On February 19 and 20, 1962, the Beach Boys performed a live set at the Academy Fine Arts Theatre during intermission of two showings of the film Surf Crazy, at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
The original Waterford Drive-In (there were two of them) opened in summer 1949, with a capacity for 750 cars. Corporation officers included president Michael Radin, vice-president William Rabinowitz, and treasurer Lorraine Forcier, all of Hartford, while the drive-in was managed by Sherwood Gloth. The original Waterford DI was located at Boston Post Road near the intersection of Clark Lane, near Woodland Grove Trailer Park and Fenger’s Hollow, on what was formerly known as Davis Field (referred to by most locals as The Circus Lot, due to the annual big-top events held at the locale).
In 1952, Amalgamated Buying Service became a business partner, with the operators listed as of 1955 as S. Gloth & Amalgamated. It was laid out much like the nearby Norwich-New London Drive-in, except the projection booth was on the left of the snack bar, the only area drive-in outfitted that way.
In 1970, Raymond C. Sroczenski took over the theater operations and applied for permits to move the lot down the hill, a bit further from Clark Lane, to a space approximately the same size, but with a smaller screen. The new lot also only had one direct access entrance from the main road (Boston Post Road, aka Route 1).
The old Waterford Drive-in locale was built over with a shopping center anchored by a Stop ‘N’ Shop that went up in 1972. The same shopping center also hosted Bee-Bee’s Dairy (later Newport Creamery) and the indoor Waterford Theater, run by the same United General Theater chain that built the exactly identical Cameo Theater in nearby Niantic at the same time. Carl Sherman ran both the indoor and outdoor Waterford theaters in the 70s.
The new drive-in locale was built in spring 1973, though construction and permit delays kept the drive-in from reopening until August 29, with a screening of Dillinger (“Free admission to the first 25 Ladies in Red!”) backed with The Little Cigars Mob. The downhill locale attempted to save the screen from the “light pollution” that ruined its original location, being in the middle of a rapidly growing array of shopping plazas on all the surrounding properties. The lights were blocked by homemade sheet metal shades installed around the drive-in parking lot lights. However, the drive-in was never able to get a bright picture on the screen due to all the nearby business and street lighting, and the downhill locale was frequently so fogged in that raindate “fog passes” had to be regularly issued to patrons unable to see the screen. The second Waterford Drive-In closed after the summer 1980 season.
The Alvarado Drive-In was located in San Diego’s La Mesa neighborhood, near Interstate 8 and west of Baltimore Drive, on El Cajon Boulevard just before it dumps onto the highway. Within walking distance of the nearby Campus Drive-In with its famed marching Indian majorette marquee, the more plain and less attended Alvarado’s first appearance in the annual Theatre Guide books is 1961, listed as being operated by Lanford & Long, with a car capacity of 900.
An article on the San Diego Reader website about local drive-ins has a comment from Leonard Pellman: “The Alvarado Drive-In was built in the early to mid-1950s. I lived at the Miles Motel, 7930 El Cajon Boulevard, from 1953 to 1957. The theatre entrance was on El Cajon Boulevard and they had to get an easement from the motel owners. In exchange for that easement, the Alvarado allowed the motel to construct a private viewing booth at the property line with two speakers in it. I clearly remember watching movies from that booth for the last couple years we lived at the motel, so it must have been built by 1955 or 1956 at the latest.”
Members and supporters of the Motion Picture Projectionist Local 297 picketed the Alvarado lot in the 60s because non-union help was said to be running the booth equipment. Owners eventually agreed to switch to union projectionists. In 1968, the theater began admitting kids under 12 free, boosting attendance. By July 1969, operators had formed Alvarado Drive-In Theatre Inc. The business was purchased in January 1972 by Syufy Century Theatres Inc. of San Francisco, which ran several other indoor and outdoor California screens.
Within a few years, the Mann Theatres chain came to run this drive-in. This was a huge boon in 1973, when this ozone hosted the local debut of Disney’s re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (ad uploaded to photo section). The Mann connection proved even more valuable in 1975, when the Alvarado was one of the few San Diego drive-ins to debut the film Jaws during its opening weeks, along with Mann’s Fashion Valley 4 cinemas. In the late ‘70s, daytime Sunday church services were being held on the lot. The Alvarado appears to have closed around 1980, to be replaced by a Best market, Burlington Coat Factory, a Godfather’s Pizza, Trader Joe’s, an El Torito, and other strip-mall shops.
This footage of the September 1929 opening just appeared on Youtube, taken from an old ¾" U-Matic broadcast videotape found at a liquidation sale of things owned by veteran San Diego anchorman Jack White, the newscaster who coached Will Ferrell for his role in Anchorman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6NBDxakLFs
The Drive-in was announced in December 1939 and built on the site of a former dog track on the south side of Blue Mound Road, west of Moorland Road, in what was then Brookfield. Originally scheduled to open June 4, 1940, the first screening took place June 18 with Convicted Woman starring Rochelle Hudson and Glenn Ford. Admission was 35 cents per person, with ads promising “Cars free.” It was apparently Milwaukee’s only outdoor screen until 1948, when the 41 Twin Outdoor opened in Franklin. The Bluemound’s final screening ($1.50 admission) was September 7, 1981 with The Great Muppet Caper and Smokey & the Bandit II.
Opened at the end of April 1967 (opening day ad just uploaded), advertised the first new movie theater to open in the area for the previous 30 years. 10 years later, the Groton UA would become the southern CT home of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on weekend evenings.
Opened May 1949, across the street from Stewart Airfield (later Grand Central Mall), with a double feature of “Down to Earth” starring Rita Hayworth and “Rose of Santa Rosa,” a Spanish-themed musical.
The Ace’s advertised address was 8015 Imperial Avenue in Lemon Grove, though the entrance was on Broadway. Built in the ‘50s on a four acre plot of land, it was owned for years by Eldorado Theatres, and operated for most of its existence by Bill Russo (of Russo Family Enterprises).
In 1963, an admission special of $1.25 per carload was implemented (the nearby Campus Drive-in countered with a $1.24 special, including giving free admittance to kids under 12). In 1969, admission at the Ace was $3.00 per carload, solidifying its niche as the premier area spot for teen gatherings, and the price was lowered further in 1973 to $2.00 per car (it rose again in 1975, to $2.50 per).
By that time, the theater was known for endless kung fu triple features and “head” flicks like The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, The Groove Tube, Zardoz, and The Kentucky Fried Movie.
It was also known for employees willing to turn a blind eye to cars arriving filled with liquor-laden teenagers and stoners reeking like Tommy Chong’s beard. Locals had a saying at the time: “The Ace is the place to space.” By 1979, the admission price had gone back up to $3.00 per carload.
In 1986, the land beneath the Ace was owned by Oral Carpenter, while the theater itself was owned by Bill Russo, who leased the property for 30 years. “Drive-ins are like dinosaurs,” Russo told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’ve already gotten out of eight others in the county.” Shortly thereafter, the land was sold to Jack Guttman, of Guttman Construction.
The last movies screened in November 1986 were King Kong Lives and The Wraith. The 7.6-acre parcel of land at the northeast corner of Broadway and Grove Street later became home to the Village Grove apartment complex, built by Guttman at a cost of around $8 million dollars and featuring 161 rental apartments.
Opening day article lists address as the E6200 block of Sprague. Same article reports J.J. Rosenfield built at a reported cost of $100,000, it sported a 60 foot tall screen tower and a 50 foot wide screen, and was then managed by Robert Coleman for the Favorite Theaters chain. Uploading opening day ad. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19490916&id=rzsaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JicEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6114,165691&hl=en
Opened May 26, 1939 (opening day ad uploaded to photos) and originally advertised as the Drive-in Theatre Milford. Operated in the ‘40s by Carl Hellpen for the EM Loew chain, which also ran drive-ins in Montville (Norwich-New London DI) and elsewhere in CT.
The Big Sky Drive-In opened in June 1955 at 2245 Main Street in Chula Vista. With 21 acres of space, its car capacity of 2000 made it one of the four largest ozones in the U.S. (Los Aitos in Long Beach held 2100 while the 41 Twin in Franklin, Wisconsin, and the Twin Open Air in Oak Lawn, Illinois, were the same size as the Big Sky). The full-color opening night features were Howard Hughes' Son of Sinbad, along with the Randolph Scott western Rage At Dawn. The stainless steel-filled snack bar was dubbed The Sky Bar, and for years the Big Sky advertised “Always two cartoons!” A “Kiddieland” playground on the property included swings, slides, and whirls. This drive-in went dark in July 1980. An industrial park was eventually built on the property.
The Lemon Bowl Cinema Dine was San Diego’s second drive-in theater, opening shortly after the Midway DI. The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog lists its original owners as C.E. Norcross, Suburban Theatres Inc. of Loma Linda, California. Ira Durham and Oliver McNeel operated the theater through 1953, before leasing it to Sero (which had opened San Diego’s third DI, the Rancho) for one or two final seasons. The lot included a restaurant, where snacks and dinners were served, as well as prewarmed bottles of baby formula, delivered for a time on carts that could only navigate horizontally along the lot’s flat surface aisles. With no local advertising after September 1954, it appears this ozone was torn down even before the nationwide atrophy of drive-ins began, to make room for access to the 94 freeway, with a portion of the property eventually housing a Toyota dealership.
New article with a fairly detailed history of this theater, along with photos from the late ‘20s thru today – http://gardetheaterhistory.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-grande-olde-garde-history-of-new.html
The theater plans to once again offer movie screenings on a regular basis, after the recent installation of a newfangled 4K Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) compliant digital projection system with eight channel surround sound, said to rival any similarly outfitted moviehouse in the region (with a screen that, at around 40 feet by 25 feet, is one of the largest non-Imax screens in the state).
The first major engagement planned for the screening is the 2015 Winter Film Festival, which starts up in January.
The Niantic Theater was closed in March 1980 for renovations, reopening in May as the three-screen Niantic Cinema 1-2-3. Owner George P. Mitchell (who purchased the theater in 1979) told the New London Day (4-25-80) that the old theater seated about 630 people, while the three-screen version seated 200 people in each downstairs theater and 150 more in the balcony that had been turned into an upstairs screen (with rocking chairs). The projection booth was automated at the same time, and a new box office gate was installed with an automatic ticket machine.
The theaters ran mostly second run and foreign film thru late 1982. They added a 280 seat fourth screen in early 1983, by taking the adjoining building (which formerly housed Larson’s Carpet, the Niantic Package Store, and a bowling alley) and “jacking up the roof about 20 feet and redoing the building,” according to the New London Day (3-6-83).
BTW, the reason that big empty lot of concrete up the hill from the latterday DI remained undeveloped after 1972 was because the drive-in owners maintained ownership of their property where the original DI had been, refusing to so much as stripe the concrete for parking, in order to ensure that no business or cars would throw distracting light downhill onto their lovely new screen, now finally surrounded by trees instead of billboards and lit-up storefronts.
By the late ‘70s, that uphill wasteland was a mass of broken concrete, possibly broken up by the drive-in owners who wanted to discourage “bootleg” screenings by parked cars getting a free view the new screen, at least according to Waterford city officials who tried to get property owners to fix up overgrown lot (it’s true, you could usually hear the movie fine from uphill, especially if someone on the lot itself turned up a bunch of speakers!).
The fact that both the latterday DI lot and the old concrete wasteland remain undeveloped to this day leads me to suspect they’re still both own by someone apparently unwilling to sell or develop for some reason.
The Waterford DI at Boston Post Road near the intersection of Clark Lane opened in April 1955. In 1970, Raymond C. Sroczenski took over the theater and applied for permits to move the lot down the hill, a bit further from Clark Lane, to a space approximately the same size, but with one direct access entrance from the main road (Boston Post Road, aka Route 1). The new downhill locale also removed the screen from the “light pollution” caused by its original location being in the middle of a rapidly growing array of shopping plazas on all the surrounding properties.
The Google Maps image shows the ruins of the latterday locale, mostly covered in shrubbery. The original drive-in was to the left of that, on the lot now covered by broken concrete and where the small greytop building is attached to the building with the whit roof. Those buildings (the larger being a Stop ‘N’ Shop) went up in 1972 after the original Waterford DI closed, with the small grey roof building housing the indoor Waterford Theater, run by the same United General Theater chain that built the exactly identical Cameo Theater in nearby Niantic at the same time. Carl Sherman ran both the indoor and outdoor Waterford theaters
The new locale was built in spring 1973, though construction and permit delays kept the drive-in from reopening until August 29, with a screening of Dillinger (“Free admission to the first 25 Ladies in Red!”) backed with The Little Cigars Mob. It closed after the summer 1980 season.
The single screen Centre Cinema at 185 Center Street opened July 2, 1969 with a screening of “Finian’s Rainbow.” By 1975, it was being run by Robert Ahearn, though he was cited for several fire code violations and then went bankrupt, with the bank foreclosing on the property on June 4, 1975, forcing the theatre’s closure. The bank decided to lease the theater to the Centre Cinema Corp, operated by Franklin Ferguson of Franklin Ferguson & Theater Associates, which ran eight other theaters at the time. Ferguson and manager Leonard Paul of West Hartford fixed up all the code violations, and the theater was reopened at the end of December, 1975. It remained in operation until the 1990s.
Corrections – the Norwich-New London Drive-In Theater opened April 8, 1950 (not 1955), on a 17 ½ acre lot purchased by operator E.M. Leow from Walter and Helen Chabasinski for $100,000. Built by Bruno Weingarten, the opening night included a double feature of It’s A Great Feeling (starring Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson) and Sand (Mark Stevens). In December 1971, construction began on a second screen and an expansion of the physical lot, increasing car occupancy from 1,110 cars to around 1,400 for its reopening in April 1972 under a new marquee, now proclaiming it the Norwich-New London TWIN Drive-In. Bruno Weingarten’s wife Beatrice and her family continued to run the theater with the Leows after he died in 1978, through its closure in the mid-1980s.
Final screening at this theater was October 10, 1985, a double bill with Deep Throat and Taboo – http://whenporntheatersinvadedconnecticut.blogspot.com/
On February 19 and 20, 1962, the Beach Boys performed a live set at the Academy Fine Arts Theatre during intermission of two showings of the film Surf Crazy, at 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
The original Waterford Drive-In (there were two of them) opened in summer 1949, with a capacity for 750 cars. Corporation officers included president Michael Radin, vice-president William Rabinowitz, and treasurer Lorraine Forcier, all of Hartford, while the drive-in was managed by Sherwood Gloth. The original Waterford DI was located at Boston Post Road near the intersection of Clark Lane, near Woodland Grove Trailer Park and Fenger’s Hollow, on what was formerly known as Davis Field (referred to by most locals as The Circus Lot, due to the annual big-top events held at the locale).
In 1952, Amalgamated Buying Service became a business partner, with the operators listed as of 1955 as S. Gloth & Amalgamated. It was laid out much like the nearby Norwich-New London Drive-in, except the projection booth was on the left of the snack bar, the only area drive-in outfitted that way.
In 1970, Raymond C. Sroczenski took over the theater operations and applied for permits to move the lot down the hill, a bit further from Clark Lane, to a space approximately the same size, but with a smaller screen. The new lot also only had one direct access entrance from the main road (Boston Post Road, aka Route 1).
The old Waterford Drive-in locale was built over with a shopping center anchored by a Stop ‘N’ Shop that went up in 1972. The same shopping center also hosted Bee-Bee’s Dairy (later Newport Creamery) and the indoor Waterford Theater, run by the same United General Theater chain that built the exactly identical Cameo Theater in nearby Niantic at the same time. Carl Sherman ran both the indoor and outdoor Waterford theaters in the 70s.
The new drive-in locale was built in spring 1973, though construction and permit delays kept the drive-in from reopening until August 29, with a screening of Dillinger (“Free admission to the first 25 Ladies in Red!”) backed with The Little Cigars Mob. The downhill locale attempted to save the screen from the “light pollution” that ruined its original location, being in the middle of a rapidly growing array of shopping plazas on all the surrounding properties. The lights were blocked by homemade sheet metal shades installed around the drive-in parking lot lights. However, the drive-in was never able to get a bright picture on the screen due to all the nearby business and street lighting, and the downhill locale was frequently so fogged in that raindate “fog passes” had to be regularly issued to patrons unable to see the screen. The second Waterford Drive-In closed after the summer 1980 season.
The Alvarado Drive-In was located in San Diego’s La Mesa neighborhood, near Interstate 8 and west of Baltimore Drive, on El Cajon Boulevard just before it dumps onto the highway. Within walking distance of the nearby Campus Drive-In with its famed marching Indian majorette marquee, the more plain and less attended Alvarado’s first appearance in the annual Theatre Guide books is 1961, listed as being operated by Lanford & Long, with a car capacity of 900.
An article on the San Diego Reader website about local drive-ins has a comment from Leonard Pellman: “The Alvarado Drive-In was built in the early to mid-1950s. I lived at the Miles Motel, 7930 El Cajon Boulevard, from 1953 to 1957. The theatre entrance was on El Cajon Boulevard and they had to get an easement from the motel owners. In exchange for that easement, the Alvarado allowed the motel to construct a private viewing booth at the property line with two speakers in it. I clearly remember watching movies from that booth for the last couple years we lived at the motel, so it must have been built by 1955 or 1956 at the latest.”
Members and supporters of the Motion Picture Projectionist Local 297 picketed the Alvarado lot in the 60s because non-union help was said to be running the booth equipment. Owners eventually agreed to switch to union projectionists. In 1968, the theater began admitting kids under 12 free, boosting attendance. By July 1969, operators had formed Alvarado Drive-In Theatre Inc. The business was purchased in January 1972 by Syufy Century Theatres Inc. of San Francisco, which ran several other indoor and outdoor California screens.
Within a few years, the Mann Theatres chain came to run this drive-in. This was a huge boon in 1973, when this ozone hosted the local debut of Disney’s re-release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (ad uploaded to photo section). The Mann connection proved even more valuable in 1975, when the Alvarado was one of the few San Diego drive-ins to debut the film Jaws during its opening weeks, along with Mann’s Fashion Valley 4 cinemas. In the late ‘70s, daytime Sunday church services were being held on the lot. The Alvarado appears to have closed around 1980, to be replaced by a Best market, Burlington Coat Factory, a Godfather’s Pizza, Trader Joe’s, an El Torito, and other strip-mall shops.
This footage of the September 1929 opening just appeared on Youtube, taken from an old ¾" U-Matic broadcast videotape found at a liquidation sale of things owned by veteran San Diego anchorman Jack White, the newscaster who coached Will Ferrell for his role in Anchorman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6NBDxakLFs
Can’t seem to add photo for some reason, so here’s a shot online of the theater in 1935 – https://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/2018/may/06/122000/
The Drive-in was announced in December 1939 and built on the site of a former dog track on the south side of Blue Mound Road, west of Moorland Road, in what was then Brookfield. Originally scheduled to open June 4, 1940, the first screening took place June 18 with Convicted Woman starring Rochelle Hudson and Glenn Ford. Admission was 35 cents per person, with ads promising “Cars free.” It was apparently Milwaukee’s only outdoor screen until 1948, when the 41 Twin Outdoor opened in Franklin. The Bluemound’s final screening ($1.50 admission) was September 7, 1981 with The Great Muppet Caper and Smokey & the Bandit II.
Opened at the end of April 1967 (opening day ad just uploaded), advertised the first new movie theater to open in the area for the previous 30 years. 10 years later, the Groton UA would become the southern CT home of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on weekend evenings.
Opened May 1949, across the street from Stewart Airfield (later Grand Central Mall), with a double feature of “Down to Earth” starring Rita Hayworth and “Rose of Santa Rosa,” a Spanish-themed musical.
The Ace’s advertised address was 8015 Imperial Avenue in Lemon Grove, though the entrance was on Broadway. Built in the ‘50s on a four acre plot of land, it was owned for years by Eldorado Theatres, and operated for most of its existence by Bill Russo (of Russo Family Enterprises).
In 1963, an admission special of $1.25 per carload was implemented (the nearby Campus Drive-in countered with a $1.24 special, including giving free admittance to kids under 12). In 1969, admission at the Ace was $3.00 per carload, solidifying its niche as the premier area spot for teen gatherings, and the price was lowered further in 1973 to $2.00 per car (it rose again in 1975, to $2.50 per).
By that time, the theater was known for endless kung fu triple features and “head” flicks like The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, The Groove Tube, Zardoz, and The Kentucky Fried Movie.
It was also known for employees willing to turn a blind eye to cars arriving filled with liquor-laden teenagers and stoners reeking like Tommy Chong’s beard. Locals had a saying at the time: “The Ace is the place to space.” By 1979, the admission price had gone back up to $3.00 per carload.
In 1986, the land beneath the Ace was owned by Oral Carpenter, while the theater itself was owned by Bill Russo, who leased the property for 30 years. “Drive-ins are like dinosaurs,” Russo told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’ve already gotten out of eight others in the county.” Shortly thereafter, the land was sold to Jack Guttman, of Guttman Construction.
The last movies screened in November 1986 were King Kong Lives and The Wraith. The 7.6-acre parcel of land at the northeast corner of Broadway and Grove Street later became home to the Village Grove apartment complex, built by Guttman at a cost of around $8 million dollars and featuring 161 rental apartments.
Opened 1952, closed in 1983 and operated for years by the Neveux family. Undated aerial photo uploaded.
Opening day ad and article uploaded to photos page.
Opening day article lists address as the E6200 block of Sprague. Same article reports J.J. Rosenfield built at a reported cost of $100,000, it sported a 60 foot tall screen tower and a 50 foot wide screen, and was then managed by Robert Coleman for the Favorite Theaters chain. Uploading opening day ad. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19490916&id=rzsaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JicEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6114,165691&hl=en
Opened May 26, 1939 (opening day ad uploaded to photos) and originally advertised as the Drive-in Theatre Milford. Operated in the ‘40s by Carl Hellpen for the EM Loew chain, which also ran drive-ins in Montville (Norwich-New London DI) and elsewhere in CT.
The Blue Sky marquee posted to the photo page is a different theater – uploading two shots of the Big Sky marquee now.
The Big Sky Drive-In opened in June 1955 at 2245 Main Street in Chula Vista. With 21 acres of space, its car capacity of 2000 made it one of the four largest ozones in the U.S. (Los Aitos in Long Beach held 2100 while the 41 Twin in Franklin, Wisconsin, and the Twin Open Air in Oak Lawn, Illinois, were the same size as the Big Sky). The full-color opening night features were Howard Hughes' Son of Sinbad, along with the Randolph Scott western Rage At Dawn. The stainless steel-filled snack bar was dubbed The Sky Bar, and for years the Big Sky advertised “Always two cartoons!” A “Kiddieland” playground on the property included swings, slides, and whirls. This drive-in went dark in July 1980. An industrial park was eventually built on the property.
The Lemon Bowl Cinema Dine was San Diego’s second drive-in theater, opening shortly after the Midway DI. The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog lists its original owners as C.E. Norcross, Suburban Theatres Inc. of Loma Linda, California. Ira Durham and Oliver McNeel operated the theater through 1953, before leasing it to Sero (which had opened San Diego’s third DI, the Rancho) for one or two final seasons. The lot included a restaurant, where snacks and dinners were served, as well as prewarmed bottles of baby formula, delivered for a time on carts that could only navigate horizontally along the lot’s flat surface aisles. With no local advertising after September 1954, it appears this ozone was torn down even before the nationwide atrophy of drive-ins began, to make room for access to the 94 freeway, with a portion of the property eventually housing a Toyota dealership.
Here’s the same article, this time with photos intact. http://sandiegodriveinhistory.blogspot.com/
New article with a fairly detailed history of this theater, along with photos from the late ‘20s thru today – http://gardetheaterhistory.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-grande-olde-garde-history-of-new.html
The theater plans to once again offer movie screenings on a regular basis, after the recent installation of a newfangled 4K Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) compliant digital projection system with eight channel surround sound, said to rival any similarly outfitted moviehouse in the region (with a screen that, at around 40 feet by 25 feet, is one of the largest non-Imax screens in the state).
The first major engagement planned for the screening is the 2015 Winter Film Festival, which starts up in January.
The Niantic Theater was closed in March 1980 for renovations, reopening in May as the three-screen Niantic Cinema 1-2-3. Owner George P. Mitchell (who purchased the theater in 1979) told the New London Day (4-25-80) that the old theater seated about 630 people, while the three-screen version seated 200 people in each downstairs theater and 150 more in the balcony that had been turned into an upstairs screen (with rocking chairs). The projection booth was automated at the same time, and a new box office gate was installed with an automatic ticket machine.
The theaters ran mostly second run and foreign film thru late 1982. They added a 280 seat fourth screen in early 1983, by taking the adjoining building (which formerly housed Larson’s Carpet, the Niantic Package Store, and a bowling alley) and “jacking up the roof about 20 feet and redoing the building,” according to the New London Day (3-6-83).
BTW, the reason that big empty lot of concrete up the hill from the latterday DI remained undeveloped after 1972 was because the drive-in owners maintained ownership of their property where the original DI had been, refusing to so much as stripe the concrete for parking, in order to ensure that no business or cars would throw distracting light downhill onto their lovely new screen, now finally surrounded by trees instead of billboards and lit-up storefronts.
By the late ‘70s, that uphill wasteland was a mass of broken concrete, possibly broken up by the drive-in owners who wanted to discourage “bootleg” screenings by parked cars getting a free view the new screen, at least according to Waterford city officials who tried to get property owners to fix up overgrown lot (it’s true, you could usually hear the movie fine from uphill, especially if someone on the lot itself turned up a bunch of speakers!).
The fact that both the latterday DI lot and the old concrete wasteland remain undeveloped to this day leads me to suspect they’re still both own by someone apparently unwilling to sell or develop for some reason.
The Waterford DI at Boston Post Road near the intersection of Clark Lane opened in April 1955. In 1970, Raymond C. Sroczenski took over the theater and applied for permits to move the lot down the hill, a bit further from Clark Lane, to a space approximately the same size, but with one direct access entrance from the main road (Boston Post Road, aka Route 1). The new downhill locale also removed the screen from the “light pollution” caused by its original location being in the middle of a rapidly growing array of shopping plazas on all the surrounding properties.
The Google Maps image shows the ruins of the latterday locale, mostly covered in shrubbery. The original drive-in was to the left of that, on the lot now covered by broken concrete and where the small greytop building is attached to the building with the whit roof. Those buildings (the larger being a Stop ‘N’ Shop) went up in 1972 after the original Waterford DI closed, with the small grey roof building housing the indoor Waterford Theater, run by the same United General Theater chain that built the exactly identical Cameo Theater in nearby Niantic at the same time. Carl Sherman ran both the indoor and outdoor Waterford theaters
The new locale was built in spring 1973, though construction and permit delays kept the drive-in from reopening until August 29, with a screening of Dillinger (“Free admission to the first 25 Ladies in Red!”) backed with The Little Cigars Mob. It closed after the summer 1980 season.
The single screen Centre Cinema at 185 Center Street opened July 2, 1969 with a screening of “Finian’s Rainbow.” By 1975, it was being run by Robert Ahearn, though he was cited for several fire code violations and then went bankrupt, with the bank foreclosing on the property on June 4, 1975, forcing the theatre’s closure. The bank decided to lease the theater to the Centre Cinema Corp, operated by Franklin Ferguson of Franklin Ferguson & Theater Associates, which ran eight other theaters at the time. Ferguson and manager Leonard Paul of West Hartford fixed up all the code violations, and the theater was reopened at the end of December, 1975. It remained in operation until the 1990s.
Corrections – the Norwich-New London Drive-In Theater opened April 8, 1950 (not 1955), on a 17 ½ acre lot purchased by operator E.M. Leow from Walter and Helen Chabasinski for $100,000. Built by Bruno Weingarten, the opening night included a double feature of It’s A Great Feeling (starring Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson) and Sand (Mark Stevens). In December 1971, construction began on a second screen and an expansion of the physical lot, increasing car occupancy from 1,110 cars to around 1,400 for its reopening in April 1972 under a new marquee, now proclaiming it the Norwich-New London TWIN Drive-In. Bruno Weingarten’s wife Beatrice and her family continued to run the theater with the Leows after he died in 1978, through its closure in the mid-1980s.
Final screening at this theater was October 10, 1985, a double bill with Deep Throat and Taboo – http://whenporntheatersinvadedconnecticut.blogspot.com/