Silver Moon Drive-In
4100 New Tampa Highway,
Lakeland,
FL
33815
4100 New Tampa Highway,
Lakeland,
FL
33815
8 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Silver Moon Drive-In Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Floyd Theaters
Functions: Movies (First Run), Swap Meet
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
863.682.0849
Nearby Theaters
Located at the junction of New Tampa Highway and Gay Road. The Silver Moon Drive-In opened April 14, 1948 with a capacity for 372 cars. By 1956 it was operated by Floyd Theaters. In 1985, a second screen was added to the drive-in.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
I have come across a photo of a playbill for the Harlem Drive-In Theatre that was located “1-½ miles west of Lakeland off New Tampa Highway”. It stated that it was “for colored patrons”. The period appears to be mid-1950s. Is that the same theatre as the Silver Moon?
I highly doubt it. The Silver Moon’s website says nothing about it ever switching over to being a negro theater. Sounds like you might’ve found a new drive-in.
The problem withth is theater like any of the theaters in the Floyd theater chain is the screens are not wide enough to show movies in scope so the pictures goes off the screen and into the bushes. A waster of my money if I can’t see a film in scope the way it was meant to be seen.
Valley Drive-in in Aiken County,S.C. was the same way according to projectionists most of the movie was in “the pine trees!”
Video from the 50th Anniversary Celebration in 1998: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX_Yr7At5-s
The Silver Moon Drive-in can be glimpsed momentarily by passengers on passing Amtrak trains. : )
(I just uploaded a photo.)
2017 photo added, credit Chuck Ellis-The Flying Valiant.
Also below is the Silver Moon Drive-In’s Facebook page with link to their website.
https://www.facebook.com/silvermoondrivein/?fref=mentions
Is this theater showing films in scope actually on the screen now that they are digital?
Boxoffice, Feb. 18, 1950: I. Q. Mize, president of the Highway Amusement Co., told the story of his last-minute naming of the drive-in. “One morning before daylight as he and his wife were arising earlier than usual, Mize glanced through a bedroom window and was entranced with the silvery appearance of the moon which shone through his bedroom window.”
Opened on 13/5/1948 with “Up goes Maizie”.