South Drive-In

In the late 1960s and early 70s, the Columbus area had so many drive-ins that the Columbus Dispatch printed a whole separate section of movie listings for them. There was the Eastside, the 40 East, the Linden Air, Miles North High, Miles East Main, the Kingman, and many others whose names I no longer remember.

The South Drive-In opened in 1955 as a single screen with a second screen added in 1980.

Here is a photo of the ticket booth.

And here is a photo of the front screen.

Here are more recent photos.

Address:

3050 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43207

In 1980 car capacity was 750.

This is a November 2008 photo.

Are movies still shown here? The marquee in that photo advertises only a flea market.

Maybe they closed for the season. The flea market hours are during the day 7am to 2pm.

They usually shut down for the season in September or very early October.

Here is a recent photo. The drive-in is scheduled to open on April 24.

1987 photo of the South Drive-In Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c35%2c3%2c-1&catpagesize=25&ProductID=31957

The South Drive-In is still open as of the summer of 2009.

The South Drive-In will probably survive longer than expected for two reasons:

1 - They are the last of a dying breed. During the portion of summer when school is also out, they show movies 7 nights/week on both screens. During the remaining portion of the movie season they show movies on Friday and Saturday nights. Also, as someone mentioned previously, they sell out or come close to it almost every weekend evening they are open!

2 - They operate the area as a flea market in the off season, renting "space" to local vendors at a fair price. Vendors line up into the street as early as 5 am to ensure a space, as they tend to fill up quickly.