Bayshore-Sunrise Drive-In
1881 Sunrise Highway,
Bay Shore,
NY
11706
1881 Sunrise Highway,
Bay Shore,
NY
11706
8 people
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Showing 51 - 75 of 85 comments
I worked at the Bay Shore Sunrise DI in the summer of 1978 and 1979.
I think the long jump track Bill C was referring a few posts up was actually the remnants of a mini-golf. Before my time there was apparently a putt-putt type golf course that backed up to Oakwood Blvd. But by the late 70’s it was long gone, but you could still see some of the “holes”.
UA required the “rampmen” who worked at the theater to wear these really hot jumpsuits. White with a UA logo on the left chest. The rampmen directed traffic till the movies started, then chased the walk in’s who entered the theater from the “golf course”, those who paid for one and tried so sneak their friends in who were hiding in the trunk. When Cheech and Chong movies played, we had to pay special attention to the concession lines because for some reason more people tried to rob Bon Bons off the counter during those movies.
That’s really odd, I’ve heard lots of people who live near the mall complaining about the way the town basically ignored all their input at some meeting or other. In fact, I remember somebody saying that the original plans called for fewer theaters, and it was later raised to 16. I’ll have to ask around—I thought it was a done deal. The way the manager kept repeating one phrase sounds like some sort of a technical denial, as if it’s going through but they know it isn’t popular…….?
Jeana, they still show old movies at the Boulton Center on Main St…. But it’s mostly a perfroming arts center now.
went to the managers office of south shore mall
asked the about a new theatre…
they said “ we don’t have anyone at this time under contract for any
new theatre>>"
it was like talking to the white house the kept going back to the no contract theme….wally1975
It’s funny how Bay Shore went from having the most theaters per square foot at one time, to having none. I don’t know what company is building the 16 screen at the mall. There was a lot of community opposition, due to fears of gang activity, and loss of parking. I didn’t know about Commack, that’s interesting.
update info….5th ave drive in…1612 5th ave is where hubbards
s&g….
north of southern state…5th and drayton ave..
wally1975
yes…you’re correct about commack..
5th ave drive is was loccated where hubbard sand and gravel is…
wally1975
Commack plans are for it tyo be knocked down but to be built on the same property..
jeana:
i will find out where 5th ave d i is…i lived on long island and as a kid went there with my family…i’m sure it was north of sunrise..
the 16 multiplex you talk about…sounds like national amusements ?
heard they plan to knock down commack to build one like island 16
cinema de lux holtsville..
the walconey is closed for today..
wally1075
Where was the drive-in on Fifth Ave.? (Before my time in Suffolk County.) It’s hard to envision a lot big enough on Fifth Ave. to have been a drive-in.
The Bay Shore twin referred to above was a Loew’s theater. It became a store for a while, but it now sits empty. However, a 16-screen multiplex is going to be built at the mall very soon. The current name of the mall is Westfield Shopping Town, although real people still call it the South Shore Mall.
re: 3 screens…the cinema was built later then drive in between
drive in and farmers market…though the same company never operated
together…it would be like you and your brother own a house next to each other and you telling people you have two driveways..
i was with prudential in h.s. and later with us from 69 to late 70’s.
one of the many theatres i managed was the bayshore theatre..
i don’t remeber encore..but, check this out..if you think about it
bayshore had more theatre’s then any town on long island at any given time…the bayshore[now ymca] the ‘regent’ still open with live shows [also owned ymca] the drive in, the cinema and the bayshore twins at the bayshore mall[still there not open].
by the way if you travel around l.i.check out the saville and islip
each now a triplex…BUT: check out the entrance and lobby’s…
just as nice as the day they were born..
my mom worked for prudential and ua until she retired alost 40 years
she was a manager..northport, sayville,islip,lindenhurst,babylon and
simthtown drive in..just to mention a few..if you worked in any of
the above theatre’s you may remember dotty…intermission is over
longislandwally75
Should this be listed as 3 screens since it had the indoor screen as well as the two outdoors?
BTW, the Waldbaum’s on the old drive in site is now even gone. It’s currently a Best Buys. Other stores in the center are ToysR'Us, Petco and Office Depot (KidsR'Us until recently).
BTW, the Waldbaum’s on the old drive in site is now even gone. It’s currently a Best Buys. Other stores in the center are ToysR'Us, Petco and Office Depot (KidsR'Us until recently).
I know I saw Fletch here in 1985 and probably one or two other films, but I can’t for the life of me remember the names of those films or any of the supporting features. As was mentioned earlier, this was the first Drive-In theater I ever attended that made use of the cars radio’s speakers.
I lived out in Bay Shore for a couple of years and to get to the theater coming down Brentwood Road from the north, you had to turn onto Oakwood Blvd and then make a right onto St Louis Avenue, going around the permiter of the property that encompassed the Drive-In and the Waldbaums Shopping Center that fronted Brentwood Road. This would then put you on the service road of the Sunrise Hwy going in the proper direction so that you could turn into the theater’s parking lot. Anyway, coming down St. Louis Avenue (in a residential development, mind you) one could clearly make out the images on the twin screens which rose high enough to provide a clear line of sight over the fencing that ran along the edge of the property. Maybe not an issue when Muppets Take Manhattan was playing, but certainly something to talk about when a movie like About Last Night had a 30 foot tall Rob Lowe and Demi Moore prancing naked around the bedroom.
I have many fond memories of the Bay Shore Drive-In. The indoor theater on the property was before my time (the first film I saw there was Star Wars in 1978). I never knew there had been an indoor theater there other than the Cinema just outside the property. Incidentally, after the Bay Shore Theater on Main St. closed, I think they started just calling the Cinema UA Bay Shore. That’s how it was listed in Newsday, anyway. The only film I saw there other than Rocky Horror was Karate Kid III. That building was sort of a sister theater to the Brentwood Theater. Pretty much the same architecture.
As a kid I loved the playground at the Drive-In. We’d get there before sundown and play until the movies started. They took it out long before the Drive In closed though. I think a kid got hurt and they didn’t want to deal with anymore lawsuits.
I saw one of my favorite random bad movies at the Drive-In. We went to see The Muppets Take Manhattan and it was inexplicably part of a double feature with Krull. We didn’t even know 2 films were showing.
One weird fact I remember is that there was a gravel long jump track complete with sand pit up near the base of one of the screens. I always wondered what on earth it was doing there.
By the way, if anyone has any info on where the old Fifth Ave. Drive-In was, I’d love to know. I only recently found out about it’s existence.
I remember when Bay Shore (yes it is two words) was the first theater I knew of that played the audio through your AM radio. It was a god sent because I had many close calls with the speakers at the Copiague Johnnie All Weather.
Amen!
What do you say we tell those crazy people to tear down that shopping center and put the screens back up? (LOL)
View link
Here’s a link to some pics I hope it works.
One night in the eighties my mother and I went there to see some famous picture. This was one of the few times I saw the drive in in full regalia. There were cats being projected on the screens. It was like the sixties reborn.
There was a whole little amusement park out in front. It had a little roller coaster, a ferris wheel and everything. I saw A Hard Days Night there. I’ll never forget driving by a few nights earlier with my parents and seeing the Beatles bigger than life on that screen in the night sky!
There was a seperate Theatre called the Cinema at the edge of Sunrise Hwy. It seems from whats written above that there was an additional indoor theatre on the Drive-In grounds further North. I don’t recall it. I only remember the one ticket booth, the one in the pics. I wish Orlando would set me straight!
Did you buy the tickets for the indoor theatre at the same box office as you did for the drive-in?
Here are some pics of the Theatre before they razed it and put up a Home Depot and Senior Citizen Housing
http://www.eastislip.org/sunrise_drive_in.htm
Orlando..
Was the 5th Ave DriveIn you mention on 5th Ave in Bayshore? Do you know where?
You mention an Indoor Theatre on the property in addition to the Cinema which stood out on the Highway? Where was this building? I don’t recall it at all.
Also “The booth to the drive-in was incorporated into the indoor theatre with the snack bar”
I recall (and the pics show) a separate ticket booth as you came in.. the snack bar stood alone.
Please refresh my memory!! (Whats left of it!!)