E.M. Loew's Providence Drive-In
611 Pawtucket Avenue,
Pawtucket,
RI
02860
611 Pawtucket Avenue,
Pawtucket,
RI
02860
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: E.M. Loew's Theaters Inc.
Previous Names: E.M. Loew's Drive-In, E.M. Loew's Prov-Paw Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
Built on the site of the old Cycledome, E.M. Loew’s Drive-In was opened on July 21, 1937 with a capacity for 700 cars. This drive-in theatre was located off N. Main Street on the Providence/Pawtucket city line, with an entrance near the former Sears Roebuck store. It was closed in 1977 and suffered dame in a 1978 fire. It was demolished in 1989. Interstate 95 was built close to it and may have even overtaken some of that property. One 1951-52 directory lists its capacity as 500 cars.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
From Boxoffice magazine, August 21, 1954:
“E.M. Loew’s Drive-In was the site of the New England premiere of "Three Forbidden Stories."
[This Italian film was being marketed for its frank depiction of sexual woes. It also played serious art houses in New York and elsewhere.]
E.M. LOEWS and LOEWS THEATRES were not the same company.
Elias M. Loew 1898-1984 from Austria once owned 70 theatres and 17 drive-ins.He also owned the Bay State Raceway and a chain of hotels and motels, One being the Gulfstream Drive-in,which had a motel built on both sides of the screen of the drive,it has its own page on C.T.
This drive-in was open well into the 1970s, if it is the same one I am thinking of. It was on the Providence-Pawtucket line and alongside Route 95. My father used to take a carload of us to the drive-in between July 1973 through 1973 and I remember going here many times during that era. It must have closed in the 1970s, sometime after 1972.
I was in R.I. last weekend and was researching some of the films that I caught at the drive-in back then and going through Projo I saw ads for this drive-in in 1971.
An article on the history of the location appears in The Providence Journal, August 12, 2012. It includes images of the Cycledrome that had been located there as well as a 1940 image of the drive-in’s entrance. Article with images.
Above is now incorrect. Approx. address for this drive-in was at what is now 611 Pawtucket Avenue in Pawtucket, RI 02860. The entrance is Ann Mary St. You can tell from the photo there’s a hill at the entrance. Powell St. runs through where the theatre stood. The screen was behind where Chili’s sits now.
This drive-in was definitely still there well into the 70s. I saw Jaws there in 1976.
Built on the site of an old velodrome(cycledrome). 700 cars. Closed in 1977. Demolished in 1989. Site is now a shopping centre(Dollor Tree).
WJAR, Providence, had a flashback segment last October showing that the drive-in suffered an extensive fire on Oct. 8, 1978.
Rebuilt and reopened as the E. M. Loew’s Prov-Paw Drive-In theatre on September 26th, 1962. Grand opening ad posted.