South Drive-In
3050 South High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43207
3050 South High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43207
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As for the 1955 opening date, their website says 2010 is their 60th anniversary year.
This is their website, plain as it may be:
http://www.drive-inmovies.com/
Theatre opened on 4/30/2010 for the season.
This theatre will celebrate its 60th birthday on 5/11/2010. Opening features in 1950 were DOWN DAKOTA WAY with Roy Rogers & FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE.
The South Drive-In will probably survive longer than expected for two reasons:
1 – They are the last of a dying breed. During the portion of summer when school is also out, they show movies 7 nights/week on both screens. During the remaining portion of the movie season they show movies on Friday and Saturday nights. Also, as someone mentioned previously, they sell out or come close to it almost every weekend evening they are open!
2 – They operate the area as a flea market in the off season, renting “space” to local vendors at a fair price. Vendors line up into the street as early as 5 am to ensure a space, as they tend to fill up quickly.
The South Drive-In is still open as of the summer of 2009.
1987 photo of the South Drive-In Theatre.
View link
Here is a recent photo. The drive-in is scheduled to open on April 24.
They usually shut down for the season in September or very early October.
Maybe they closed for the season. The flea market hours are during the day 7am to 2pm.
Are movies still shown here? The marquee in that photo advertises only a flea market.
This is a November 2008 photo.
In 1980 car capacity was 750.
Address:
3050 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43207
Here are more recent photos.
And here is a photo of the front screen.
Here is a photo of the ticket booth.
The South Drive-In opened in 1955 as a single screen with a second screen added in 1980.
In the late 1960s and early 70s, the Columbus area had so many drive-ins that the Columbus Dispatch printed a whole separate section of movie listings for them. There was the Eastside, the 40 East, the Linden Air, Miles North High, Miles East Main, the Kingman, and many others whose names I no longer remember.