Black River Drive-In
28035 State Route 3,
Watertown,
NY
13601
28035 State Route 3,
Watertown,
NY
13601
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
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
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Here is an ad for the theater on youtube:
http://tinyurl.com/27mk7gm
Nice looking marquee/NOT! But at least their open.
Cool ad on youtube!
The BLACK RIVER Drive-in was parking 600 cars at one time and was owned in 1956 by Sylvan Leff.
Check out the marquee now ! It has been completly refurbished!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150107671874417.283794.384859254416
If you enter the following address, it will map correctly to this drive-in: 28035 Black River Parkway, Watertown, NY 13601.
More information here
Also, uploaded pictures from there Facebook page.
From their website: Now projecting in full Digital Barco 32B quality! Address from their website: 28035 State Route 3 Watertown, NY 13601.
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.
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”.