Bel-Air Drive-In
1117 E Chain of Rocks Rd,
Mitchell,
IL
62040
1117 E Chain of Rocks Rd,
Mitchell,
IL
62040
2 people
favorited this theater
The Bel-Air opened in the mid-50s as a single-screen drive-in, situated off the historic Route 66. It was originally part of the Mid-America Theatres chain, based in St. Louis. In the 70s, a second screen was built. At one time, the Bel-Air could accomodate about 700 cars.
Its concession building also housed a tiny indoor seating area, with a large picture window, for when the weather was bad (since it was originally open year-round).
BAC Theatres ran the drive-in from 1982 until it closed in 1987. The Bel-Air was completely demolished by the mid-90s except for its colorful and classy marquee (a large, bright red bell is behind the name of the drive-in), still in fairly good shape (except for the “R” in the “Air” part of the theater’s name is missing).
An industrial park is being constructed on the site of the Bel-Air.
Contributed by
Bryan
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Recent comments (view all 18 comments)
Here’s a silly question.
Did the Bel-Air Drive In’s name actually have the hyphen/dash in the middle of it?
The sign appears to have taken some creative license with an extended portion of the “A”. But with the spacing between the “Bel” and the “Air”, it appears to me to really be just the “Bel Air”.
I only ask because all of the posts refer to it as the Bel-Air. Just curious. I guess only the incorporation papers might yield the answer. Just curious.
That’s not really a silly question. If you search for this theater without using the hyphen on Cinema Treasures, you won’t find it. So it is important that the name is spelled correctly. Cinematour and Drive-Ins.com list it as the Bel-Air. The sign in the photo has no hyphen and the 1985 IMPA lists this drive-in as the Bel Air with a space and no hyphen. I don’t know which one is correct but the majority of the websites that have photos or information about this drive-in use the hyphen in the name.
I don’t if this means anything but notice in this photo that there is no hyphen in the word drive-in either.
That photo looks familiar.
Are you saying that it’s already been posted?
On 11/29/07.
Sorry about that. I thought I clicked on all of the links.
It was hidden under another one. No worries.
Venue operated from 1953 to 1986. The second screen was added in 1979.
There is a snall article on the Bel-Air and photo, second photo down from the top here