28th Street Drive-In
4990 28th Street N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33714
4990 28th Street N,
St. Petersburg,
FL
33714
6 people
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Demolished in 2003.
The 28th Street opened on Dec. 5, 1950 with “Colt .45” starring Zachary Scot. The Tampa Bay Times said it held 750 cars and was owned by P. J. Sones and S. T. Wilson. Landscaping included palms and tropical shrubbery.
The 28th Street’s final night was June 30, 2000, showing “Mission Impossible 2” followed by “Rules of Engagement.” The Pinellas County School District bought the 14.5 acres for $1.52 million.
Opened with “Glass menagarie” Demolished in 2000. Site is Lealman Intermediate School.
I worked concessions at this drive in one summer (maybe 1965). The soft drink folks would come out and set the mix ratio (5-1) between the syrup and the soda water. As soon as they left, the manager would come in and crank the screws down to about 10-1. We made “pizza” by taking the crust and spreading 1 tablespoon of sauce across the crust. One day, I chastised the mgr. for wasting sauce. I showed her that if you rubbed two crusts together you could do two pizzas with only one tablespoon of sauce. She adopted the idea immediately !!
In High School the “28th Street Drive In” was known as “The Passion Pit”
My Baby was the one in the swing LOL
I was the projectionist there for many years and own one of the RCA ( Brenkert ) projection heads. I also have many pictures including the projection booth both with two projectors and arc lamps and with one projector and platter.
Video from the last show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK2W5xkA5Xs
I posted the January 2nd, 1950 grand opening ad here.
it parked 750 cars and was owned in the late 50’s by P.J.Jones and Carl Floyd.
Nice photo MajorMajor.
Found a picture that I had taken of the backside of the screen. This could be seen from I-275 just south of the 54th Avenue North exit.
Thanks MajorMayjor.
Here are some pictures taken right after it closed.
Grand opening ad is on this newspaper page at View link
o well, thats really too bad about the drive in. but would you per chance know the name of this ‘school’? as my sister is a teacher/socialworker/therapist and so it might be a contact that could help her out? thanks ~bunko
The former 28th Street Drive-In has been demolished and is now a Pinellas County, Florida school for Children with behavior problems. It is located in the city of St Petersburg, in the neiboorhood of Lealman.
View link
Greetings,
My business partner and I are looking to (perhaps) lease (or even buy?) this Drive-In Theater and play the old Drive-In films of the 50s, 60s (and the Grindhouse films of the) 70s. If anyone has any information at all on making this happen, please feel free to comment to this post…or get in touch with me directly at: …thank you!
Karl~
more photos: View link