Shore Drive-In
4640 Shore Drive,
Virginia Beach,
VA
23445
4640 Shore Drive,
Virginia Beach,
VA
23445
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The Shore Drive-In opened on June 14th, 1956, with “Battle Stations” and “The Kentuckian”
Shore Drive-In opening 14 Jun 1956, Thu The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia) Newspapers.com
By process of elimination, I believe this drive-in was featured in a pivotal scene in Umberto Lenzi’s 1989 kidnap thriller HITCHER IN THE DARK with Josie Bissett, which was shot around the Virginia Beach area. Amusingly enough, during the scene, the movie being screened is the Italian caveman comedy GRUNT, which to the best of my knowledge, never actually got a U.S. release.
An article about the Shore Drive-In appeared in Boxoffice of November 3, 1956. The project was designed and built by I. & O. A. Slutzky, contractors and engineers. Brothers Israel and Orville A. Slutzky founded their company in 1939, and designed and built a wide array of projects, including a number of drive-in theaters.
I practically lived there on the weekends. My dad worked as a Projectionist there and at The Twin on Baxter Rd. and The Suburban Theater in Norfolk formerly located at Wards Corner now occupied by a recently built Harris Teeter.
Very Nice photos cool looking place.
It had an interesting history. Ernie Price, owner of the chain, had had troubles with the law for showing X-rated movies there, but in 1982 became a born-again Christian; he closed all his drive-ins except this one, which he turned into a Christian/family drive-in called the Cross Roads. It wasn’t successful.
This page has some cool B&W photos of the Shore from the mid-‘50s:
http://www.driveins.org/va-virginiabeach-shore.htm