Sky-Hi Drive-In

We used to call this "53 Drive In", I saw Gremlins and Ghostbusters there on the same eveing.

The address for the Sky Hi Drive-In Theatre is 800 South Highway 53, Addison, Il.

I have fond memories of the Sky-Hi, my parents uses to take me there and I would look out the back of the station wagon and watch the horror movies that were playing on the other screen. It's too bad that most of the drive-in's in the area have been torn down for "progress" The home improvement store closed down and most of the other business have left just to leave a mostly vacant lot.

I remember going there with a date in my late teens. We were the only ones there and it started to snow...

What was the movie? Who knows...

This is the drive-in my parents took us to when we were younger, back when I thought Lombard was a nice place to live, before the current administration which just decided to knock down the DuPage Theatre. It's too bad that greed takes over and places like the Sky-Hi, 53 and DuPage Theatre go the way of the Edsel...

I uploaded the grand opening ad at http://www.drive-ins.com/theater/iltskyd

Here's an aerial shot from 1974

Here is part of a 6/30/68 article from the Daily Herald:

Addison's newest outdoor theater, the Ski-Hi Drive-in on Rt. 53 two blocks north of North Avenue, opened Friday. The theater lot accommodates 2,200 cars on 25 blacktopped acres in a complex that cost more than $1 5 million. It is the only blacktopped theater in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The theater will show two completely independent programs on each screen every week The self-service refreshment stand is air-conditioned Built by the L Robert Jelmek family, the theater will be managed by the M & R Corp , as is the Jehnek's Dundale Theater in Dundee. The Jelmek family pioneered in the drive-in theater business when they built the original Ski Hi Drive-In theater in Elmhurst 20 years ago. The original theater was taken by the state for highway purposes.

Car capacity given in 1975 was 2,100.

Was a great Drive In. Stop at White Castle on the way in. Get there early, pop your hood and show off your ride. Everybody used to tune their FM radios to the same station before the movie.

Never any problems there as the Addison Police cruised the theater. At least one pass down every row each night.

Photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarchie/sets/72157616228596227/