61st Street Drive-In
3201 S. 61st Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19153
3201 S. 61st Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19153
6 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 29 comments
Opened by William Goldman to replace the Airport Drive which was demolished for airport expansion.
The marquee appears in a 2007 Google Street View, albeit surrounded by trees with only the top of the sign sticking out. By 2012, it was gone along with some of the trees. That opened up the old entrance road of the drive-in. It’s quite probable that the few feet of concrete pavement which directly connects to the street dates back to the drive-in.
The old projection booth/concession stand is still present, but has been upgraded with new siding. If you never knew a drive-in stood there, you’d probably never guess what the building originally was looking at it from the street.
The snack bar/ projector building looks huge!!!!
Opened on 3rd July 1963 with “If a man answers”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, and “Tales of terror”.
Now Clean Earth Waste Management. What’s so amazing is that they retained the Snack Bar/Projection building AFTER 40 YEARS! 😳🤭😍😇 Quite a feat!
October 16th Sunday 1983,, could have been the last night for this drive-in. the last 2 movies were 1. Strange Invaders, 2. First Blood,, doesn’t seem to be any more listings after this date.. could have been the final weekend.. The week before that October 7.8.9.10 were “Flashdance” “Still Smokin' 48 HRS. The Evil Dead played here the week prior to this..
Just did google street view from November of 2016, up and down the street and I don’t see the marquee anymore.
Thank You Mike 99% sure it was the airport drive-in I was 18 yrs old they had a great doo wop show there my friends an I,going on 76yrs old steve wonder was there along with some great groups it don’t pay to listin to people that put they’re girls in the trunk of there car again thank you
It wasn’t this drive in doowopcharlie. Must have been the Airport drive in
The last time I went there was 40 years ago, I saw Richard Pryor in Greased Lightin and Freebie and the Bean.
can anyone tell me if the 61st street ever have live doo wop shows or was it the Airport Drive-in i’m thinking it was the Airport please let me know
July 3rd, 1963 grand opening ad in photo section.
I’ve had countless adventures at the 61st St. D.I. – from the late ‘60’s thru 1981 as a customer, hard partier and verocious devourer of HORROR and exploitation treats. The location of this wonderful shrine to sleaze was, and still is, about 12 blocks from my own lair . I, (Very Unfortunately), closed A LOT of awesome Philly theatres – both as projectionist and unwilling manager, but the 61st St. makes me extra wistful. I was Very lucky to be the Weekend projectionist for the last two spring/summer seasons in this – my Second favorite D.I. in my neighborhood! (My escapades at the Family Drive In, about ten minutes away from the 'ol 61st, are semi-legendary —— to a few, at least.) Wow, memories!
Although decrepit, the 61ST STREET DRIVE-IN THEATRE sign, with its red arrow, still welcomes moviegoers to a drive-in that went dark over 30-years ago. It’s as if Rod Serling (1924-1975) is ready to step from behind that red/yellow, black/white marquee sign to say — Welcome to The Twilight Zone! “Strange Invaders” (1983 – Orion) starring Paul Le Mat (b. 1945) and Nancy Allen (b. 1950), the last picture to play here, may still be playing. Eerie!
The theatre was built to handle the over flow of its sister theatre the Flag ship “AIRPORT D-I” another Budco D-I. On one night during the opening week we had trouble keeping the picture in focus on the right side of the screen. Turned out the steel support on the right side was pulling out of the ground. We had to bring in a krane to support the tower until it could be secured. I think it held around 500 cars.
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Narrowed it down today. Looks like the last or one of the last movies shown here was Strange Invaders with nancy allen and paul le mat. Last listing was Thursday October 20th 1983..
Saw the biggest movies of the the 70’s there. Willard, Dr. Phibes, Shaft, Dirty Harry, The Godfather. Next to the funky river and refineries.
research i did was that 1983 was the last season. Another thing is. they showed almost every low budget horror movie that come along..Looks like it was the horror movie drive -in. to name a few, Amityville horror nightmares. blood beach. phantasm. Humongous. Prom Night. the fog. dont go in the house. the fifth floor. the boogey man… to name a few…
Went to this theater 2 times. Once in the 60’s and saw a double feature The Cincinatti Kid and The Hill and again in 1983 and saw Snow WHite and another Disney movies. Both times all films were flat. B+NEver saw a scope movie on there big screen.
This was hte last drive in in the Phila area to open. I was 6 years old.
research i conducted is that the theater closed in 1983. can’t find any ads for it after that.. if this photo is from the mid 80’s it would make sense.. Lots of low budget horror b flicks shown here during the late 70’s early 80’s..
I posted a vintage pic of the sign.
if u go to google earth and type in 3220 s 61st street philadelphia pa, u will see the rotted frame of the old sign. it is next to an aluminum building and trees are growing around it. u can barely make out what looks like a red arrow pointing to what used to be the drive in entrance. it’s eerie.
does anyone have a photo of the 61st Street DI sign? i work for a sign company and i want to recreate it, on a smaller scale of course.
I was talking once with a projectionist that worked practically every DI in the area-he mentioned how much of a problem the rats were here. Another projectionist kept one in the booth for company! Was this the DI theater that had several speakers outside the fence on the street side? The screen was angled toward the other direction, though, so they wouldn’t see much!