Metro Drive-In
511 River Street,
Palmer,
MA
01069
511 River Street,
Palmer,
MA
01069
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Metropolitan Airport Theatre, Metropolitan Airport Drive-In, Metropolitan Drive-In.
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The Metropolitan Airport Theatre was a small drive-in located next to a sand pit. It opened on May 20, 1949 with Lucille Ball in “Personal Column” & The East Side Kids in “That Old Gang of Mine”. It was operated from opening to its closing by Lawrence & Stella Micelli. It had a 300-car capacity. In 1951 it was renamed Metropolitan Airport Drive-In. In 1953 it was renamed Metropolitan Drive-In
On July 25, 1956 a new CinemaScope screen was installed when Kim Novak in “Picnic” became its first widescreen movie to be screened, and the named was changed again, this time to Metro Drive-In. It was closed on September 7, 1986 with Emilio Estevez in “Maximum Overdrive” & Thom Matthews in “Friday 13th Part VI: Jason Lives”.
Residential housing and a solar farm now stand on the site.
Contributed by
AlLarkin
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
River St & Summer St, Palmer, MA 01069
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is visible on Google Earth using present day imagery.
Here is a 1971 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.
Approx. address for this drive-in was 511 River Street. Some of the ramps are still visible.
Residential housing and a solar farm have taken over the property. There is no trace of the drive-in remaining.
This venue opened as the Metropolitan Airport Theater by Lawrence and Stella Micelli. The MAT opened on May 20, 1949 with Lucille Ball in “Personal Column” supported by “That Old Gang of Mine” with the East Side Kids. It was located less than two miles from Palmer Metropolitan Airport.
The theater’s name was changed three times. In 1951, it became the Metropolitan Airport Drive-In. “Airport” was dropped making it the Metropolitan Drive-In Theatre for the 1953 through early 1956 operational cycle. On July 25, 1956, it had a new widescreen tower to project CinemaScope titles staring with “Picnic” and was truncated to the Metro Drive-In. The Micelli family operated the Metro D-I to its 1986 closure. It final double-bill was on September 7, 1986 with “Maximum Overdrive” and “Friday the 13th, Part VI.”
Boxoffice, Aug. 10, 1970: “The Metro Drive-In has been closed temporarily for construction of a new screen tower.”