Airline Drive-In
3900 Airline Highway,
Metairie,
LA
70001
3900 Airline Highway,
Metairie,
LA
70001
1 person
favorited this theater
The Airline Drive-In was located at 3900 Airline Highway, across from the Joy’s Panorama Theatre.
It opened on January 25, 1950 with Randolph Scott in “Fighting Man of the Plains”. The Woolner Brothers (of B-movie fame) built this theatre. At some point in the 1960’s, it was sold to Gulf States Theatres, who operated it until it was closed on August 30, 1981 with Billy Chong in “Jade Claw” & Margaret Markov in “Arena”. It was sold to be a grocery store. A Sam’s Club is now on the site.
Manager from opening until about 1978 (if memory serves me right) was Sam Talley.
Contributed by
Michael Hurley
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Here’s an ad for a movie playing at the Airline in 1963:
View link
Here’s a beautiful photo of the Airline Drive-In marquee with neon glowing in all it’s glory:
View link
There’s now a Sam’s Club here.
Very nice marquee.
Announcing a book about New Orleans Movie Theaters
THEREâ€\S ONE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
The History of the Neighborhood Theaters in New Orleans
is being written by 89-year-old Rene Brunet, the dean of the motion picture industry in Louisiana, and New Orleans historian and preservationist Jack Stewart. The 160-page,coffee table book will be released in November and is being published by Arthur Hardy Enterprises, Inc. Attention will be focused on 50 major neighborhood and downtown theaters, culled from a list of nearly 250 that have dotted the cityâ€\s landscape since the first “nickelodeon†opened in 1896 at 626 Canal Street. The book will be divided by neighborhoods and will open with a map and a narrative about each area. Each major theater will feature “then and now†photographs, historic information, and a short series of quotes from famous New Orleanians and from regular citizens who will share their recollections.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED
We are trying to acquire memorabilia and additional photos of this theater for this publication. (deadline July 1.) You will be credited in the book and receive a free autographed copy if we publish the picture that you supply. Please contact Arthur Hardy at or call 504-913-1563 if you can help.
At the height of the Drive-In craze in New Orleans, the Airline was hugely successful. Not just for the movies, families brought their kids to have fun in the large playground directly under the screen; it was always packed and you often saw the same kids from weeks before.
As a young boy, at just four years old in 1957, I broke my wrist coming down the slide head first… No, there was not even a thought of suing the theater.
I can remember looking up at the huge 70' tall screen and being mesmerized with how gigantic it was. But being New Orleans, a city surrounded by swamps, it is the mosquitos that one remembers most; there was no getting away from them.
The Airline sat adjacent to the main railway heading West out of New Orleans, and trains, both freight and passenger, went by frequently; often blocking the entrance/exit to the theater and causing considerable frustration.
My last visit to the Airline was in 1975 and is somewhat unforgettable. After hours of ignoring the movie and fogging up the windows with my girlfriend, we failed to notice the movie had ended and everyone had left. The theater operator came with a flashlight and tapped on the window. This was only the beginning of our embarrassment because my 1956 Olds Delta 88 refused to start and required a jump. After that, my girl insisted we never go back.
Hey Frank G, Great story!
Is it possibly the only drive-in the world to have the entrance(and exit?) cross a train line?
Opened on 25/1/1950 with a cartoon(not named), news and “Fighting man of the plains”.
The Airline’s last night of operation was August 30, 1981 with “The Jade Claw” and “Arena.”