Playtime 3 Drive-In

A February 2022 Google Street View shows the concession stand/projection booth along with the structure behind them as gone. You can see them in a 2021 street view, but it’s clear that they were removed between then and February 2022.

It also seems that the bottom part of the marquee is still standing. The sign on top as seen in photos is gone.

A Church(Christ Church) in the back of the drive-in lot. The snack bar and screen may still be there in the empty field?

There was a fire in the vacant (projection?) building according to a local news report on March 4, 2018. No one was injured.

The report mentioned an NPR story that said a church bought the place in 2008 and stayed there through 2014 and along the way “had unusual ceremonies where old x-rated movies were burned in a fire pit.”

This place was the first place that ive ever went to to see a movie I was 4 years of age my mother took me to this place and as I was growing up I always went back to the movie drive in….until one day I was going there and it was close my heart stopped because they had the most room and space and the best food and every staff member was so nice I really want this place to reopen and if I had the money I would invest in this place and reopen it back up

To Vinnie, that was the Airbase Drive In that catered to the Jax Naval Air Base. It is now an 84 lumber co.

Please bring it back…. it was so much fun for me growing up spending time.with the family being able to chill and lay back in your own car was the best… I would love to experience this again with my like my parents did with me

There are the letters that I put up on the marquee “THEATRE CLOSED” I cried like a baby putting those letters up there. I had patrons stopping at the red light there saying “Now what are we suppose to do?” We had the best food around. Everybody cried.

I wonder if the church ever found the secret closet upstairs yet.Oh and by the way while I’m on a roll here with butter & syrup,another one of my films that they burned,WHICH I PAID FOR IN CASH was The African Queen!!! Yep such morons.

O.K.

That’s a real shame. Please don’t give up on us as long as there is still hope.I would love to help in any way that I can so please let me know if there’s anything I can do.

Film_dude how are things progressing with the Southern Lights drive in and flea market in Clay county idea you were working on?

A few weeks back, the church that bought the Playtime had a publicity stunt that left me horrified.

They found, by their estimate, 100 titles of 35mm porn from the 70’s and 80’s on the property. Then they burn it for the stunt. You can read about it here.

View link

One of my biggest fears was that they’re burning non-porn films. A week after this made national news, Folio Weekly, our alternative weekly paper, went out there to speak to the Church about this. The writer was able to find pieces of the film they burned.

The film was PET SEMATARY.

PET SEMATARY played on a quadruple feature the Playtime ran in, I think, late 91 or Spring of ‘92. I definitely went but that time period is a little hazy. However, the other films they played that night were THE UNHOLY, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP and HELLHOLE, which means there’s a good chance that is all still there.

I say all still there because the writer found out that they DIDN’T burn all the films for toxic pollution environmental reasons. They contacted the city and were told they couldn’t. Folio Weekly also contacted the city fire department to find out why city fire trucks were participating in church shenanigans. No real answers, but the reverend apparently fears that someone will break in to steal them.

Hey Harvey
Finally got a yes on a piece of property in Clay County. Hopefully everything will work out and the Jacksonville Area will have a new drive-in by the spring. Only thing for sure right now is that we have decieded to name it Southern Lights. We will run a flea market on wed, fri, sat and sun.