Paramus Drive-In

94 New Jersey 4,
Paramus, NJ 07652

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vindanpar
vindanpar on June 20, 2020 at 8:19 am

This must have been where my parents took us to see My Fair Lady though we usually went to the Nyack or 303. Children under 12 free. Definitely saw Finian’s Rainbow here and I remember the lights from the Garden State Plaza being a distraction. Moviebuff you left off the Century which was a beautiful single screen theater on the edge of the Plaza parking lot until they split it down the middle in the early 70s and it became a dump.

kennerado
kennerado on June 20, 2020 at 4:27 am

Opening films were “Calendar Girl” & “Mr. District Attorney”.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on June 19, 2020 at 6:03 pm

https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/paramus/business/two-drive-in-theaters-coming-to-paramus/789571/

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 18, 2019 at 7:45 pm

This was the first movie theater in Paramus to open in the area, followed by the mall theater, then the Route 4 and 17 theaters, then cinema 35, and currently AMC. Looks like regal might not have a theater in Paramus Park at all.

rivest266
rivest266 on November 6, 2018 at 5:47 pm

Listings started as Paramus Drive-In starting in 1951.

rivest266
rivest266 on November 5, 2018 at 5:46 pm

This opened on August 19th, 1947 as the Route 4 Drive-In. Grand opening ad posted

mpsheehy
mpsheehy on May 15, 2018 at 9:30 pm

Anyone know when STAR WARS played there? That is where I saw it as a 3 year old…

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on May 8, 2017 at 8:41 pm

One can take 4 up to 17 up to upstate NY and go to warwick for a true drive-in….

Kenmore
Kenmore on May 5, 2017 at 12:05 am

jwmovies is correct, the address is 94 New Jersey 4, Paramus, NJ.

Today, it is a large parking lot with no traces of the drive-in remaining. http://tinyurl.com/mw8cev8

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on May 4, 2017 at 2:28 pm

Sometime in the late 1980s this theater closed down.

gkc333
gkc333 on June 1, 2013 at 1:56 pm

Looking for the owners name during the late 70’s early 80’s
daughters name is debbie

jwmovies
jwmovies on November 7, 2012 at 5:57 am

Approx. address for this drive-in was 94 New Jersey 4.

JonLevi
JonLevi on April 26, 2012 at 7:02 pm

I’m glad you guys are talking about this. My Grandfather owned the land at present day Garden State Plaza where the former Paramus Drive-In Movie sits. One day back in the 30’s my grandfather was sitting on this land wondering what to do with it. Family legend has it that he struck on the idea of an outdoor movie theater there not because it’s a great idea to have an outdoor theater. But because back then the tax collecting authorities (IRS?) collected taxes only for the square footage of the building that exists on the land. What a lightbulb of an idea, put a small shack with a projector in it and a screen on the other end and collect the profits with little overhead and taxation. Fits the adage, you build it, the rest shall come. We have the books from the 30’s onto the 50’s, he was making money HAND OVER FIST with little taxation. Ironically by the 50’s he got out of the business because the profits were declining and the tax structure changed. He then went into the motel/hotel business. If anybody reads this, and have pictures, I would love to have copies as I have none. Please inbox me at .

springfieldD
springfieldD on April 23, 2011 at 7:19 am

It happened on Plaza Way.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on April 22, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Sfldd, was this on Route 17 or Route 4 or another highway when this happened?

springfieldD
springfieldD on May 10, 2009 at 11:14 pm

The Paramus Drive-in was closed for the first half of the 1970s. It reopened around 1977. The great feature when it reopened was that instead of attaching a speaker to your car, you could tune in to the movie on your car radio. This was great for the local teens because we used to hang out in the woods behind the theater. We would bring our beers and of course a portable radio, watch some great movies and drink our brewskies without worrying about getting hassled.
In the summer of 79, the theater began having midnight showings of rock movies. This brought in a lot of young, drunk moviegoers. I don’t think this even lasted the whole summer because of the problems with drinking, drug use and fights. Tragedy struck when a teenage moviegoer was hit and killed by a car on his way home from one of these shows. It was after this summer that the theater really began to go down hill as far as maintenance.

Jetslinda
Jetslinda on July 23, 2008 at 5:20 pm

The Paramus Drive In closed in 1987. The last movie there was a double feature, Crocodile Dundee and the Untouchables.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on March 4, 2007 at 11:59 am

Years after the theater closed, the movies are returning to the Plaza in a much different form, this time a 16-plex slated to open in the spring of this year. When that happens, I will post the Garden State 16 on this site. Hopefully it will be much better than the aging Route 4 Tenplex, which has outlasted all of its nearby cinema competition (Paramus Picture Show, Route 17 Triplex, and Bergen Mall) as the most popular multiplex in Paramus.

teecee
teecee on March 4, 2007 at 11:40 am

another post card from the 50s or 60s:
View link

teecee
teecee on September 23, 2006 at 7:42 am

Old aerial postcard from the 1950s. Theater is almost dead center:
View link

teecee
teecee on September 19, 2006 at 6:05 pm

“In 1931, one of the earliest Drive-In Theaters opened in Paramus, and boasted the world’s largest and brightest screens. Located behind what is now he Garden State Plaza Shopping Mall. The drive-in closed sometime around 1983. Easy Money starring Rodney Dangerfield was one of the last movies shown there."
extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramus%2C_New_Jersey

Well, I always thought that the wikpedia was fairly accurate, now I’m not so sure. The 1931 date is obviously erroneous since the first drive in opened in 1933. Not sure if the 1983 closing date can be trusted.

mdvoskin
mdvoskin on October 25, 2005 at 7:28 am

The Paramus Drive-in was open well into the 1980’s. The problem in it’s later years was that the land was owned by The Garden State Plaza, which wanted to build an office building on the site. The town would not give the a variance to build, so while they squabbled with the town, the leased the theatre to various operators on a year by year basis. Because of the short term leases, nobody was willing to spend the money to keep the place up, and it quickly became a dump.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on July 20, 2005 at 12:11 pm

I love that ad. It doesn’t even actually refer to those 5 theaters as drive-ins. They were so widespread and commonplace back then, everyone just knew. Now they are the rarest of the rare: only one in the whole state of New Jersey, and that’s way down near Vineland.

teecee
teecee on July 20, 2005 at 11:36 am

1966 ad courtesy of Bill Huelbig:
View link