Sundown Auto Drive-In
1029 N Road,
Westfield,
MA
01085
1029 N Road,
Westfield,
MA
01085
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This early drive-in opened before 1950 on Route 202 in Westfield, MA. It was operated by Owen Holmes. By 1952 it was operated by Owen Holmes & Daytz Theatre Enterprises Corp. By 1955 it was operated by Barnet Jonafski, Joseph Levine & Daytz Theatre Enterprises Corp. They were still the operators in 1970.
Long gone, like all of the area’s drive-ins, except for the Northfield Drive-In on the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border.
Contributed by
Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The Sundown opened in 1947 in a rural area near Hampton Ponds.
It always remained a country drive-in without the cosmetics that others had. It closed and was razed in 1983 to make way for a shopping plaza.
As teenagers we referred to it as “The Rundown.”
When I was in High School back in the mid 70’s a couple of my brothers and I worked on a farm that had one field that bordered on the Sundown , the owner of the drive-in and the farmer we worked for were friends and they set up a bench with speakers where we could go watch movies any time we wanted. It was placed outside the regular area so we were allowed to have some beers and get kinda crazy without bothering anyone. My older brother Steve who is also on this forum somewhere, was attacked by a crazy lady while he lived in an A-frame on the farm property…..good times. The Sundown was tore down and is now a defunct mini-mall….it only has a bad Chinese restaurant open, everything else is out of business, what a waste of a drive-in
Boxoffice Magazine for Aug. 14, 1948 reports that a live band concert was presented at the Sundown prior to the start of the movie.
That sounds pretty cool.
I read somewhere on CT that KISS played a Drive-in in the early years of the band.
1029 N Rd, Westfield, MA 01085
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is currently occupied by a shopping plaza. N Road is also US 202, but it maps better using N Road.
Here is a 1971 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.
Oh man, this takes me back to a much much simpler time.
Hiding my friends in the trunk while I drove in to the theatre all by myself. Yeh, I’m sure that was a novel idea! lol The snack bar was not quite a 5star establishment….but no one cared. The movies kinda blew (mostly horror flicks) but no one cared. The car next to you had fog up windows but……
Motion Picture Herald, April 10, 1954: “The Sundown drive-in in Westfield opened its gates March 31 during an unseasonable blizzard. The new ownership is Joe Levine and Barnet Yanofsky.”