Highway 85 Drive-In

Georgia 85 & Pine Trail Road,
Fayetteville, GA 30214

Closed
1 screen
200 cars

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Showing 7 comments

jwmovies
jwmovies on October 11, 2012 at 4:15 pm

Now Harbor Freight Tools. Approx. address for this drive-in was 1415 State Route 85.

NYozoner
NYozoner on February 3, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Georgia 85 & Pine Trail Rd, Fayetteville, GA 30214

The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which was on the east side of Hwy 85, just north of Pine Trail Rd.

Here is a 1968 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois
Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on July 12, 2010 at 12:03 pm

Open 1955-1975?

I know it was open in 1967.

Anyone have an address, more info or photos?

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on July 2, 2010 at 1:51 am

Thanks Stan.I couldn’t answer that question like I knew you could.

StanMalone
StanMalone on July 1, 2010 at 11:14 pm

I think that you are confusing two drive ins because of the similar names. This page refers to the Highway 85 Drive In which was located on State Highway 85 just south of the city of Fayetteville which itself is south of the Atlanta city limits.

The other one is the North 85 Twin Drive In which was located in Interstate 85. It was not really near Gwinnett County. In fact it was just north of the Atlanta city limits at the Shallowford Road exit, several miles inside I-285. Further up I-85 at the intersection with I-285 there was the Northeast Expressway Drive In. It was located about four miles from the Gwinnett County line.

I do not know when this Highway 85 location closed, but it was probably in the 70’s. I think it was one of two “Adult Only” drive ins advertised in the paper. Or, it might have been the Highway 54 Drive In which was also known as the Forest Park Drive In. I know that the other one was the Lithonia Drive In, which was sometimes known as the Highway 12 Drive In because of its location on State Highway 12, or Covington Highway.

As far at the time when Atlanta had only two drive ins, that would be from about 1985 until 2002. From the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s there were over 20 drive ins with ads in the paper. Then, they started closing fast as land values went up and the profits from a single screen theatre, even a drive in went down. In 1983 the Bankhead and the Northeast Expressway closed up leaving only the North 85, the Twin Starlight, and the South Expressway Twin in operation. A couple of years later the Starlight had been converted to six screens and the South Expressway closed. The North 85 closed in about 2002 leaving only the Starlight Six.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on June 30, 2010 at 2:38 pm

The 1-85 is long gone.It is on CT. There is a six screen Drive-in in Atlanta,but Stan Malone would know so much more on your question.I think the HWY 85 is gone.

raysson
raysson on June 30, 2010 at 11:45 am

Isn’t Fayetteville Georgia part of suburban Atlanta?

I heard there were two drive-in theatres in Atlanta:

  1. Was the Highway 85 Drive-In Theatre

  2. The other was the I-85 North Twin Drive-In Theatre near Gwinnett.