Rocky Point Drive-In
115 N. Country Road,
Rocky Point,
NY
11778
115 N. Country Road,
Rocky Point,
NY
11778
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 51 comments
robboehm – I’ve posted an entry as you suggested. Mainly about the drive-in, since that holds the most memories for me, last paragraph does pertain to the cinema but is lacking as I really do not recall much about the cinema.
miss the point – perhaps you could post some of your recollections on the Rocky Point Cinema on that site.
Did it have a sloping floor? What was unique about it?
When I used to summer in Rocky Point we went to the Brookhaven. There was no Drive In in the early 1950s.
Check out New York Drive-Ins.com has some photos, and newspaper clippings about the Drive-In. It opened June 16th 1961, closed in 1988.
I remeber the Cinema, 1st year or 2 it showed regular movies then turned X-Rated. The only movie I can remeber seeing was a western, Judge Roy Bean(?). When the kids I hung out with started coming of age we always talked about going to see a XXX but it was all bluster we never went. The indoor movie theaters that I went to on a regular basis were the East Setauket Fox, saw Gone with The Wind for the 1st time on the “big screen” as compared with years of watching it on TV in B&W, it was amazing. Also the Brookhaven in Port Jefferson Station, I remember when they had a Herbie (The Lovebug) in the lobby. When it became a $1.00 theater we went just about every week.
Well, if you were at the new Carvel you were next to the Rocky Point Cinema. Any recollections on it? When I established it on CT I was working from personal recollections and an article in the Port Jefferson Echo.
If we were allowed to get a 2nd treat I always chose an eggroll and Yoo-Hoo too! I was terrified of the bathrooms, would not go by myself for the longest time, I think it was because of the exposed plumbing and dim lighting. I remember the original Carvel on 25A on the north-west corner of Hallock Landing. It was the old walk-up style the front facade was slanted, later it moved down by the drive-in. I always got a chocolate cone with chocolate or rainbow sprinkles. Shopped at Sears Surplus alot, the manager (tall bald guy) for some reason pegged me as a potential shop-lifter and would follow me around. So I would pick up merchandise walk around then set it down somewhere else, drove him nuts.
Someone needs to have some vision and open a drive-in on Long Island again. Westbury still made money to the day it closed.
We went to the Rocky Point Drive-In, back in the 70’s. Our mother would have us bathed and in our jammies before we went. I too, remember seeing Grease and Xanadu, as some others have mentioned. I can remember the concession stand. My Dad would go stand in line and bring the food back to the car. My favorite was the egg rolls. I always paired it with a Yoo-Hoo.
On Thursday nights, my mother would take us to the McDonalds and sometimes the Carvel…mmm…the chocolate and strawberry bonnets! Sears Surplus was where our school clothes came from every year. (Back when Andrew Muller was Miller Place Primary School and Laddie Decker was a just-built Sound Beach School. Our first day there, the teachers were on strike!)
You also missed the remnants of the Skyway Drive-In outside of Greenport. All that’s left is the pylon which is used by a Lutheran Church. But, if memory serves me correctly, this is not on Main Road but one that parallels it.
Oh, I don’t really care about shopping center cinemas to take pix.
If you passed the Drive-In you also passed the Rocky Point Cinema about two blocks west on the same side of the road. It is in a strip shopping center and cannot be identified as a theatre. I did a lot of digging before I posted it and have some newspaper images which I’ve yet to get here.
I agree with LostMemory. I passed by this on my bike on a Long Island trip on Saturday. Saw the sign right away. The original pic he posted is newer looking. The top and bottom of the marquee are there but with no letters and “Drive-INT” remains.
Got more info on the hard top, altho not the opening date or the seating capacity and posted it. Interestingly, from the front of the former hardtop you can see the remains of the Drive-In which was only two blocks away. And another bit of trivia, both these theatres were at the western most part of Rocky Point ways away from Broadway which was the original town “way back then” before the sprawl onto 25A.
Thanks. Still tracking it down. It was the Pancake Cottage. I think I’ve got the spot but am having trouble putting an actual address on it. Perused a lot of microfilm from the Port Jefferson Record and have more to go. Someone furnished me with a picture of the theatre when it just closed. Now trying to get a date on that. I hope to have a posting up shortly.
I was unfamiliar with the terminolgy, and did not know what hard top meant, so I guess I gave you alot of info about the drive-in that you already knew.
I have a stack of old Lion’s Club of R.P. Classified Directories and neither the drive-in nor hard-top were ever listed. The only mention came from the listing for Georgia’s Statuary. “Rte 25A cor. of Brookhaven Dr. (Next to Rocky point Drive-In Theatre”
The restaurant may have been called the Pancake Cottage, not Kountry Kitchen as I had written previously. There is a listing for it in the late 70’s directories but the only address given is Rte 25A in R.P.
Tracked down the shopping center where the hard top was, now to solidify the location. I walked around the back for clues since sometimes the building has telltale signs. In the middle of the building is a double door whereas all the other stores have single exit doors. A possibility but not conclusive.
The Drive-in was west of Broadway, Hallock Landing and Tall Tree Golf course. East of North Country Rd. There was a place that sold garden statuary just before the entrance to the drive-in which was
on the North side of 25A. There were a couple of side roads Patchogue Dr and Brookhaven Dr whether they were the access roads I cannot remember. In later years (mid 70’s) 2 strip malls fronted the drive-in property, one had a succession of grocery stores (Bohacks was 1st) then it was a Sear Surplus, there was a Crazy Eddies next door for a while (his prices are insane!!). The other housed the indoor movie (after it closed it became a resuarant called Kountry
Kitchen I beleive) and the Carvel.
I was a security guard at the beach in 1980 when it was run by Denzler Security I worked at all the beaches, Queen included climbing up and down those steps kept me in shape.
There is a book called “Looking Back at Rocky Point, In the Shadow of the Radio Towers” Volume 1 by Natalie Aurucci Steifel that may interest you. It tells the story of how Rocky Point came to be and how RCA influenced the area.
To miss the point and others. I’d like to get the hard top on the site. Anymore information about the where? East or West of Broadway? North or South on 25A? Stores other than Carvel?
I did my summers in Rocky point in the 40’s and early 50’s. No drive in then. We had to go into Port Jeff. Laterly when I summered in Sound Beach the Brookhaven opened and we went there; still no Drive-In. Hey I remember when the Long Island Railroad still went as far as Wading River, although by that time there was only freight service.
As far as the beach is concerned my father, several uncles and friends built a path down the bluff to the beach at around Queen. It was wild to go thru the poinson ivy, etc.. Last year after I moved out here full time I went to the beach entrance at Broadway and was easily able to gain access by mentioning my history to the guard. However, I did not make the trek west to see if any remnants or the path are visible. There are none from the street at the top of the bluff.
Man, I can’t believe that Rocky Point Drive In is gone! Sad, really sad. I live in California but spent all my childhood summers on Long Island with family and Rocky Point was always one of our “must do’s” of the summer! Remember seeing Xanadu there…classic “bad” movie must see btw. We need to save our drive ins, they are a disappearing part of Americana.
Our family were summer residents from 1957-1980, winter residents from 1980-1988. I spent many nights at the drive-in from infancy to adulthood. I remember at about age 8 or 9 when I realized that I was too big for the playground after I slammed my head on the Big Blue slide as I tried to flip over the monkey bar (ouch!). The indoor theater did show regular movies for the 1st year or 2 before it became x-rated. It was in the stripmall that had the Carvel. I was up for a visit this past April (06) and could not beleive the changes. Most the old stuff is gone. The fence along NSPOBA Beach is an eyesore, I almost cried when I saw that. We went to Broadway beach with the big Rock for diving (forbidden now!)Thank goodness TILDA’s Bakery is still there, (Best cookies and cakes anywhere)
Alfies too. It is definately not the sleepy little summer community I remember.
the last time i went to the drive in was summer of 1982. as a kid we went every saturday night. the made in a gold course or something but that didn’t last long. lets not forget rexall on broadway the post office tildens bakery the best crumb cake macarricks always went there before the beach to get snacks and drinks good old friendship beach until it was closed then started to go to cedar then silly me went to shoreman beach wow alittle green lol the good old carnivals by the church on 25A stopped go to rocky point in the early 90’s went back the in 2004 what a big change davids peach farm is gone they built houses but don’t worry i found the farm and bought some peaches i can’t believe 25a a paved road with FLOWERS. lol
who still visit rocky point
When I was between the ages of 5-8 years old, my parents would bring me to this drive in quite often. It was the late 70s-early 80s time era. I have so many fond memories of this drive in; I saw Grease, E.T. Superman, etc there. My parents had a huge old Buick at the time and my brother and I would bring blankets and lay on the hood of the car and lean against the windshield and watch the movies. I just drove past where it used to be today and the original sign is still there falling apart. It was turned into a golf driving range in the late 1980’s, which is now abandoned and left in ruins. I took a picture of the old sign and will probably post it here soon.
That whole stretch of Route 25a was quite beautiful when I first came across it circa 1968-74 â€" many huge trees, just a few malls here and there. It even featured the magnificent remains of Nicolai Tesla’s legendary laborary in Shoreham, an architectural masterpiece (McKim Meade & White) with wild electrical experiments that inspired the Frankenstein movie imagery of inddor lightning. Hidden away in the pine barrens was the RCA transatlantic radio communications station, another architectural gem I’ve heard, very art deco. The former was covered over with a corrugated tin facade, its lovely trees turned into a parking lot surrounded with barbed wire, and then the place was condemned as a toxic waste site. The latter was demolished in connection with the pine barrens preservation, and then the preserved woods were paved over by a four-lane by-pass. The route between Wading River and Port Jefferson Station has now been systematically reduced to one of the worst asphalt wastelands on Long Island (which means anywhere in the world). It’s nice to know there’s still a trace of the drive-in sign at least!
The Rocky Point Drive-In led me to this site today- you can see the original sign peeking through underneath the DRIVING RANGE sign on rt25-A. If there’s that much left perhaps theres more?