Suburbia Triple Drive-In

2801 NW 13th Street,
Gainesville, FL 32609

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rivest266
rivest266 on May 23, 2024 at 6:53 am

The Suburbia Drive-In and cinemas closed on May 4th, 1978 after a tornado tore through the drive-in.

rivest266
rivest266 on May 22, 2024 at 11:38 pm

On December 29th, 1969, two mini cinemas named Penthouse Mini 1 & 2 opened on the second floor of the refreshment stand. The Drive-In expanded on March 29th, 1974, by adding two more outdoor screens, bringing the total to five screens. One of the indoor penthouse cinemas began showing adult movies.

Kenmore
Kenmore on May 22, 2024 at 5:52 pm

A 1984 aerial shows the drive-in demolished and seemingly for some time.

rivest266
rivest266 on May 22, 2024 at 4:21 pm

Opened March 10th, 1952. Grand opening ad posted

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on October 16, 2021 at 4:32 pm

One of the owners of the Suburbia was once arrested by an FBI agent, and would later plead not guilty over an obscenity film in July 1974. Throughout the rest of the 1970s is where the theater had a bunch of ups-and-downs on films and even projection, as more incidents were being taken place there.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on August 21, 2021 at 5:37 pm

The Suburbia Drive-In once had a brief stunt with X rated films throughout 1971 but stopped before 1972 came along, and returned to normal film runs including first-run. 2 more screens were added in either late 1973 or early 1974.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on December 30, 2019 at 8:19 pm

How tall was that screen tower?

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on December 30, 2019 at 8:19 pm

Thats the first multi level concession stand, i have heard of at a drive-in theatre.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on December 30, 2019 at 8:38 am

Boxoffice ran a full-page layout on the Suburbia Center Drive-In in its Sept. 6, 1952 issue, including several photos of its unusual screen tower and concession building. The tower included three floors of apartments for personnel, and the three-story concession stand included 350 theatre seats on its second floor.

Jeremy Garrett
Jeremy Garrett on July 20, 2017 at 9:22 am

Actually, an article on Gainesville.com says that this was a Sam’s Club from 1990 to 2016 when they decided to move to Butler Plaza. And apparently, there’s now a store called Rural King where this drive-in once stood.

jwmovies
jwmovies on December 11, 2012 at 1:11 pm

PLEASE UPDATE ADDRESS TO 2801 NW 13th Street.

AndyCallahanMajorMajor
AndyCallahanMajorMajor on November 9, 2010 at 2:34 pm

I think this one would’ve been at about 2801 NW 13th Street. It’s been a Sam’s Club since at least 1995.