Bay Drive-In

MichaelKilgore on October 13, 2017 at 1:31 pm

I’ve read in a couple of places online that the present owners, which would be Thomas Wade and family, bought the Bay in 1982. Let’s see what it says in my Motion Picture Almanacs.

I’d also read that the Bay was supposed to replace the 1000 Islands, but both are listed in the 1969-76 editions of the Almanac (which didn’t list owners in those years). By the 1980 edition, the 1000 Island was gone.

The grand opening article in the Thousand Island Sun said that Willard Beach (who had been mayor of Alexandria Bay) was the top stockholder in the corporation that owned the Bay. The 1980-84 MPAs listed W. Beach as the owner. H. Wade took over by the 1986 edition.

According to AmericanTowns.com, the Bay rebuilt the concession stand in 1992, adding a 60-seat indoor viewing area.

Also, the Watertown Daily Times reported that a massive thunderstorm “demolished” the Bay in the wee hours of July 15, 1995. The Wades fixed that within two weeks.

The Alexandria town planning board approved a second screen in March 1997, but it wasn’t built until July 1999. The second field’s layout is unusual because of the lot being only diagonally adjacent to the original. They added a second concession stand in 2001 for the second screen; it sold Pepsi products while the main concessions sold Coke products. Restrooms for the second screen were added in 2006.

In 2013, the old projection booth was remodeled into a cafe, allowing customers to watch the movie from a “1950s cafe setting.”

Mikeoaklandpark on February 3, 2014 at 3:51 am

Have they gone digital?

Drive-In 54 on February 2, 2014 at 11:53 am

Here is more information

robboehm on February 24, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Why is there no listing for the hard top Bay theatre. When I had to go to summer camp with the army we would weekend in Alex Bay. I was wandering around the street once time and came upon this good sized theatre. The doors were wide open. I never actually went back to see a performance if it was open. And I question that because there was a small neon sign which said Bay Theatre and had an arrow which was lying on the floor of the auditorium, leading me to believe the theatre was closed. In hind sight I’m sorry I never checked it out. Who would have thought that forty plus years later I’d find this site on my computer?

RobertR on October 19, 2004 at 1:24 pm

I found it, its an indoor seating area that is open on one side and faces one of the screens. Sunrise Drive-In in Valley Stream had something similar.