Bringing back the Paramount Drive-In
A gull flies over the parking lot of the Paramount Drive-In -- formerly known as the Roadium -- which will reopen in April. Glenn Bianchi, son of the theater’s founder, plans to bring the old-school drive-in into the high-tech era. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Dolores Resendiz sells her wares at the daily Paramount Swap Meet, where she has worked for the last 25 years. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Ignacio Torres cleans up at the end of the daily Paramount Swap Meet. Many drive-ins were cleared away to make room for shopping centers and big-box stores. Others were simply converted to outdoor swap meets. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A gull is reflected in the window of the Paramount Drive-In concession stand, which will be improved. The refurbished theater will also have two new 75-foot-wide screens, state-of-the-art digital projectors and an FM stereo radio sound system. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Swap-meet shoppers walk across the old parking lot at the Paramount Drive-In. In the late 1950s, there were more than 4,700 drive-ins in the U.S. Now only 360 are left, according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Assn. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)
Construction workers Danny Solorio, left, and Manual Marquez build a 7-foot wall that will keep out ambient light from the neighborhood surrounding the soon-to-reopen Paramount Drive-In. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)
Darren Kurkowski, top, and Glenn Bianchi proceed to the projector room next to the 11-screen Bianchi Theatres in Paramount, located on a corner of the drive-in’s 45-acre site. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)