Hollowbrook Drive-In
1200 Oregon Road,
Cortlandt,
NY
10567
1200 Oregon Road,
Cortlandt,
NY
10567
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I am not absolutely certain, but I believe this was the venue for one of the most shameful episodes in Westchester (and American) history: the infamous “Peekskill riots” that occurred in 1949 when Paul Robeson was invited to perform at a concert. The information I’ve been able to dig up says the concert was first scheduled for August 27 at “a picnic grounds called Lakeland Acres” or “The Lakeland Picnic Grounds, a former golf course.” Violence caused that concert to be cancelled; a rescheduled concert was successfully held on Sept. 4, but the attendees were subsequently stoned as they attempted to leave via the single road out — which had to have been Oregon Road. I’ve read elsewhere that the Drive-In was the site, but I’m now unable to confirm this. Whether it was or not would depend on when the Drive-In actually opened — if it was after 1949, it could be on this site. If not, then they were neighbors on Oregon Road. Anybody know?
Richard W. Haine,
I tracked-down a copy of your movie. However, the credits say it was the Maybrook, not Hollowbrook, Drive-in. Was that a mistake?
Thanks—
I have the road sign of this Drive-in, on the door of the projection booth of my screening room which I found on ebay.
I attended the Hollowbrook drive in through out the sixties.
Like most Ozoners in the area, children under 12 got in for
free. I saw pictures like “The Sand Pebbles”, “Planet of the
Apes” and the 1969 re-issue of “Ben Hur” there.
In 1982, I filmed a murder sequence at this theater for my
film, “Splatter University”. You can see the ticket booth,
screen and woods behind the speakers in the film. Circa 1983,
the movie played there on a double bill with “Squeeze Play”.
I went there one more time to see “The Blues Brothers” and then
it folded along with most of the indoor and outdoor Westchester
single screen theaters.