Whitestone Drive-In

2505 Bruckner Boulevard,
Bronx, NY 10465

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MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on December 29, 2022 at 9:26 pm

Boxoffice, April 2, 1949: “Michael Redstone, operator of the Sunrise Highway Drive-In Theatre at Valley Stream, L. I., will build an 800 to 1,000-car drive-in in the east Bronx. This will be the second drive-in within the city limits. The Fabian circuit opened a 620-car drive-in on Staten Island last spring. Redstone’s new theatre will be built on a 22-acre site near the Bronx-Whitestone bridge. The property was bought last week”

ridethectrain
ridethectrain on June 24, 2021 at 12:22 pm

Please update, theatre closed December 2, 1982 with Horror Planet, Creep Show, Hands of Lighting and Alone in The Dark. It was a twin as Blue and Red, never 3 screens. The Multiplex open October 28, 1983. A better improved grand opening ad in photos section and the name of the twins in the photos section.

pellboy
pellboy on June 20, 2013 at 3:08 pm

You’re so right about the odd bookings, Mike. As a 9-year old at the Whitestone, I recall a double-bill of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid playing along with The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. Also saw Steve McQueen in The Reivers, sort of a modern, comedic western along with The Go-Between, which was an English romance film.

airbornetab
airbornetab on May 30, 2013 at 7:18 am

I use to go there as a child. What happens is that the movies would start at dusk and there would still be a little bit of daylight left. They would show two features. They also had two screens so you would have a chose of movies. It was hard leaving the theater because there was always a traffic jam after the last movie. They even had a playground for the kids to play on.

Richard Mucciolo
Richard Mucciolo on September 19, 2012 at 4:56 pm

Here is the Whitestone Drive in I hve…with all the cars lined up and the speakers….

rivest266
rivest266 on August 13, 2012 at 12:47 am

Aerial photos and grand opening ads uploaded in the photo section for this drive-in.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on October 8, 2010 at 7:12 pm

“TRUE GRIT” and “THE LAWYER” what Double feature.Wonder about bookers at Drive-ins.They justed slapped stuff together it seems to me.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on June 8, 2010 at 6:01 pm

42nd Street,couple of those Double features were great.Those were the days.

Jeffrey1955
Jeffrey1955 on November 27, 2009 at 4:37 pm

Yes, the picture on the screen DOES look superimposed — but the lot is full of cars, which leads me to wonder if the entire thing was staged.

RobertR
RobertR on November 27, 2009 at 1:43 pm

The picture on the screen looks superimposed.

Jeffrey1955
Jeffrey1955 on November 27, 2009 at 10:25 am

There’s something very odd about that New York Times photo — it appears to have been taken during the day! How is that even possible??

Jeffrey1955
Jeffrey1955 on April 7, 2009 at 10:07 pm

The toll was 25 cents when the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (as it is officially known) opened in 1939. I suspect it was still the same in 1951.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on January 9, 2007 at 12:11 pm

This lawsuit states that the drive-in had space for 1500 cars:
http://tinyurl.com/yktja5

RobertR
RobertR on September 20, 2006 at 4:17 pm

Jan of 1968 the Bible at popular prices even included the Whitestone & Sunrise Drive-Ins.
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hardbop
hardbop on April 27, 2006 at 7:51 am

I too remember this drive-in. I moved to NYC in March ‘82 and when I would make frequent treks back to New England you could see this drive-in from either the Bruckner or Route 95. I am surprised that a drive-in theatre in the Bronx lasted as late as '83.

OnslowKUA
OnslowKUA on February 19, 2006 at 5:25 pm

I lived in a four family house about a half mile from the Whitestone Drive-in (i952 to 1946). We had an unobstructed view of the screen from our bathroom and kitchen windows. We could see the film without sound of course. I remember that when Cinemascope was introduced the screen was added on to to allow for the new technology.

Jeffrey1955
Jeffrey1955 on December 3, 2005 at 9:08 pm

The back of the big screen, white with WHITESTONE DRIVE-IN in huge red letters, was a familiar landmark alongside the Hutch — even during all those years when the massive interchange construction project was going on. Seeing just another single-story building with a generic multiplex sign has never been the same.

RobertR
RobertR on October 22, 2005 at 11:23 am

At the bottom of the page is an ad for the Whitestone playing a double bill of “Salt & Pepper” and “Yours Mine & Ours”.
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ArchStanton007
ArchStanton007 on September 22, 2005 at 1:47 pm

See if the Bronx Historical Society has photos of the drive in.
When it opened as a multiplex in 1983, it was worth the trip from nearby Yonkers and I commend National Amusements for maintaining it so well that it doesn’t appear to have aged one day in 20 years. They added on two more screens years back and I think it’s mentioned in Sumner Redstone’s biography as being one of their top earning theaters. They were leery about building this theater because the the left over Bronx stigma from the 1970’s. Now literally every retailer in America sees the money to made in Da' Bronx. Another possible multiplex coming to Marble Hill at Broadway and West 233 Street.

42ndStreetMemories
42ndStreetMemories on July 29, 2005 at 6:28 am

Here’s a 1959 ad showing the Whitestone, Sunrise & Newark Drive-Ins.
That’s Steve Reeves GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS at the Newark. Hard to read. Check out the FREE IN-CAR ELECTRIC HEATERS!

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My time at the Whitestone was in the late 60s-early 70s. Some of the double features that I saw then were:

Beneath the Valley of the Dolls/Chamber of Horrors
Bloody Mama/Wild in the Streets (AIP)
3 in the Attic/Chastity (AIP)
Cherry Harry & Requel/Good Morning and Goodbye (Russ Meyer)
Count Yorga Vampire/Crimson Cult (AIP)
El Condor/The Grasshopper
Fearless Vampire Killers/House of Dark Shadows
The AMbushers (Matt Helm)/Liberation of LB Jones
Night of Bloody Horror/Black Cat
Rosemary’s Baby/Sterile Cuckoo
True Grit/The Lawyer

Last time that I recall being there was 1974 for Golden Voyage of Sinbad. This time with my kids. j

Benjamin
Benjamin on July 28, 2005 at 7:54 pm

As a kid (especially in the mid-1950s), I remember we used to go by this drive-in all the time, and I suspect that some of my drive-in memories are of this theater (although my more distinct memories are of drive-ins near relatives out on Long Island).

Actually, now that I think about it, I probably do have some memories of going to the Whitestone Drive-In with my relatives from the “old neighborhood” in the South Bronx, too — people whom I doubt would have gone out to the Island with us to a drive-in.

Perhaps the strongest memories of drive-ins that I have, though, are of the little playground area that they all seemed to invariably have, just in front of the screen, for the early (daylight) arrivals. I really looked forward to this part of the drive-in experience. In particular I associated a “kid powered” carousel-like piece of play equipment that I really liked with drive-ins. (Also, since the playgrounds were up front by the screen, maybe it was also fun because it was a way to get to see what it was like being up front and onstage?)

As a little kid, I also liked the excitement of getting out of the car and going to the bustling centrally located refreshment stand.

Drive-ins were a lot of fun. Somehow the fun of going to a drive-in reminds me of the fun of being driven around in a convertible with the top down. (This is something that I rarely got to do, as my family never owned a convertible.) It was just such a different and special “take” on an otherwise commonplace experience.

RobertR
RobertR on July 28, 2005 at 1:51 pm

Movie Playing at Whitestone Bridge Drive-In
Original caption: 6/13/1951-New York: A general view of the Whitestone Bridge Drive-In Movie Theater. The theater, one of two in the Greater New York area, sprawls over 22 acres accomodating up to 1,200 cars. The screen is four times the size of an ordinary screen, and there are two projectors.Drive-in theaters are growing increasingly popular. Today there are 3,000 such theaters in the U.S., 800 more than there were just a year ago.
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teecee
teecee on July 25, 2005 at 11:54 am

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Type whitestone drive in into the search box for 3 old photos.

RobertR
RobertR on April 18, 2005 at 9:21 pm

Look at this picture from the 1940’s.

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