Cars full of moviegoers watch a screening of the 2016 Marvel Studios film “Deadpool” in 2020 at the West Wind Drive-In theater in Goleta. During the COVID-19-related lockdown of indoor movie theaters, the Goleta drive-in theater reopened and was packed for screenings, and UCSB Arts & Lectures and other organizations made use of the drive-in. But as indoor theaters became fully reopened, attendance decreased at the drive-in, and on Sept,. 5, the Goleta drive-in theater again closed down permanently. As a show of its appreciation to the community, the Goleta drive-in theater joined theaters across the country in offering $3 movies on Sept. 3, National Cinema Day. And on Sept. 4, the drive-in theater offered free movies. “We would like to thank you for your support, and we will miss serving you at the Santa Barbara Drive-In,” West-Wind said on its Facebook page. (The chain continues to operate drive-in theaters in Sacramento, San Jose and Concord, as well as Las Vegas, Reno and Glendale, Ariz.) At the start of this year, the Hi-Way Drive-in Theater closed in Santa Maria, and drive-in theaters closed in the late 1990s in Ventura and Simi Valley. That leaves the Central Coast’s only drive-in theater in San Luis Obispo: Sunset Drive-In.
