202 Drive-In

My first memory of going to the movies was at the 202. We lived in the West End of Chester and went often during warm weather. There were swings and other playground stuff up by the screen and all of us kids would be in our pj's playing, waiting for the movie to start. My parents would have picked up some hoagies, we'd eat, I'd get to watch the cartoon and short, then off to the back of the Rambler Wagon to go to sleep. There was a Pancake/Waffle place out by there that was a sometime treat, they had waffles with ice cream. I can still remember falling asleep to "what's new pussycat whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..." in the back of the Rambler (and even later the 68 Mustang fastback). Our children have really missed out by not having drive-ins!

Just a thought. Every drive-in left in the nation should have the link to drive-ins.com in their brochures, websites and/or marquees. That would get some newcomers to the scene to help preserve or observe history.

I have very fond memories of the 202 Drive-in. I lived in West Chester, PA from ages 4-8 in the late 60s/early 70s and my mother brought my older brother and I there several times as kids. Yes, there was the kiddie playground up by the screen that we'd scamper around on until the first film began. A small, battered self-powered merry-go-round used to make me very dizzy. The projection booth building was low-slung, painted light blue as I recall and inside was sold all the typical drive-in food and refreshments, food whose smell was one-of-a-kind, kind of like boardwalk grub, but delicious to an undiscerning 6-year old. The first film I recall seeing at the 202 was Disney's THE LOVE BUG in '68 or '69. A VW bug painted to look like Herbie was parked out front by the entrance as a promotional gimmick. The film was a huge hit the summer it came out, with cars lined up along Route 202 to enter the drive-in before dusk, often the case with popular films there. I remember going one night with my mom, grandmother, aunt, and brother to see a family film as the first feature (I've forgotten what) but the second feature was not for kids. I distinctly recall seeing George C. Scott addressing the troops in front of the American flag in PATTON and then the film's subsequent opening titles over a scorched North African battlefield as I began to lose my battle with sleepiness. My mom took my brother and I to the 202 in 1968 to see TRUE GRIT and this 5-year old and his 8 year old brother were so enthralled with John Wayne and his heroic showdown with Robert Duvall at the film's climax that we begged my mom to bring us back to see it again. She did, a few weeks later. The last film I remember seeing at the 202 was a revival of THE STING, possibly in 1975 or 1977. I think by then the speakers you'd attach inside your car window had been replaced by a system which you could simply tune in to a station and hear the movie over your car radio. It wasn't long after that that the sun went down for good at the 202, but my cherished childhood memories of the times spent there have not. When I go back to the West Chester area to visit my folks, I still think of the 202 when driving by the spot it had been.

As of August 2007, the former 202 Drive-in is now a nursery.

Listed in 1975 with a capacity for 250 cars.

Here is a March 1970 ad from the Delaware County Daily Times:
http://tinyurl.com/qw3egt