Tyngsboro Drive-In
Middlesex Road, Route 3,
Tyngsboro,
MA
01879
Middlesex Road, Route 3,
Tyngsboro,
MA
01879
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This drive-in was located near the New Hampshire border. There are advertisements and references from the 1950’s. It was opened in September 1948 when it was operated by George Abdallah of Lowell, MA. and he was the operator until at least 1955. It was closed in 1982.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Opened in September 1948, closed in 1982.
The only incident I can find from this theater is a vehicle accident that involves 3 cars on July 1, 1960.
Beginning in the early 1970s, a flea market is also occupied at the theater, still in operation though.
Boxoffice, Nov. 13, 1948: “LOWELL, MASS. — It took George Abdallah of Lowell two years to complete his drive-in in Tyngsboro, but if that seems a long time, consider the fact that he built every bit of it himself. He did the grading, built the stone structure and the screen, the entrances and the exits. “I had a helper once in a while when I got stuck,” he explained, “but the major portion of the project I did myself.” He owned the property which is on the Daniel Webster highway about a mile from the famous Tyngsboro bridge and decided to convert it into an ozoner. The theatre, not completely finished, was opened after Labor day and has been running successfully all summer. With luck and more hard work, he hopes to have it ready for 500 cars in the spring. He has two projectionists in the booth, but his wife is the cashier and his two cousins are ushers. “I’m the repair man, the complaint department and the booker and buyer and it’s all great fun,” Abdallah said.”
The Exhibitor, July 22, 1953: “George Abdullah, Tyngsboro Drive-In, Tyngsboro, Mass., on a rare visit to town (Boston) said that this season shapes up into being the best ever in the five years of the open-airer’s existence. This is the drive-in which he built himself with the help of his brother-in-law and one or two friends. It opened five years ago with 200 cars, but each year he has added new ramps and improvements. Today, he can accommodate 350 cars, the entire surface is hard-topped, and he has installed a new and larger concession building, which he designed himself. It is a cafeteria-style setup.”
Boxoffice, April 15, 1974: “Arthur Friedman’s Cinema Film Buying Service has added … Bud Carpenter’s Tyngsboro Drive-In, Tyngsboro, and his Chelmsford Drive-In, Chelmsford.”
Boxoffice, March 17, 1975: “Cinema Radio sound system … ©onversion installations currently in progress include … the 450-car Tyngsboro Drive-In, Tyngsboro, Mass., (Bud Carpenter) and the 660-car Chelmsford Drive-In Screen II, Chelmsford Mass.”