Drive-In theaters in the USA, active and defunct - a listing by state

Terry Soloman

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The owner of my local drive in used to "hire" five or six of us to go though the parking spaces looking for change, dollar bills, personal belongings and bring it all back to him early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He took 50% of the change we found, and we split the rest, and got free passes to the features. :skullflag:
 

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DeepseekerADS

DeepseekerADS

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One of my childhood memories was watching "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" at the Bassett, VA drive in. They put a road through there and it's gone now. I would just love hunting the grounds of an old drive-in. There would be plenty silver!
 

Honest Samuel

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I hope the owner was very close so none of the goodies went into the kids pockets.
 

Terry Soloman

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One of my childhood memories was watching "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" at the Bassett, VA drive in. They put a road through there and it's gone now. I would just love hunting the grounds of an old drive-in. There would be plenty silver!

That movie scared the crap out of me! :tongue3:
 

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DeepseekerADS

DeepseekerADS

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That movie scared the crap out of me! :tongue3:

Yeah, and my older brother would chase me around with his hands up like claws & he was the Gill Man - was what we called the creature!
 

jeff of pa

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cool Site !

here is one nobody seems to have Remembered .

Though I don't know the name

It is in Mill Creek / Pottsville PA

August 29 1958 Aerial .

it was gone before 1971

82958.jpg

1.jpg

and nothing to detect :(



Un.jpg

mill creek.jpg
 

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jeff of pa

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and also not on the list East of Williamstown PA

August 5 1958 Aerial

View attachment 1321229 1.jpg

through the early 80's
the only movie on the bill board was Deep Throat

they would air it 7 days a week . My guess they had one or 2 Others also :dontknow:
but it was known for that for a Long Time

he talked about Building a Stage & having outdoor Rock groups play
But it never happened.


it eventually shut down and became the site of the owners home (trailer)

View attachment 1321237 2.jpg

I always Wished I could Buy the TEMPLE DRIVE-IN Sign.

z.jpg z.jpg

The American Pickers Would cry

View attachment 1321240 a.jpg

View attachment 1321241 b.jpg

cinema tours

http://www.cinematour.com/theatres/us/PA/21.html
 

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jeff of pa

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Exton Drive in would have been a Cool Hunt.



1950's

1.jpg

Long gone now :(

I'm guessing was here

2.jpg
 

villagenut

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Pulled a lot of 1920s-1950s silver from this old drive in after it closed down but it is long gone now. Trail Drive in.

 

jeff of pa

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I don't remember watching any movie at a drive-in though I was there about every weekend.
Don...........

Only Things I tried to Watch was the 3 Stooges in between Movies.
But never got through any of them either.

sky Vu in Gratz was my Favorite.
especially for all - Nighters

1.jpg

we always tried for a spot in the back 2 rows

a.jpg

Was closed for a few years. someone was hunting it but no idea who or if they had permission. There were no trespassing Signs.

they have been there working all spring. now that i don't have a vehicle,
I'm kicking myself for not asking when I could.

Guaranteed though tons of Can tabs from the Projection booth Back
and maybe even in front and probably still allot of Buried Wires


-october 1956
2.jpg
 

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DeepseekerADS

DeepseekerADS

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What are you telling us Jeff?

She's your wife now, right?

:) :) :)

Edit:

AND Don!
 

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jeff of pa

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What are you telling us Jeff?

She's your wife now, right?

:) :) :)

Edit:

AND Don!

She ? "they" Wife ? not Mine.

Actually there was too Much Partying going on back Then to be serious about any of them
 

austin

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Seems they left out the Bandera Rd. Drive-In in San Antonio. We went to three of those theatres. $ 1.00 a car load. What a great deal. Popcorn, a soda and sitting on the hood of the car or the outside seats. Great memories, but not The Creature From the Black Lagoon. Wouldn't go camping, swimming or hiking(with no water around) for years. Still won't watch that movie. What a great post. Thank you so much...
 

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DeepseekerADS

DeepseekerADS

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When I first found the link several years ago I e-mailed them some locations I remembered which weren't on their list. I've never gone back to check if they updated their list. I'd forgotten I even had the link. Maybe I should check - it would be a good way to see if they do updates.
 

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DeepseekerADS

DeepseekerADS

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Mar 3, 2013
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SW, VA - Bull Mountain
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CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
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On the creature, I vaguely remembered that I'd fallen asleep, and when I woke up & looked, the creature was on the screen with his claws up coming at someone. Geez o'mighty!!! I guess I'm lucky I didn't soil myself then.
 

DaytonaRacer

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This list is missing a key drive-in from NJ - the Amboy's Drive-In located in Sayreville, NJ between Perth Amboy and South Amboy and right next to the Garden State Parkway and Rte 9. You could literally watch the screen while on those highways, which presented a problem when they showed Deep Throat in the mid-70's. (True story) The police got involved in that and the drive-in closed shortly thereafter and was converted into an indoor multi-plex, which itself was closed down after it attracted too much violent crime.

My family used to sneak me and my brother into it in the back of my father's van. We also went to a few other drive-ins in NJ and NY.

My brother lived near the Warwick Drive-in in NY a few years ago and said that it was still a cool place to watch movies.

I'm surprised, though, that with NJ being the literal birthplace of the drive-in there's only 1 still in operation there yet there's 32 working drive-ins in NY. Go figure.
 

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