Black River Drive-In

28035 State Route 3,
Watertown, NY 13601

Unfavorite 2 people favorited this theater

Related Websites

Black River Drive-In (Official)

Additional Info

Functions: Movies (First Run)

Phone Numbers: Box Office: 315.773.8605
Manager: 315.773.8605

Nearby Theaters

FRIDAY THE 13TH-PROPHECY double bill 1980

The Black River Drive-In opened on August 18, 1950 with Betty Hutton in “Annie Get Your Gun”. It had a capacity of 550 cars. It was built by Sylvan Leff. In the early-1970’s he leased it to Panther Theatres, which became Country Wide Theatres. In a couple of years they sold it to ATKO Canton Corp. of Syracuse, NY, which was owned by Charles Girrard & Anthony Kolinski In the mid-1980’s they leased it to Jeff Szot who operated it for one season. After closing in the fall of 1987, a fire badly damaged the concession building. The drive-in remained closed for the next 20 years.

In the mid-1990’s, John Nagelschmidt purchased the drive-in from Kolinski & Girrard. In August 2005, John Nagelschmidt and Loren Knapp formed the Black River Drive-In Inc. It re-opened August 18, 2006.

Contributed by Ken McIntyre, Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on April 22, 2010 at 3:01 pm

Here is an ad for the theater on youtube:
http://tinyurl.com/27mk7gm

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on April 22, 2010 at 3:09 pm

Nice looking marquee/NOT! But at least their open.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on April 22, 2010 at 3:11 pm

Cool ad on youtube!

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on April 22, 2010 at 3:54 pm

The BLACK RIVER Drive-in was parking 600 cars at one time and was owned in 1956 by Sylvan Leff.

lorenknapp
lorenknapp on August 25, 2011 at 3:31 pm

Check out the marquee now ! It has been completly refurbished!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150107671874417.283794.384859254416

jwmovies
jwmovies on September 9, 2012 at 11:39 am

If you enter the following address, it will map correctly to this drive-in: 28035 Black River Parkway, Watertown, NY 13601.

Drive-In 54
Drive-In 54 on February 2, 2014 at 12:33 pm

More information here

Also, uploaded pictures from there Facebook page.

Chris1982
Chris1982 on September 28, 2014 at 11:51 pm

From their website: Now projecting in full Digital Barco 32B quality! Address from their website: 28035 State Route 3 Watertown, NY 13601.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on October 14, 2017 at 2:22 pm

Sylvan Leff died at the age of 72 in November 1986. Several mentions in the 1930s and 1940s put him with Universal; in 1936 he was with the Universal Home Exploitation Department. Leff was based in Albany and touched the lives of several drive-ins in New York.

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on October 4, 2020 at 6:59 am

Soft opening free preview show on 17/8/1950 with 12 cartoons(not named). Oficial grand opening on 18/8/1950 with “Annie get your gun”.

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