Blue Dell Drive-In

Route 30,
North Versailles, PA 15137

Closed
1 screen
500 cars

Unfavorite 1 person favorited this theater

Showing all 8 comments

Chuck1231
Chuck1231 on September 7, 2012 at 9:37 am

jwmovies you listed the same address for the Belle Aire but that address would have been for the Super 30 Drive-In in Irwin.

jwmovies
jwmovies on September 7, 2012 at 6:39 am

Approx. address for this drive-in was 14431 U.S. 30, Irwin, PA. The Belle Aire Drive-in is located just NE off Peterson Rd.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on December 2, 2010 at 3:45 pm

There are pictures of this drive-in on its gallery page at Drive-ins.com: http://www.drive-ins.com/gallery/patblu2

johnfar
johnfar on March 3, 2009 at 2:04 pm

One of my favorite places to spend a summer day in the 50s was the Blue Dell complex. We would spend the day swimming (one of the largest pools in the Pgh area), then eat and later the drive-in, preferably in the balcony. The Blue Dells claim to fame was the balcony, a bluff over looking the main section of the drive-in. Snacks were acquired by trips up and down the stairs connection the parts. Nice memories.

lostmemory
lostmemory on May 7, 2008 at 2:17 am

Rodan was released in 1957. It is forbidden to be anymore specific than the year.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on May 7, 2008 at 2:08 am

Here is a 1958 ad:
http://tinyurl.com/68mep5

lostmemory
lostmemory on April 13, 2007 at 3:34 pm

I don’t know old the information is on this website, but it mentions this drive-in.

“ Up on Route 30 in North Versailles, passersby can still see where the Blue Dell Drive-In was. The empty screen is still there, and beside it is the site of the old Blue Dell Diner. Just below that are the crumbling ruins of the Blue Dell Swimming Pool. This triple Blue Dell complex — pool, diner and drive-in theatre — was owned by the Warren family. Their first drive-in theatre was the "Super 30” on Route 30 near Irwin. They eventually built, owned and operated 7 drive-ins in the region, and the “Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In,” also on Route 30, just east of the Westinghouse Bridge, still plays a double bill on each of its five screens every night in the warm months".

DRIVEIN101
DRIVEIN101 on April 13, 2007 at 10:22 am

The Blue Dell Drive-In was one of many drive-ins built on or just off of the original Lincoln Highway in Southwestern Pennsylvania; others included Super 30, Maple, Greater Pittsburgh, Ardmore, Twin Hi-Way and Super 30 West. This was also one of several drive-ins owned and operated by the Warren family. One of these, Belle-Aire, was built behind the Blue Dell Pool.

For years after closing, the drive-in screen and sign (as well as the pool sign and the deteriorating pool itself) remained standing. The screen was just taken down a few years ago. Vangura laminating plant now stands on the drive-in site.