On this date: Thunderbird Drive-In opens

April 30, 1959 Marysville Globe cover story about the opening of the Thunderbird.

The Thunderbird Drive-In in Marysville, Wash. officially opened on this day, May 1, 1959. According to an article (above) in the April 30, 1959 Marysville Globe newspaper, the drive-in featured a panoramic screen, a children's playground and would be open seven nights a week during the season.

 Opening films that weekend were "My Man Godfrey," starring David Niven and June Allison, and "Man of the West" starring Gary Cooper and Julie London.

July 1990 photo from the US Geologic Survey collection.

 The drive-in, with a capacity of 500 vehicles, drew movie-goers from around the county for 33 years -- the next closest drive-in theaters being the Everett Motor Movie at 75th & Evergreen Way, and the Skagit Drive-In in Burlington.

At the time, the Thunderbird's address was simply "three miles north of Everett at the Marysville cloverleaf," also known as the intersection of Hwy 99 and the Tulalip Hwy (SR 528), and now known as 33rd Ave NE & 66th Ave NE  (Interstate 5 between north Everett and Marysville didn't officially open until 1969).

Eventually the Thunderbird succumbed to rising real estate values and declining patronage, as most drive-ins did by the 1980s and 1990s. It closed forever in November 1992. An automobile and RV dealership now occupies the land.