Southington Drive-In
Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike,
Southington,
CT
06479
Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike,
Southington,
CT
06479
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The address for this drive-in is 935 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike.
March 24 1970 and “BOB,CAROL,TED,ALICE” is playing along with a second feature called “THE MAD ROOM” in car heaters!
New website http://www.southingtondrive-in.org/
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This drive-in will reopen on June 26, 2010 as a single screen venue run by the town. Capacity will be 300 cars and it will show movies on Saturday nights through the summer.
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I have a short video of this drive -in…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Veh9YAFWT6Y
Shot around 1991.
Car capacity in 1975 was 1,100.
I was there a couple of week ago and took these photos (one of which, Lost Memory already linked you to above):
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and
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Here is a recent photo.
See a 1955 newspaper ad for the Southington Drive-In with its “giant curved Cinemascope screen” at View link
This place was owned by the same family that owned the Elm Theater in West Hartford. I worked at this drive-in occasionally as their relief projectionist.
It took a helluva bright bulb to get through that night air and onto the screen clearly! We’d broadcast sound in AM stereo since most of the window-hanging speakers had died. The gals in the concession stand would always bring me a bucket of french fries when they knew I was working. (Good to have friends in the right places, eh?) On weekend nights we’d have to contend with the baseball field directly behind the place since they had tons of lighting for night games. It would wreak havoc with our screens and we battled constantly.
Still, this place was virtually a license to print cash on a Friday or Saturday nights in the summer. We’d have to turn away cars because the place was filled for every show. How many theaters can say that?
There is an article about this drive-in here:
View link
There are some photos of this drive-in here:
http://www.carlweese.com/DI4.html
The last 3 photos on that webpage are the Southington Twin.
The Southington Drive-In closed after the 2002 season because the owners wanted to make a killing selling this property even though the drive-in was still profitable. Screen 1 has already been removed. While screen 2 remains, the property will become parking for enarby Recreation Park and will be used for flea markets, fairs, and the like.
i went to this drive in naked one time
This drive-in is listed as opening in 1955 and closing in 2002. The following is from a news article:
“The town voted in an April 27 referendum to buy the drive-in property for $1.6 million.
Parks and Recreation Superintendent Richard L. Egidio Sr. said the town plans to build an additional parking lot on the land for Recreation Park and to use the property for special events such as flea markets and fairs.
Egidio also said the department will keep screen 2 up and plans to renovate the concession stand to be able to show movies a few times each summer, although those plans would not come to fruition for two to three years".