Mahoning Drive-In

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Uploaded on: June 6, 2025

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The Mahoning Drive-In was built in 1948 and opened at the beginning of the 1949 season with Jack Carson in “April Showers”. It was operated by James Humphries. By 1950 it was operated by the A.M. Ellis Theaters Co. chain. Initially it had a capacity for 500 cars, later increased to 600 cars. In recent years it was owned by Mike and Deb Danchak, who also owned the nearby Angel Theatre in Coaldale. New owners took over the Mahoning Drive-In in 2014.

Open May-September at weekends, it features the area’s largest screen, measuring 120ft wide. It features FM listening devices as well as room for 1,000 cars. The Mahoning Drive-In is ‘all retro’, featuring 35mm film prints of Classic movies. It also now offers camping on the grounds for an extra $10 per car-load.

In July 2021, news was that the Mahoning Drive-In would be sold to the Greenskies Clean Energy LLC who planned to demolish the drive-in and build a solar farm on the site. A campaign was started to save the drive-in from demolition and Mahoning Township was to have a meeting on August 3, 2021 that might have denied this variance. However, on July 15, 2021 Greenskies backed out of their purchase of the drive-in site and the owner of the property said they were willing to sell the site to the operators of the drive-in. It was closed at the end of the 2023 season. The owner/operator/projectionist Jeff Mattox passed away in April 2024 and the future of the drive-in could be in doubt. Watch this space! - Notes by Dave Bonan.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -