Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Drive-In

The first picture in this collection shows a marquee, but I have mu doubts as to whether it was ever used by the drive-in:
http://tinyurl.com/yo88ux

Here is a birds eye view or an aerial photo if you prefer.

Drive-ins.com lists this as a twin. I don't know how accurate their information is.

It may have been a twin. That site also notes an aka of Red and Blue Drive-In.

It was a twin. I have no additional information about it being known as the Red and Blue Drive-In. Sometimes that site is accurate and sometimes it isn't.

"Red and Blue" was not the theater's name, but I think the two screens were designated as the "red" screen and the "blue" screen.

The marquee in the flea market picture is not the one that was visible from Route 73 when the theater was in operation; it looks like it is set up inside the entrance, and may have been used to direct customers to their desired screen.

This was a National Amusements drive-in; their other drive-ins in South Jersey were the Starlite in Gloucester City and the Atco in Atco. In the '80s or '90s they were planning an indoor multiplex for this site but never did build it.

The flea market was shut down last month after an unexpected hazard was discovered: WWII-vintage shells buried on the site. Turns out the Army used the site for testing during the war, including lobbing howitzer shells from Philadelphia across the Delaware River to land in Palmyra. Philadelphia Inquirer story here and a small picture from 1985 here.

The story says the drive-in opened in 1957 and closed in 1986.

"How much for that empty shell? I'll give you two dollars".

Our tax dollars at work. Screens should be changed to two.

Saw "Birdman of Alcatraz" here in the summer of 1962.

Per the Inquirer, the cleanup has been finished and the flea market reopened last weekend.

Renewing link.

I remember the Tacony-Palmyra Drive-In being open in the mid-1950's - in fact, I can still remember the marquee posting the Ava Gardner picture 'The Barefoot Contessa', which was released in 1954.

Living in NE Philly, we'd come across the bridge for a nickel!

The bridge was free on Christmas Eve, 1972, when I was coming back to NJ after running a show @ the FOX Levittown on US 1.

I always got a kick about the two drive-in's on RT. 73 being so close to each other. I used to ride around thinking that there were too many drive-in's! That changed reel fast around 1983 - 87.