Geneva Drive-In
Orem, Utah1948-1971
Shop Geneva Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Orem, Utah, theater opened on July 4, 1948, with a glass block box office and a restaurant at the entrance. Its sign swung a large arc over the name and ended in an arrow pointing the way in. Browse the styles below, and the full Geneva history is further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
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Geneva Drive-In History
The Geneva Drive-In in Orem, Utah, opened on July 4, 1948, with Ray Milland in California. A trade paper reported about 600 cars on a lot built north of Provo, in what it called the fast-growing Orem district, by the Superior Amusement Company of Don Clyde, Maurice Miller and Veigh Cummings. Cummings is the name most often given as owner. It had a modern glass block box office and a restaurant at the entrance.
It stood on State Street at about 1300 South, where drivers turned off the highway and came down a lane past a grocery. A railroad ran behind the screen, on what is now Orem Boulevard. Its sign, seen in an early night photo, swung a large arc over the name and ended in an arrow pointing the way in. No source explains the name, though the big Geneva steel works, opened during the war, stood a few miles to the west.
The closing is a little cloudy. Two local listings say about 1966, and a former employee remembered 1972 or 1973. A Cinema Treasures contributor gives a last show on April 4, 1971, and one of the films on that bill came out only in 1971, so the screen was certainly lit that late. University Mall went up across the street, and shops now cover the site.