Sunset Park Auto
379 N. Main Street,
Lanesboro,
MA
01237
379 N. Main Street,
Lanesboro,
MA
01237
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Opened prior to 1955 as the Sunset Drive-In. This was a drive-in theatre located in Lanesboro, MA. Now long closed, and in a heavily dilapidated state. The property was for sale as of 2005.
Contributed by
James Morris
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Biked by here the other day en route to Mt. Greylock’s summit and caught this drive-in. It’s on the left side just after Lake Pontusac and right before the town center. The ticket booths are still in front but the bulk of the property has fill on site. Must have been cool with the lake behind it, cooling off the patrons.
379 N Main St, Lanesboro, MA 01237
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is visible on Google Earth using historic aerial imagery.
There are several pictures of the remains of this drive-in on its gallery page at Drive-in.com: http://www.drive-ins.com/gallery/matsuns
It appears athletic fields have been built over this drive-in.
Began in July of 1947 as the Sunset Park Auto Theatre. Major improvements led to a grand re-opening as the New Sunset Park Auto Theatre August 24, 1948. In 1950, the theatre changed to its final name of Sunset Drive-In Theater.
The Sunset’s 30th year proved to be its most challenging. A back tax collection issue led to the ozoner failing to get a license to operate in April of 1977. Once that was resolved in early May, the Sunset was back in business. But playing X-rated and R-Rated fare at despite promises to have at least one family feature a month, the Sunset was not a beloved 30-year old member of the community. In December of 1977, that came to a head when the country district attorney ordered troopers to seize the films, “Hot Shots” and “The Double Exposure of Holly” as obscene.
The theater would soldier on, close standing vacant for a period, and then the drive-in land owner would offer the Sunset for the Bill Laston Memorial Park.
It may be a park now, but the Google Street view from August of 2017 shows what appears to be the marquee still standing and the building that housed the projection booth has either been repurposed or something built exactly in the same spot.