El Rancho

United, Kent

This was United's Seattle area budget drive-in; my dad always called it "The El-Cheapo." Even though it was in the same chain with more well-kept theaters, something about the El-Rancho's operation seemed particularly cursed. Unlike other single-screeners in the area, this place still only had one ticket booth, with windows on either side. One night the line seemed particularly slow, even with cars snaked on either side of the booth. This was because they had just one ticket seller, and he had a cast on one hand. I assume they would have used someone with casts on both hands if only he was available.

Inside, the facilities were equally questionable. I was pretty much scared away from the grubby playground at the front of the theater. The centerpiece was a child-powered merry-go-round, though this one looked at first to be a creative variation on the plaything, because it was tilted at a 45 degree angle. I soon figured out that this wasn't designed this way, but was broken. This was due in part to a loose foundation and deep rut around it allowing it to rock freely, and litigation be damned! Also unlike other drive-ins, this place couldn't afford to station an employee in front of the ground-level projection booth, so the last act of the first feature would always be punctuated by silhouettes of hand gestures, some of them two fingered peace signs, and some of them with just the one finger. Usually by the second feature, seagulls would fly past the bottom of the screen, because for some reason the screen was parallel with the road instead of in a corner of the lot. Even today as houseflies go past the television screen and fruit flies go past the computer screen, I get nostalgic.

At intermission they would always show the same film, consisting of abstract close-ups of such things as ruffled paper with polka dot holes punched in it, or small cardboard cubes hung from threads. The color was so faded that you knew they used the same film year after year, but compared with how poorly the rest of the rest of the property was kept, this film clip was remarkably scratch-free.

Kent News Journal (Now South County Journal), July 15, 1954. Copyright 1954 South County Journal.

It wasn't always this way, though. The early newspaper ads announced that this was the first drive-in in the area equipped with a Cinemascope screen, and stereo sound. Drive-in stereo sound--in 1954? Neither the ads nor articles ever said how they pulled that off. This place must have gone downhill quickly, because they started carload pricing in 1962. ($1.25, followed next year at $1.50. It closed at $3.50.) Stereo was long gone by the 70's, by which time all the drive-ins had wide screens, so the El-Rancho never seemed luxurious.

Kent News Journal, July 29, 1954. Copyright 1954 South County Journal. The notable feature that survived from this ad to the theater's closure is the "cozy snack bar." That was located right next to the cramped restrooms.

Kent News Journal, July 29, 1954. Copyright 1954 South County Journal. The Mural was long gone by the '70s, when the screen back bore the same red, yellow and blue colors put on most native United Drive-Ins (See Midway).

Kent News Journal, July 29, 1954. Copyright 1954 South County Journal.

Several days after these materials appeared, newspaper ads announced a "Grand Re-Opening." It seemed the owners were shut down by the state highway department for not following regulations; presumably their line behind the ticket booth spilled onto the road. This may mean that the highway department took a survey of the ticket line, with before and after photos that may still be in the Department of Transportation archives.

Me and my family must have attended the last week of operations here. The new tenant was already preparing new utilities as we drove through torn up streets and driveways to see The Shape of Things to Come with Starcrash. On Friday August 10, 1979 the advertisement changed to Love At First Bite with Old Dracula. By Monday the 13th, the El-Rancho's advertisements disappeared from the United Drive-In roster.

Last ad, Seattle Times, August 12, 1979. Copyright 1979 Seattle Times Co.

Today the current lots of warehouses dwarf the area where the El-Rancho used to be, though the developers were thoughtful enough to keep a corner of trees in the back by the freeway that frame the old property and always remind passers-by where the El-Rancho used to be.

A detailed view of the layout of this theater. (Information from a Kroll Map was used in the production of this map, which is different. This map is provided for informational puroses only)

After the date of the property map above, the owners filled in the land on the other side of the creek to add more rows in back. Washington State Department of Transportation. August 22, 1973.

USGS Renton 1949, 1968

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