Paramus Drive-In

Old aerial postcard from the 1950s. Theater is almost dead center:
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Years after the theater closed, the movies are returning to the Plaza in a much different form, this time a 16-plex slated to open in the spring of this year. When that happens, I will post the Garden State 16 on this site. Hopefully it will be much better than the aging Route 4 Tenplex, which has outlasted all of its nearby cinema competition (Paramus Picture Show, Route 17 Triplex, and Bergen Mall) as the most popular multiplex in Paramus.

The Paramus Drive-in was closed for the first half of the 1970s. It reopened around 1977. The great feature when it reopened was that instead of attaching a speaker to your car, you could tune in to the movie on your car radio. This was great for the local teens because we used to hang out in the woods behind the theater. We would bring our beers and of course a portable radio, watch some great movies and drink our brewskies without worrying about getting hassled.
In the summer of 79, the theater began having midnight showings of rock movies. This brought in a lot of young, drunk moviegoers. I don’t think this even lasted the whole summer because of the problems with drinking, drug use and fights. Tragedy struck when a teenage moviegoer was hit and killed by a car on his way home from one of these shows. It was after this summer that the theater really began to go down hill as far as maintenance.

It happened on Plaza Way.

I’m glad you guys are talking about this. My Grandfather owned the land at present day Garden State Plaza where the former Paramus Drive-In Movie sits. One day back in the 30’s my grandfather was sitting on this land wondering what to do with it. Family legend has it that he struck on the idea of an outdoor movie theater there not because it’s a great idea to have an outdoor theater. But because back then the tax collecting authorities (IRS?) collected taxes only for the square footage of the building that exists on the land. What a lightbulb of an idea, put a small shack with a projector in it and a screen on the other end and collect the profits with little overhead and taxation. Fits the adage, you build it, the rest shall come. We have the books from the 30’s onto the 50’s, he was making money HAND OVER FIST with little taxation. Ironically by the 50’s he got out of the business because the profits were declining and the tax structure changed. He then went into the motel/hotel business. If anybody reads this, and have pictures, I would love to have copies as I have none. Please inbox me at .