Century's 110-Drive-In

I rememer seeing "Hello Dolly" here with my parents. The place was packed and the 110 had an incredible huge scope screen.

I was a regular patron of the 110 drive-in (My Favorite) during the 1960`s and 1970`s. My parents loved to take us on warm summer nights.We would watch the cartoon while it was still dusk. Before the main feature would start we would take a ride on the miniature train that ran through the grounds. I loved when we rode through the little mountain.Then we would get some snacks before the movie started, sometimes pausing at the miniature railroad crossing that was just outside the snackbar.The `Centurys Route 110 Drive-In` is sorely missed by the many people that frequented it.I only wish I had some photos to share with everybody.I hope some photos turn up soon.Until then the many memories I have will have to do.

Check out www.drive-ins.com and look up the 110 drive-inn. They have photos from both open and closed drive-inns.

I believe that this was the first drive-in ever built by the Century Circuit, a company that started in the nickelodeon era. It may have also been Century's only drive-in. Their theatres were mostly in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.

I am looking for an old photo or postcard for the huntington drive in theater that exisited on long island new york as I would like an artist to commission a painting for a restaurant I will be building next spring. Any ideas where I might find this? Thanking you in advance for your time.

Rori

I REMEMBER AS AKID THE BEST PLAY AREA THEY HAD A SMALL TRAIN THAT WAS AROUND THE CANDY STAND KIDS COULD RIDE

Should be listed as Century's 110 drive in

longislandmovies is right, this theatre was always advertised as Centurys Route 110 or Centurys 110 Drive-In. I just thought, is the UA Smithtown and SmithTown Drive-In listed on here?

Funny you should mention that, as lostmemory is working on adding those. In private email, we were trying to figure out where the Smithtown Drive In was located. He found that it was at the intersection of Rt347 and Rt 25 (near Smithaven mall). Robert, do you know the exact location of the Drive In? He thought it may be where Pep Boys is now.

I didn't mean that lostmemory is adding the UA Smithtown too. That one is not on the site either. If you know a little description for the UA Smithtown, please add it Robert.

I am not sure of the address but it was right near the mall. I was only in that Drive-In one time. Another one that may not be listed is the Hempstead Drive-In. I was never there, I only heard about it.

The ua Smithtown drive in i think had a lake grove address/

If I remember right the Smithtown Drive-In also had an indoor screen?

The Smithtown A/W Drive-In did have an indoor screen in addition to the drive-in. The address is listed as Rt25 and Rt347. That intersection is in Smithtown and yet every listing for this theater says that it was in Nesconset. I can't figure out exactly where this theater was located and the years it was located there.

It's confusing because the Zip Code lines for all those towns run right through that intersection. It it was in the Southeast corner or southwest corner of that intersection, it was Nesconset. (I don't believe it was either of those because there are older streets with homes right nearby. So that leaves north of the intersection. If it was in the northwest corner of that intersection it was in Saint James (a slight chance it was at that location). But if it is where I am thinking it was, it was in the Northeast corner of that intersection, and that is Lake Grove.

On the N/E corner is an empty lot with trees right now. That area is adjacent to Pep Boys. There was something on that lot a few years ago but I believe that it was a motel or a hotel that was demolished. I wish that the addresses given for theater's like this were more specific.

One thing I know for sure the theatre was in Nesconset. I was looking through and old issue of Cue and the drive-in is listed as Smithtown Drive-In but under the town of Nesconset. The magazine was from May of 1979, so it was still open then.

That means it was somewhere on the south side of Nesconset Hway and Middle COuntry Rd. Could it have been where the Houlihans Bar and Pizza Uno Chicago Bar and Grill, and that shopping center is now?

On a drive-in message board someone gave a location of "near" Alexander ave and Rt347 for the Smithtown Drive-In. Isn't that near the Borders bookstore?

BTW....there was another drive-in in Rocky Point. Anyone know where that one was located and is it already listed on here?

Wow, everyone knows the location of the 110 drive in Huntington yet I have had no luck securing a photo of it. I even tried the Huntinton Historical museum...nothing there either. I am still searching. Please keep me posted... thanks for everyones responses.

This is a brief article that I found from the early 80's about this theater:
"Reliance Development Group Inc., bought the property in 1984. Reliance, is owned by Manhattan investor Saul Steinberg, in 1985 he gained approval from the town to subdivide the parcel into four lots for a 372-room Radisson hotel on the site of the old 110 Drive-In movie theatre in Melville. Peter Mithoefer, vice president of the Reliance Development Co., said yesterday that Reliance has agreed to sell the land to Columbia Sussex Corp., which plans to build a "typical businessman's hotel, with conference rooms, restaurants and bar".

Interesting. Thanks for the info. This website is great.

MY FIRST DRIVE IN I EVER WENT TO , CANT FIND ANY PICS ,HAD A GREAT PLAY AREA FOR THE KIDS.

One of the drive-in sites has pics of the 110

Do you know which site it is?

The 110 Drive-in had one of the best drive-in marquees I've ever seen.

Do you know where I can get a photo of the marquee?

In the 70's it was on the Paramount track. What better for a movie freak kid than to travel on The Long Island Expressway and being able to see the screen from the road. Going West you had to turn around in the back seat to see it but going east you had a great view for a stretch of road to see what was playing.

Lost Memory-
The Rocky Point Drive-In led me to this site today- you can see the original sign peeking through underneath the DRIVING RANGE sign on rt25-A. If there's that much left perhaps theres more?

Interesting Cassabel, I will have to check that out.
Bob, I didn't remember this until you mentioned it, but I also remember seeing the Drive-In screen from the LIE in the 70's!! I remember always looking for it when I would pass in the back seat.

As one member mentioned, this drive inn had a great play area for the kids......Its screen was not as bright as the Westbury Drive Inn, but it offered mainly family fare in the 1960s......It was not un-common to see a John Wayne double feature there in the 1960s......and as I mentioned, swings, slides and a playground for the kiddies----It was a great place to go on a Saturday night----or any night for that matter----Joe From Florida---sasheegm----

As for the precise location of the old Smithtown Drive-In, the lines at that intersection are so fuzzy that just because Cue had it listed as Nesconset does not mean for sure it wasn't Lake Grove. The Pep Boys property doesn't really seem like it would be big enough.

the town houses is were the drive in was.

Here is a perfect example of the family shows the Century's 110 was known for.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/DisorderlyOrderly.jpg

Gosh, I love these ads. Thank You RobertR. I wish there were one website where you could look these up without a monthly fee.

Where is the website that you can look them up? I love the ad too!

I am still looking for a photo of the marquee of Century 110 movie theater!

I guess you could use Proquest, I have looked a lot of things up on there. I have 2 filing cabinets of ads from when I was in the business, and as a kid I also used to cut out the ones for all the movies I saw. I have being photocopying a lot of them and then putting them on disk thats why they don't look too yellow anymore.

Newspaper Archive.com has The New York Times and some others from NY but you have to pay to join the site


http://www.newspaperarchive.com/DesktopDefault.aspx

Odd that on it's first major showcase run the only Century Theatre "The Godfather" opened in was here.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/eb68fe72.jpg

Back then Century never played much Paramount pics.

god 85 % of those theaters are gone that are in the ad

The 110 played "Gone With the Wind" on it's 1973 run.

Forgot the link :)
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/Jan73LongIslandPress.jpg

Wow a Newday ad! longislandmovies, you're right about Century never played much Paramount pics but the 110 Drive-In was the exception. They were on the Paramount track and I remember when they played "Ash Wednesday","The Parallax View" and a bunch of others. Also look at the Century ad, I don't know why but they never put the ratings in their ads. Talk about a bygone times. Look at the UA Quartet ad. All in one week they were playing a G rated movie as well as an PG, R and two X's!

Haha, Bob, it's hard to imagine a theater going from an X movie one week to a G the next! I hope they cleaned the seats in between, haha.

December 1971 Gone With the Wind at the 110
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13/ChmnofBrd/Movie%20Ads/1971re-releaseGoneWithTheWind.jpg

bway ....this was a drive -in no seats......lol...

But Bob was talking about the UA Quartet....

lol...see what happens when i try to be a wise ass....lol

still looking for a photo of the marquee of this theater. Has anyone seen one?

The Drive In Moives in Smithtown is on Middle Country Rd, in Nesconset right where the houses are now, It closed before or after Glora in Oct. of 1985 thats when Glora hit Long Island in Sept 27 of 1985. In the mid 1990's is when the building was still standing in that time is when they started to build the houses there.
The Rocky Point Drive In is were the Golf course place is now.

One of the best things about this Drive In was around 1971/1972/1973, on Sunday mornings, it was a Flea Market. $9.00 per car/truck/van to set up and sell. $1.00 to get in to buy. This was a pretty big drive in, so imagine about 300 cars/trucks/vans, filling the place--packed with vintage stuff! If you liked flea markets, this was heaven-on-earth. It was liked the biggest garage sale in the world! Many people had the old station wagons, with the tailgates down--selling old stuff out of their cars. (I will be posting photos soon, I have a Newsday color Magazine section with an article on this --SADLY, no pix of the drive in, just the vendors). I believe the Route 110 Drive In sign was up until about 1979(?)(when I was in high school).

Addendum to above: I believe the 110 Drive-In flea market was gone by 1974, but the Sunrise Drive-In continued on with this. Century's 110 also has something other drive-ins did NOT have: working (electric) kiddie rides! (Albeit cheap and dinky). They had a mini train, a small carousel, and I remember a tiny "chair-o-plane". These rides would not thrill a child over the age of 7, but still, very impressive and gave this drive in a great "carnival" atmosphere! So there we have it. The late great Route 110 Drive-In; with not a single photo as evidence that it existed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://snackbar-confidential.blogspot.com/ I just posted pictures of the flea market from a July 1972 issue of Newsday color magazine section. You can barely see the snack bar in one shot. Please lets all work together and get some full clear pictures of the Route 110 Drive In !

Thanks for the really great photos and a walk down memory lane. I am still hoping that a picture of the old marquee will surface. It is hard to believe that there isn't one floating around.

I can't believe it either, Rori. The marquee was there when I was still in high school--probably 1978/1979 or so. It was pretty big as I remember...I think in a big curved "mushroom" shape , almost. The big problem with "historical societies" is that they do not deem the 1960's historical. Rather, they will focus on some old lady walking around a dusty road all decked out in a Little House on the Prairie outfit. Conceptually speaking: it's an Old Fashioned way of thinking Old Fashioned! But let's face it, in terms of "today", 1967 looks like 1951 and I can only ponder the future....will the "children of tomorrow" fondly recall the Multiplexes and wish they had pictures?

Willard Ad at the 110 ! "Tear 'em UP!" http://snackbar-confidential.blogspot.com/

and a photo of the Commack Drive In while still opened:
http://bp2.blogger.com/_qleC7xLAvHg/RnGCxYYyNXI/AAAAAAAAAHc/IVG_NQgJFSg/s1600-h/COMMACK.jpg

Great photo of Commack. Thanks!

No problem. I'm just sorry that we can't find any shots of the Route 110 drive in.

Wow! This drive-in was the first time I was ever taken to a movie! It was 1974 and I was seven years-old. We lived in nearby Melville. The movie was THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH, with Sylvester Stallone (pre-ROCKY) and Henry Winkler (pre-HAPPY DAYS). Clearly, I was simply in the car with my dad while he watched the movies, otherwise he might have chosen something a little more kid-friendly. There were likely two other features with this, but I have no memory of them.

My dad took me there only one other time less than a year later to see YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. I remember the other two features were S.P.Y.S. and a re-issue of M.A.S.H.

http://bp3.blogger.com/_qleC7xLAvHg/RoPjwL32JAI/AAAAAAAAAKM/vt33gC7SnPw/s1600-h/Hell-House-COMMACK.jpg

Oops...mistake above..I was trying to upload a 110 Ad..

a GREAT route 110 Drive In ad..(sorry the print is so small!)1972:
http://bp1.blogger.com/_qleC7xLAvHg/RoPner32JCI/AAAAAAAAAKg/TTwDLairGDU/s1600-h/110-drive-in.jpg

*you now have to scroll down for my posts about the Route 110 Drive In and Flea Market* OR search the list for the post. Sorry about that! Meanwhile-let's work on getting a damn picture of the place!

I went to this drive in with my sisters and their boyfriends at the time. We saw "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" which scared the crap out of me. At the pivotal scene in the film where the clock strikes, all of us jumped at the same time and the whole car rocked! After seeing this film I taught myself to sleep with my hands under my pillow so that they could not be chopped off! My Mother, who never forbade us to do much of anything, forbade my sisters to ever take me to another scarey film, as I always took films so much to heart...still do.

I love stories like that, hkbf232. Was that in 1964/65?! Also, do you remember the second feature? I'm trying to put together a list of Route 110 showings........

In 1968, I attempted to see a great double feature; Bullitt staring Steve McQueen and Countdown staring James Caan and Robert Duvall 3 different times but never did see either movie until years later. Enjoyed the submarine races all 3 times. From that time on, I would never go to the drivein if something was playing that I wanted to see....only movies I had already seen!

This site has some information. Address given on that site is 288 Broadhollow Road.

And don't forget the fabulous flea market every sunday that had traffic backed up on 110

I remember the flea markets they used to hold there.

I also remember one time they were resurfacing the screen. It was a windy day and whatever they used for the job was blowing onto traffice, including my car, on 100, aka Broadhollow Road.

Wasn't the entrance to this drive-in located on Broadhollow Road aka Route 110?

Yes it was. On the west side of the road just north of the LIE north service road. The capacity was 2,500 cars making it one of the largest, if not the largest on Long Island. It was Century's only Drive In. The Sunrise in Valley Stream was Redstone all the rest were Prudential.

That's how I remember it rvb. We should use the 288 Broadhollow Road address instead of the Walt Whitman Road adress given above.

Looking at local maps one sees that as you travel north on 110 it goes from being Broadhollow to Walt Whitman. Since the map was not conclusive in showing a line of demarcation I checked the phone book listing for the Dunkin Donuts which is located at Old Country Road about one third of a mile north of the theatre. Broadhollow. The address of Waldbaums about a half mile up is Walt Whitman. My guess is that the Northern State Parkway is the line of demarcation. All of which confirms the theatre address should be Broadhollow Road.

Your right about the car capacity. The 1975 IMPA shows a capacity of 2,500 cars for the 110 Drive-In.

The 110-Drive-In must have opened in 1957, not 1959. An ad for Ashcraft's Super Cinex projectors appeared in the February 2 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year, saying that these projectors had been installed at the Century 110 Drive-In.

It was certainly open by September of 1957, as the September 7 issue of Boxoffice carried an item about a promotion at the theater which involved giving away 6,000 barbecued beef sandwiches over a four day period.

The October 19, 1957, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about drive-in concession stands which featured several paragraphs about the operation at the 110 Drive-In, with two photos of its concession area.

Lost Memory. There is also a problem with the address itself, not only the road. I was in the Melville area tonight and the building next to what used to be the Drive In was 200. As one travels north the numbers get even smaller (along with my theory about the Northern State, or maybe even Old Country Road being the divider between the Broadhollow and Walt Whitman designation). The theatre should only be about 300 or so.

This site claims that the 110 Drive-In opened in 1956. That is also the source for the 288 Broadhollow Road address. It's possible that 288 is off by a few numbers but 288 Broadhollow Road is alot closer than the address that is given above.

I'll buy 288 but the number for the original Walt Whitman Road inaccuracy was in the thousands.

As the projectors had probably been installed before the February 2 Ashcraft ad was published, 1956 does seem a likely year for the drive-in to have opened.

Here is an aerial view circa 1980:
http://tinyurl.com/ydu8dsv

Now if we only had a ground view showing the pylon.