Playtime 3 Drive-In

Video from 1997: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc5vyZnPCmY

I was managing the gainesville d.i. in about 1986 when the owner wanted to run porn and when I installed screen 3 at the playtime. I said porn was a bad idea. We almost went bankrupt. BAD IDEA. A lot of drama because of it. Went back to first run the money rolled in.

You know what really burns my grits about this church was that all this church thought that ALL those films were NOT porn.Some of those films were classic foreign clean films that can not be replaced.One of those films was mine and it was the very first bruce lee movie made.

Great News!! The church that bought the old Playtime Drive In Movies Property will re-open the Wednesday flea market on March 17, 2010. The spaces will be $10-15. Hours 6am till 3pm. Please tell everyone you know about it, as we have all missed such a great shopping spot. See you there. zinniagirl

Still waiting to hear from Clay County. However the possibilities of opening another drive-in in Clay or Duval County is not looking good. The regulations in both counties have changed so much that it might be impossible.
We looked at the Ocala Drive-In in Ocala Florida a couple of weeks ago and are looking into the possibility of re-opening it.
karen (Southern Lights)

Listed as the Playboy Drive-In in 1975 with a capacity for 361 cars.

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.

A few photos can be seen here.

So the Playtime is closing this weekend? Where did you hear this? What a bummer!

The Playtime started showing general release probably about 1991. I remember I was just graduating high school when they went legit and that was in 1991. They had an article in the Florida Times Union about the change and showed FORBIDDEN WORLD and THE GROOVE TUBE as they made the switch.

Playtime history final

Not sure when exactly Burchfield took it over from Accord in the 80’s,but in the 90’s the Playtime was running first run general release and has enjoyed some success.However in September of 2007,while working the ticket booth,Burchfiled was shot in the leg during a robbery.He is currently convalescing in his south Florida home and is in the process of selling the property.The last scheduled show is this Saturday, May 31,2008.

Actually the Playtime showed hard core from about the early 70’s to 1981 when hard core was prohibited in Jacksonville.Just prior to that Marilyn Chambers had made an appearance out there and signed autographs for her then new film Insatiable.

The Playtime was built in 1948 but didn’t start running movies until 1952 because blackout laws from the war were still in effect.It was owned by Cecil Cohen and at that time,it was called the Twin Hills Drive In.In 1968 Cohen sold it to Ray Accord in a loose partnership with it’s present owner,Furman “Dempsey” Burchfield.It was renamed the Playboy and showed X rated fare.

Opened in 1948.