suggested donation is $10 per car. Vehicle space is extremely limited, but there are plenty of chairs at the front near the old-fashioned drive-in speakers for those who want to “walk in.” (Feel free to bring your own chair, too, if you like!)
Cactus Drive-in Theatre Foundation Flyer for August 20,2011 event
The Cactus Drive-In Theatre Foundation is having their second drive-in movie fundraiser in Tucson August 20. Their first fundraising event held July 16 proved so popular with Tucsonans they planned this second event. It will be held at the same temporary location near the Mercado San Agustin.
The movie selected for the August event is FORBIDDEN PLANET, a classic award-winning cinemascope sci-fi movie from 1956 produced by MGM. Cinemascope was considered a major film break-through at the time. The screen saved from demolition from the closed DeAnza (Cactus) was one of the first cinemascope screens at a drive-in in America. This sci-fi film was at the beginning of the space age era that has proved to be a major influence on education, fashion, architecture and transportation during this time. This film itself affected many other sci-fi movies afterward such as Star Trek and even the robot in Star Wars.
Forbidden Planet Poster
This second fundraising event for the Cactus Drive-In Theatre Foundation will be held again at their temporary location on the Avenida Del Convento just south of the Mercado San Agustin building. (http://mercadosanagustin.com/) It is located just west of I-10 on Congress and then south on Avenida Del Covento. The suggested donations will be $10 per car or $4 per individual to help support their project. Some seating will be available for bike-ins and walk-ins. Gates open at 7:00 PM and their program including a historic intermission video, historic cartoon and the feature will begin at 8:00 PM.
SEE YOU AT THE DRIVE-IN!
The Cactus Drive-In Theatre Foundation enjoyed a great crowd of Tucsonans that love drive-in movies at their event July 16. Below are some photos of the event that was sponsored by Cox Communication and the Mercado San Augustin.
Long line of drive-in enthusiasts prior to opening.
Early arrivals prepping for the show
The crowd arrived early and started lining up before 6:00 PM. Gates opened at 6:30 PM
The Snack bar at event
If you want to see why so many people love drive-in movies just come and you will understand. It is all about community and communication.
Some Happy movie goers communicating
Audience communication
Movie goers waiting for darkness
Pair of historic speakers used for sound at seating area
The interactions of the audience is part of the drive-in experience like no other available at any other type cinema.
This event added great enjoyment to the audience and was covered by all the local television and print media.
Author of Junior novelization of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Rhody Cohon
Almost showtime
On With the Show! Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs!
The NEXT exciting drive-in event is being scheduled for AUGUST 20th at this same temporary location. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
PS I am sorry for the large gaps in photos but this wordpress program seems to do that with lots of photos.
Marquee of the DeAnza Drive-in the last night before closing for good.
This is the marquee of the DeAnza Drive-in the last night it was open. The movie CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, was showing that last night on the giant cinemascope screen which is the screen we were able to save from demolition.
We will be showing this exact film as a symbol of our anticipated “rebirth” at our July 16th event. It is a fun family film enjoyable by all. I hope you can be there.
SOUND for the evening’s presentation will be broadcast on 103.1 FM. You will be amazed at the quality of the sound.
If you haven’t already, please join our Cactus Drive-In Theater Project group page on facebook : http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_133259103368525
I hope to see you at the movie.
Event flyer for July 16 Cactus Drive-in Fundraiser
To make our public fundraising event great we need help from volunteers. Below is a partial list of our needs. If you can help us for this 4 hour event we will deeply appreciate it. Please send your availability and interest to: project@cactusdriveintheater.com
If unavailable to help perhaps you can donate necessary items we will need or donate money. Money donations can be made at our website: http://www.cactusdriveintheater.com/donate.html
Money donations are tax deductible as allowed by law because we are a 501c3 non-profit corporation.
Graphic artist for posters/flyers; Posters/flyers distribution; Parking/traffic control; Popcorn/drink helpers; trash bin distribution/clean-up; Signage preparation & distribution (ie. directions/entrance/exit, bathrooms etc.); and others
Historic Logo from the original Cactus Drive-In (1951)
Final destruction of the De Anza snack bar
Last of the DeAnza Photo by Ryn Gargulinski
The temporary location for the Cactus Drive-in is on the Avenida Del Convento. just south of the Mercado San Augustin building. It is located just west of I-10 on Congress and then south on Avenida Del Covento. It will be an exciting night since this will be the beginning of a new community drive-in for Tucson. This event will the first of a series of fundraisers to help make The Cactus Drive-In Theatre a reality. We will be showing a family type film enjoyable by all ages as well as a cartoon and a nostalgic presentation.
More details of the fares, opening times and the film selection will be given in the next few weeks. We hope for a great turnout to show the community’s support for this new vision for the future.
Ely Heavy Haul Truck
George Cohn
I-Lift Forklift Sales and Rentals
Friday, March 4 the I-lift Forklift Company and Ely Heavy Haul once again came to our rescue and helped relocate the remaining 5 pieces of the Giant Screen from the former DeAnza Drive-in to our secure storage area. They had been repaired by Canyon Building & Design for us and placed back on the DeAnza property. Friday these last heavy steel pieces were removed and relocated under the supervision of George Cohn. George is a local authority on the drive-ins of Tucson and the man that has donated the two professional projectors and sound systems to our project. Beside these donations he has worked long unpaid hours with me and has covered numerous moving costs out of his own pocket. I consider all of these guys as “cactus angels” for their great contributions.
The new Cactus Drive-in website is up now though still in its infancy form. Cactus will be added, blinking stars and lots more photos and even an mp3 audio. The website was designed by Larry Gomez, a student at the Arts Institute of Tucson advanced web design curriculum.
Attorney Pamela Sutherland has helped us finalize the filing of our non-profit corporate status for our 501c3. It should be complete by early March. The name of the non-profit is Cactus Drive-in Theatre Foundation, Inc.
The new website, designed by Arts Institute of Tucson’s advanced web design student Larry Gomez, should be online within the next few weeks. I will post on our blog the day it goes active. It looks terrific and has the capacity to grow with the project. Pamela and Larry are big supporters of our Cactus Drive-in project. We continue to get more and more community support. If any of the readers have not joined our Facebook supporters group please do so and have your friends sign up also. The larger the number we have the better chances we have for funding. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133259103368525&ref=ts
