Bel-Air Drive-In
5153 Reidsville Road,
Walkertown,
NC
27051
5153 Reidsville Road,
Walkertown,
NC
27051
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Walkertown Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Walkertown Drive-In opened on April 15, 1949 with Robert Mitchum in “Persued”. It was remodeled and reopened on March 17, 1955 with James Stewart in “The Glenn Miller Story”. It was operated by Porter Garrett McGee, know also as ‘Fibber McGee. It was soon renamed Bel-Air Drive-In and was managed by W. Huntley. P.G. McGee died and it was taken over by Jim Styers known as 'the Voice of the Drive-In’. This out of the way country drive-in screened lesser fare and grindhouse films more than some of the larger drive-ins of the 1960’s.
It closed in October 2000 due to the ill health of Jim Styers and he passed away in 2004.
Contributed by
J Reid
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
@ CSWalczak … The photos weren’t mislabel as belonging to the Galaxy Drive In Theatre in Ennis, Tx. Brent, who took the photos of the Bel Air Drive In & posted them on drive-ins.com, used to work at the Galaxy Drive In Theatre. He (Brent) was not stating those were photos of the Bel Air Drive In.. He worked at the Galaxy.. Today, He’s (Brent) no longer working at the Galaxy Drive In..
Goggle Aerial 2012
Just looking at the FB page and the DI opened has the Walkertown DI.
This is probably the easiest restoreable former drive-in in the state and it’s up for sale. Only catch, they’re asking $2 million for the property as they’d rather see it turn into a shopping center like the one now across the street :/
Google Street View from November 2016 shows the site is still unused, the screen tower still there.
Well it should have been sold years ago, as now it is a hopeless piece of property as soon as the State comes down and it is on the way now and widens US158 by it on it’s side. Will nearly take the property all the way to screen tower. Don’t know if State will buy it or just public domain it take just what they need of it.
A slightly closer address is 5153 Reidsville Rd, Walkertown, NC
Google Maps has updated their addresses. This one puts it right on the property.
https://tinyurl.com/3p442y9w
Corrected from my September 18, 2024 (1:37 PM) comment:
The Walkertown Drive-In actually opened its gates on April 15, 1949 with Robert Mitchum in “Pursued” along with an unnamed serial and three unnamed cartoons. The theater received a remodel on March 17, 1955.
Everything is still standing as of 2026 but was overgrown by trees. Judging by the few angles, the screen is in good shape at the front despite the graffiti but a little poor at the back with a small skeleton coming out or two.
The screen appears to be a widescreen that has been built onto the older “square” screen which is made of concrete. So, that appears to be readily fixable as long as the older concrete screen holds up. The rest is just cutting down the trees and fixing up the projection booth/concession stand.
If the highways does widen closer to the screen, the main entrance can be easily shifted to Martin Street if someone wanted to re-open it.
But I’m not seeing anyone wanting to re-open it anytime soon.