Shirley Drive-In
999 Montauk Highway,
Shirley,
NY
11967
999 Montauk Highway,
Shirley,
NY
11967
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Another grand opening ad posted.
The site is now Southport Shopping Center.
Opened with “The lone hand"and "Desert song”.
July 1, 1953 opening ad from Patchogue Advance of June 25th added.
Contrary to the 9/12/2008 posting the actual opening date of the Drive-In was July 1, 1953. I just came upon an ad which I’ll scan and put in the photos area.
It parked 800 cars and in the Late Fifties it was a Associated Prudential theatre.
Here’s an aeiral image of the old drive in. The screen would have been at top, where the Stop N Shop is now:
View link
The link above is no longer working. Can anyone repost this picture, or email me a copy of the pic to
Thanks!
Robert R-
The intro needs some minor amending. The last drive-in operating in Suffolk was the Bay Shore Sunrise Twin Drive-In (closed in 1990, with the Bay Shore Cinema). In Nassau, I’m glad the Westbury Drive-In held on as long as it did (closing 1998), but it would have been nice if it never closed. The kids of today have no idea what a drive-in movie theater is. A real shame.
To answer your question OX, here’s a link to a great site with tons of info about the Mastic-Shirley area and excellent photos of the drive-in back in the day. Seems that it was some kind of horse ranch in the 40s-50s!
View link
does anyone know what was there before the drive-in ?
It was such a disappointment to me when the Shirley Drive-In closed. I spent many nights there as a kid with my family and later as a teenager/young adult. The whole vibe – watching movies outdoors, hitting the playground before and between shows, the highly questionable hot dogs at the concession, the old metal speakers hanging from your driver-side window – harkened back to a simpler time and is gone from today’s movie experience.
In response to Bway’s post, the concession stand was located approximately in the middle of the property, which would put it in the center of the South Port parking lot, facing Waldbaums with Blockbuster to the right and FYE (or whatever the music store is now) to the left. The building that housed the concession stand also served as the projection booth. The playground was directly behind it.
The drive-in was fenced in on 3 sides – left, right, and behind the screen. Beyond the fence on the right were paths that led thru the woods (which could be accessed by going behind what is now the tire place to the right of the Southport entrance) and ended on a dirt hill that had an excellent view of the screen. You could even hear the movies from all the speakers hanging on their posts and open car windows. This perk serviced many penniless teenage nights for my friends and I.
Too bad all the good stuff seems to always fade away …
1977
View link
I often think about the drive in when I shop in this shoppong center. I can just picture the screen where Walbaums is now. Does anyone know where (using the current shopping center stores as landmarks) know where the concession stand used to be?
The last movie I saw at this drive in was “Dragnet” in the summer of 1986. I remember the drive in more than I remember that movie. I was 10 years old…
MISS THE DRIVE-INS!!!
Of course, I’ve never been to this drive-in, and apparently, neither have my parents, because they don’t remember much about the Drive-In, except that it was where the Kohl’s Shopping Center is now. We go to that shopping center a good deal now, as we always used to go to the Caldor that was where is the Kohl’s is.
I meant the “rest of the shopping center is on the right of the entranceway” (with the McDonalds on the left).
There was also a secondary exit at McGraw Street, and that is still currently a secondary exit today for the shopping center. That is the road seen at the left above Montauk Hway, exiting the drive-in on the left in lostmemory’s map link.
I don’t know exactly what the address number the Drive-in used, but the McDonalds is located at 971 Montauk Highway, and is at the extreme left of the property, and the store on the extreme right is Sears Hardware, and is 1019 Montauk Hway, so it has to be between those numbers.
I believe they used 999 Montauk Highway as the Drive In address, but am not sure.
That’s exactly where the SouthPort Shopping Center entrance is now. A Mc Donald’s currently occupies the space to the left of the entranceway, and the rest of the shopping center is on the left. The Screen was located where the Waldbaums is now.
I am not exactly sure, but I think it was the late 80’s.
Robert, do you know when it closed?
The SouthPort Shopping Center now occupies the site of the Shirley Drive-In.
The address of the Drive-n was on Montauk Highway in Shirley.
it is actually a shopping center now. kohls, blockbuster, coconuts music & movies, pizzeria, supermarket.