Bel-Air Drive-In

I lived and grew up by the Bel-air Theater where it now sits deserted. In the 1960's through the 70's they hosted firework displays for the 4th of July. It was operated I believe by the Balaban and Katz chain, later in the 70's by the M&R corp who merged with the Cinwplex Odeon Group. A third screen was erected in the 1980s. It was also one of the first drive ins to have the in car heaters and radio sound. I have photos of the screens, ticket booth, and marquee from the 1980's. The ticket booth was arsoned in 1999 and the marquee knocked down but the screens and concession stand are still on the property. It also was one of the last operating drive ins in the Chicago Suburbs.

What's going to happen to this drive-in??
Will they reopen it or demolish it??

Though the 1990's the bel-air was operated by the lowe's/sony theater chain.

The Bel-air -which means "fresh air" - sits at the top of one of chicago's first land fills!!

lol interesting comment Ben

Hello out there, does anyone know if the drive-in in Sauk Trails is still open. Chicago IL

There are only a very few drive ins open. I was at the Cascade last weekend and it is still doing great business. The others are in Aurora and up north. Any others not sure. The Bel-Air as of 6/1/04 still stands but abandoned. They need to reopen it someday.

In the Chicagoland area, there are only three drive-ins in operation still: the Cascade, in West Chicago, the Hi-Lite 30 in Aurora, and the McHenry Outdoor in McHenry. There are a few still in operation in other parts of Illinois, like the Route 66 in Springfield, the Skyview in Litchfield, and the Harvest Moon in Gibson City to name a couple, but Bobactor is right, there are very few in this state still open. Also, to answer wrightone, the Sauk Trails Drive-In has been closed for many years.

I had a lot of great times at the Bel-air in the 70's! Hope they reopen it. All of the theatres of my youth in Chicago are gone. too bad.

Wow, I can't belive that people are still talking about the Bel- Air
I was actually the General manager of the drive in, in 1998. This was a fun place to work. I don't think that they will open the drive in again. Te last that I heard that they were going to turn it into a parking lot for the speedway across the street. Although it was tough to run, and I have had many a headaches from there. It was a great experience. If anybody has any questions on the Drive- in , and you think I can be of any assistance. please feel free to contact me D_okon@prodigy.net

A 2004 view of the closed Bel-Air can be seen here.

I went past the drive-in yesterday, it's really sad...Abandoned, gravel and chunks of concrete in huge piles all over the place. I don't give it much hope of ever reopening. The speedway across the street has been closed for a few years now, and is slowly being disassembled. The entire area is going downhill fast!

I rember going over the bridge that connects i think 31st with Cicero Ave and seeing people sitting on the walk way with lawn chairs watching the movie on the screen that face the bridge,and if i recall right their was some kind of roadway to the bluff that over looked the screens and people would drive up and park and watch the movie for free more or less. Cuse at night when the movie`s were being viewed you could hear the speakers from the cars that paid to see the flim.
Also if i recall right the police from Chicago and from Cicero took turns moving people off of the bridge becuse as i said before that would sit on the walk way and watch the movie and the people in cars would stop and look at the people and this would cause a goucker block. But this was a very good Drive-in i rember it well good memories. :) Thank You fore you time.

>>The Bel-Air typically screened double-features, and was one of the only drive-ins in the US to feature two-sided screens, enabling the theater to show two different double bills at once.<<

The 41 Twin in Franklin, WI (Milwaukee 'burb) also had the two sided screen.

It's still up, but I doubt it'll ever re-open. There's too much commercial re-development going on to convince the land owners(assuming it's not loews/amc) to let a drive in operate instead of a big box retailer.

Quote from The Chicago Sun-Times

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Business briefs

December 15, 2006

Retail planned for Cicero site

Cicero trustees have approved plans for a Wal-Mart store and a Lowe's Home Improvement store to be built near 31st Street and Cicero Avenue, at the site of a former drive-in movie theater, the Bel-Air, said a spokesman for the developer, Monroe Investment Partners of Chicago. Prior to the Bel-Air drive-in, the property was used as a landfill and a quarry. The 217,000-square-foot Wal-Mart and the 150,000-square-foot Lowe's stores are expected to open at the end of 2007 or in early 2008. The site will be difficult to develop because a berm circling the drive-in, standing as high as 70 feet in some places, must be taken down, the developer's spokesman said. The property is about two blocks from the old Sportsman's Park racetrack, an 80-acre site the town wants to develop into a lifestyle shopping center.

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http://www.suntimes.com/business/173857,CST-FIN-Tick15.article

Pictures and more at http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/iltbela

Sadly, I saw some cranes and other equipment when I drove past the area last week. I suspect they're getting ready to tear it down. And so dies another historic site. :-(

They want to build a walmart there eh, what a shocker. I found the Bel-Air site on Google maps street view, the screens are definitely gone, bummer. That two sided screen was a very cool concept. There was also one in Indy (gone) called the Theatair Twin and the Admiral Twin in Tulsa, which is still open. Ron/michigandriveins.com

The Bel-Air was great. You never could get the frequency on the radio, so you had to use the speakers. The last film we saw at The Bel-Air was Pet Cemetary. I always remember that at about 10:15 they'd interrupt you with the annoucement that the consession stand is closing in 15 minutes, and that means the restrooms will be closed too. One young man was cute one night and said "So if you need to use the restroom, go now or forever hold your pees"
So, Wal-Mart eh? Not a place I would ever shop, not even for the $4 prescriptions.

Here is an aerial shot from 1972.

Here is a 1986 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/carges