Wheeling Twin Drive-In
1010 S. Milwaukee Avenue,
Wheeling,
IL
60090
1010 S. Milwaukee Avenue,
Wheeling,
IL
60090
9 people
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I grew up in Wheeling IL. Been to this drive-in countless times! I remember my parents taking all us kids to see Orca in 1977. Then later in my teens going with my boyfriend. in 1980 I remember seeing FOXES, Heavy Metal, Jaws 2 and 3, and I’m sure Cheech and Chong. Then in my 20’s drank beer, and sneaked in (a few times) by putting my friends in the trunk, and saw great films like Polyester, Cat People, and a film I HATED I Spit on Your Grave. and of course, the Flea Market was a blast.
davidcoppock: The owners of M&R Amusements were Ray Marks and Martin and Richard Rosenfeld.
Why the name M&R?
Here is a Facebook page dedicated to the Twin Drive-In.
https://www.facebook.com/TWINDRIVEIN/
My childhood memories of the Twin Drive-In isn’t for the movies, it was for the flea markets on Sunday mornings. I used to help my mom and dad sell junk here almost every weekend in the summer from 1981-1984. We had to leave our home on the far NW side of Chicago way before sunrise just to wait in line by the theater marquee off of Milwaukee Avenue so we could get a good seller space. This was the place I also tried my first ever candy (not caramel) apple. If my parents sold well, I lucky to buy a then “new” Atari 2600 video game cartridge from one of the handful of video game dealers that sold here at this time. I’ll also never forget the Vanguard coin-op video game they had in the concession stand. It played music even if no one was playing the game. A ton of people used to go to this flea market, it’s sad it’s now gone. I can remember some sellers like it was yesterday. Good times.
I just talked to one of the owners of Great Lakes Dragaway last week. One of the screens from the Wheeling Twin drive-in is apart and sits on their property just to the left as you pay to get in. It was bought with the intention of putting it up back on the dragstrip property some years ago and showing movies as well as having their regular races. Don’t know if it will ever go up being it has been this long already.
50 years ago today. Grand Opening 8/19/66 ad added courtesy of the Chicago’s Extinct Businesses facebook page.
Went to go see Predator (and another unknown movie , possibly Platoon or Hamburger Hill)30 yrs ago at this drive in as a kid !..I remember riding in the car for over an hour getting there from Roselle,Il !..This place had more arcade games in the snack bar than any drive in I’ve seen !.It kicked some serious balls !
Added a photo of the drive-in I took in the summer of 1980.
Linkrot repair:
The June 19, 1967 Boxoffice article about the M&R drive-in is now here.
The second article, from October 30, 1967, starts here and is continued here.
I remember seeing ‘'Cliffhanger’‘ here.
Thanks Joe.
The Wheeling Twin Drive-In (originally called the M&R Twin Drive-In) was built in 60 days, according to this article about it in Boxoffice of June 19, 1967. Additional photos of it are featured in Boxoffice of October 30, 1967.
The drive-in was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Sidney H. Morris & Associates, who designed at least two conventional theaters for M&R Amusements: the 1960 Old Orchard Theatre in Skokie, and the Evergreen Theatre in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
I remember driving by this place and thinking the screen by the road looked huge.
That’s a cool web site, michigandriveins.
Here’s a aerial shot from 1974.
That’s an excellent story.
The land that the Twin once occupied is still largely vacant (not sure what it’s purpose is). If you drive along Hintz Road, going West off of Milwaukee, just look over to your left. One of the old screens actually stood along here for at least a few years after the theater closed. There is a new building there now, which is some kind of Korean religious school. Before that was built a couple of years ago, there were still about 4-5 speaker stands still in that lot. Now, I don’t think there’s any trace of it left. In the 80s, there was a go-cart track & batting cages built right by the entrance to the Twin. This is now a car lot of some kind. The fence/screens for the track are still there. It’s pretty obvious once you know what it was. So, that should give you a rough idea where it was.
WHEELING twin was the first Drive-In I took my kids to, a double-feature of GREMLINS 2 and QUICK CHANGE.
A kinduva ‘precious moment’: I’d told the boys we’re going to a drive-in movie that Sat. nite, but the expression meant nothing to them and I didn’t offer advance explanation what’s in store. So when we pulled up to a speaker post they both asked me “but Dad, where’s the theater building?” (they thot we were just parking in the parking lot). I lifted each up and sat them on the hood of our car, and pointed to the great white wall ahead, and replied “just sit here and keep looking that way”.
The above posts mention the Dancing Hot Dog intermission film clip ad: maybe not at this D-I, but I remember the same ad running somewhere that was so incredibly well-worn that the hot-dog in the cartoon had turned all green from scratches.
P.S.: the movie QUICK CHANGE I still think is an absolute riot. Now, driving out on Milwaukee Ave (Rte 21) I find it impossible to place where the old WHEELING TWIN D-I once stood with any certainty, the various new developments scrambling the landscape so.
Of course, one could never forget to honk the horn when the hot dog finally jumped into the bun!!
I miss this place as well. M & R seemed to have a grip on my social life in th late 70’s and 80’s. They ran the Axle roller rink in Norridge and Niles, I went to Niles Axle every Saturday and Sunday. (I learned to skate in the early 60’s at less than 2 years old ,My dad was a guard at the old Riverview in Chicago) We would go to the Wheeling Twin Drive In on dates. Then we got or just looked older we would go to McGreevy’s on Golf road just east of Milwaukee. It later turned into Club Metroplolis to Club Metropol. There is a Walgreens there now.
The drive in always showed the Dancing Hot Dog intermission clip. I usually enjoyed this more than the movie.
On weekends in the summer they would have a flea market. I went occasionally . Never bought anything but it was a great place to people watch.
My memory is that it was closed / bought out because the airport next door needed a drainage ditch due to FA regulations so they could have certain types of jets.
I live in Wisconsin now and found a drive in in Jefferson.
Still the entire night is defined if they show the dancing hot dog intermission film.
Boy, now if there’s a place I miss most, this may be it. I saw a ton of films here growing up (Jaws, Grease, ET, Jaws 2) and continued to go through college. On the final weekend, a group of my friends went to pay our final respects at a triple feature (Mortal Kombat/Johnny Nemonic/Waterworld). It’s such a shame that this place has left us, for nothing really seems to have gone in its place (a retention pond? Hard to tell, but it still looks like open space to me). Such a great, cheap date as well. The triple feature could be had for a mere $6 or 7 dollars. They still seemed to be doing good business upon their close. I long for those golden days of having my trunk checked!!
One of the screens remained up for several years, and several lines of speaker stands could still be seen beyond a fence off of Hintz & Milwaukee roads up until, at least, about 3 years ago.
aaron……..pleease! Manny or Menny?
I'v seen manny movies here, I took my first date here like manny people, I really miss this place.