Skyway Drive-In
Stony Creek,
ON
No one has favorited this theater yet
The Skyway Drive-in opened in 1946 and closed in 1970.
Famous Players owned this drive-in which was the first to be built in Canada and had space for 705 cars.
Contributed by
Chad Irish
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
This SKYWAY DI located on HWY#8 in Stoney Creek just outside Hamilton… I have d-pictures if you desire
Sure Allan that would be great if you could send a picture of the Skyway Drive-In. Just go to the top of the screen then click the “Add Photo” button.
Hey Allan,
I would love to see pictures of this drive-in, I have heard so much about it. If you still have them and you receive this message could you please e-mail them to ? Also, do you know if it was located close to the Starlite? Being owned by Famous Players it’s no wonder it closed down,
Gaelyn AKA “Drive-in GiRL”
I remember this drive-in quite well. I grew up about a mile from it. It was located on the present day site of Fiesta Mall. I went to see a movie at the Skyway in 1974, so it couldn’t have closed in 1970. The mall opened in 1979, so it must have been closed, then demolished sometime during those 5 years. Does anyone have a more accurate date?
I grew up less than a mile from it, just around the corner on Mountain Avenue North. I went to Saltfleet High School, which was right next door. It backed onto Collegiate Avenue School, an elementary school. You could watch movies from the playground, or hop the fence and sit at the back; there were always unused speakers abounding. It was, as far as I can tell, the only ‘urban’ drive-in, anywhere. That is, there was housing abutting the property, so if you lived in one of these homes, you could probably see the screen quite well. Free films, indeed.
A few years ago I wrote a screenplay inspired by the Skyway. Entitled ‘Someone Else’s Dream’, its story is predicated on the idea that a ten year old’s family moves to this very neighbourhood and at the end of a very tear-filled moving day, the kid looks out his bedroom window…to find that he’s staring out at this enormous drive-in screen, lit up brilliantly against a deepening dusk sky. The Skyway had a huge effect on me growing up (obviously!); I have many great memories of the place, it’s no wonder they ended up prompting a need to turn them into a story. (The gist of the screenplay is the request in her will of his British grandmother to build the drive-in her husband had long dreamed of constructing in Cornwall; there’s never been a drive-in in England…)
As far as the ‘closing’ date, yes, RalphB is correct. It sure wasn’t 1970. Closer to ‘77, '78. I’m trying to nail this one down and will post when I’ve had some success.
Oh, by the way, a piece of trivia: the first film to be shown here, back in ‘46? 'Casanova Brown’, with Gary Cooper.
In 1956 it parked 695 cars and was owned by something called the F.P.C.C.
Thanks Mike.