I'm posting to let you know that my site - "Drive-in Theatres of The South Pacific" has moved

Please update your links to the following
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~p.berrett/index.html

Please note also that in recent days I have done some serious updating and added some new material that should interest Australian Drive-in buffs particularly. Check out the additions to my Singapore page, my new Australian links page with links to current Australian drive-ins and photos of disused drive-ins, and lastly something special - a new page of old Australian drive-in advertisments.

In relation to the advertisments page you will find that I have got pretty good coverage of Australia so far but I am still seeking a number of ads for various closed Australian drive-ins. If anyone can help please mail me at p.berrett@optusnet.com.au

Thanks

Peter

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I enjoyed your website but I noticed that you have very little information about our defunct drive in theatres in Hawaii . I find it difficult to imagine why all of our outdoor theatres did not survive because we have excellent weather all year long. I used to enjoy them when I was younger especially when Royal Theatres (Now defunct) opened The Royal Sunset in my hometown here in Waipahu where I still live and work. It was a very nice theatre with a screen wider than the ones Consolidated had at the Kam and Kailua. The Kailua Drive In was the only one in Hawaii that was set up to play 70mm films with their Norelco projectors. As far as I can remember, the theatre played only one 70mm movie and it was "MY FAIR LADY" which was moved over to that theatre after the film had completed it's road show engagement at the Cinerama Theatre in Honolulu back in 1964. I was very young at that time but I recall seeing a movie at Hawaii's first drive in theatre, the Kapiolani in the middle of the city of Honolulu. It was built on land that would soon become prime real estate and closed in the mid fifties. After the closing, the land was sold by Consolidated and subdived and part of it was purchased by the Toho Motion Picture Company of Japan. It was here that the Japanese studio built one of their overseas theatre , the Hawaii Toho Theatre. The Toho was a beautiful theatre with all Japanese projection and sound equipment and was set up for both 35mm and 70mm with four and six track mag capabilities. Despite having all these wonderful equipment, the Toho never ran any films in 70mm because they never produced any but they did release a lot of movies in four track mag stereo but only in Japan. The theatre closed after several years of very successful operation along with it's sister theatre in Los Angeles. Toho might have also owned and operated a theatre in New York City but I dont know anythimg about that one. After Toho closed their Honolulu theatre, the builting was leased to Consolidated and they opeated the theatre by changing the name to Kapiolani. Many films played in 70mm at this theatre on domestic projection equipment and not on the Jaapanese hardware. The Kapiolani closed several years ago and the building now houses a Pappa John's Pizza and a Blockbuster video store. The Waialae Drive, owned and operated by Royal Theatres was also located in Honolulu in the Kaimuki district and was very popular except one problem. Because it was built on land that was once a cemetery some say it was haunted. Reports of ghosts in the restrooms and on the grounds was very common.
Despite these reports, the theatre was still in operation in the early eighties.

-Claude

Claude, yes there is not too much information about Hawaii at present. Unfortunately it is difficult to find relevant information here in Australia so I rely on people around the world to provide me with the necessary information. Contributors have provided me with some great information for my Singapore and PNG pages. Hopefully as more and more people provide snippets of information the pages will grow and a more useful history will be provided.

cheers Peter

The Drive-in ads section of my site contains examples of my very bad sense of humor. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (see entries for Roma QLD and Wonga QLD drive-ins)

cheers Peter