Ridge Road Drive-In

444 W. Ridge Road,
Griffith, IN 46319

Unfavorite 1 person favorited this theater

Additional Info

Previously operated by: General Cinema Corp.

Nearby Theaters

Ridge Road Drive In last days

General Cinema opened the Ridge Road Drive-In in the early-1950’s. It was located just one mile west of where GCC would build their first twin screen indoor theater in the area, Ridge Plaza. Ridge Road Drive-In was absolutely huge and could hold 1,200 cars. It’s large screen faced away from W. Ridge Road but the giant concrete wall with the name of the theater and the marquee that was built into it was quite an eye catcher.

The drive-in played a great mixture of films. One week would be a horror triple feature. One week was a Disney triple feature. One week was a biker triple feature. One thing RRDI did that neither the Hammond Srive-In or Y & W Drive-In did was show their main feature second.

General Cinema closed the drive-in in 1976 and was re-opened in 1977 by independent owners. With the drive-in business slipping and more indoor theaters opening the new owners bailed out after one season and soon after was torn down. By summer of 1978 a strip mall was being built and General Cinema would open Griffith Park Cinema in that very strip mall in 1979. A restaurant (which recently burned down) stood on the site where the screen and box office were.

Sadly there is nothing to indicate a drive-in ever stood there.

Contributed by John

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

WmLaDow
WmLaDow on September 29, 2004 at 3:11 pm

Aerial photographs of the intersection of Ridge Road and Cline Avenue show Ridge Road Drive-In existing as early as 1950.

JohnSanchez
JohnSanchez on November 2, 2004 at 12:59 pm

Correct! The main ad should have said early 1950’s instead of 1960’s.

JRS40
JRS40 on July 18, 2005 at 10:58 am

The Ridge Road Drive In closed in October of 1977. Its final triple feature the week of 10/14 was “The Outlaw Josey Wales” plus “Joshua” plus “A Touch of Satin”.

rivest266
rivest266 on June 25, 2012 at 10:14 am

Aerial photo uploaded here.

jwmovies
jwmovies on November 14, 2012 at 1:22 am

Approx. address for this drive-in was 444 West Ridge Road.

rivest266
rivest266 on July 24, 2017 at 5:05 am

This opened as Drive-In on May 7th, 1948. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.