Waterford Drive-In
Clark Lane at Boston Post Road,
Waterford,
CT
06385
Clark Lane at Boston Post Road,
Waterford,
CT
06385
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The Waterford Drive-In was operating by 1955, and was located on Boston Post Road. At that time it had a capacity for 750 cars. Operated at that time by S. Gloth & Amalgamated. In later years the owner was L. Goldberg.
Closed in 1980 according to tax form relics. Possible in-car electric heaters. The concession stand which is boarded up is filled with graffiti and the skeleton screen remains.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Condos have been proposed for this site.
Located near Super Stop & Shop Plaza, homeless people were quoted in the paper as living on the site of the former theatre.
Grew up in Waterford, and went on my first drive-in date at the Waterford Drive-In. Saw many films with the family there, too! When it was abandoned and started to fall apart, I took a camera there and got some pictures of the sign, the screen and the grounds. I was planning on blowing one pic up and titling it “The Decline of Western Civilization”! I hate to see the great drive-ins go.
We went here a lot in the ‘70s – it was around 20 minutes away from the 2-screen Norwich/New London DI. The Waterford had weird double features, like the Muppet Movie with the Valachi Papers (?!). Saw Pink Floyd at Pompeii there shortly before it closed in 1980 or so! It’s one of the few drive-ins where I ever saw shrimp cocktail and fried clams in the snack bar. There was a Bee-Bee’s Dairy in the shopping plaza next door (later Newport Creamery) where a lot of us got our munchies before driving onto the DI grounds. Here’s a wire report from today:
Waterford (AP)_ Waterford police are looking for a white sport utility that struck and killed a man Friday in a hit-and-run.
Police have identified the victim as a 43-year-old homeless man. Police say Frederick Finn had a New London address but they think he was living in the woods behind the old Waterford Drive-in Theater at the time of his death. Police are still seeking the public’s help in finding the vehicle that hit Finn on the Boston Post Road. The accident happened at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening.
Car capacity in 1975 was 450.
The Waterford DI was closed for awhile in 1973, until it reopened under new ownership In August 1973. When it finally closed in 1980, owner Carl D. Sherman also ran the nearby Waterford Cinema, a single-screen on the eastern side of a strip mall overlooking the Drive-In. That theater would soon close as well.
Goggle Earth view 2012
Approx. address for this drive-in was 117 Boston Post Road.