Century's 110-Drive-In

P.S. YES! I know it’s not a Johnny All Weather Drive in but I needed a kooky character on there.

Just sad as it always is to read about the old Drive-ins.

I’m not sure the flea markets were open AFTER the drive in closed, but I could be wrong

correction: My 1960’s Newsdays listed Route 110 under “Huntington” I should say

And past it’s closing it was the site of some really big Flea Markets each Sunday. I was local and just called it the 110 Drive-In. In that immediate area were also the Massapequa, Hempstead Tpke (in Bethpage/Plainedge) and Johnny All Weather in Copiague.

CORRECTION: THIS theater did NOT CLOSE in the 80s! Last year of business was the end of the 1976 season or the 1977 season at the latest. I have tons of old newspapers—especially when Elvis died in ‘77-so I will check . The marque remained standing till 1979-as memory serves me . I so wish there were some photos but this well-loved drive in but it has been an elusive phantom. I remember the marque was on an angle right in front with the booths to the right-fairly close to the road. There was a mini kids chair-o-plane as well as the train ride. I believe the same type of train ride is featured in the last Abott & Costello movie “Dance with Me , Henry” (late 50s?). I think the snack bar was the size and shape of the Westbury Drive In snack bar (again, I’m going on my memory). Historical Societies ? Fooey! When most of them were established , they did not consider the 1950s and 1960s old enough—especially if they were formed in the 1950s or 1960s. LOL.

Now if we only had a ground view showing the pylon.

As the projectors had probably been installed before the February 2 Ashcraft ad was published, 1956 does seem a likely year for the drive-in to have opened.

This site claims that the 110 Drive-In opened in 1956. That is also the source for the 288 Broadhollow Road address. It’s possible that 288 is off by a few numbers but 288 Broadhollow Road is alot closer than the address that is given above.

The 110-Drive-In must have opened in 1957, not 1959. An ad for Ashcraft’s Super Cinex projectors appeared in the February 2 issue of Boxoffice Magazine that year, saying that these projectors had been installed at the Century 110 Drive-In.

It was certainly open by September of 1957, as the September 7 issue of Boxoffice carried an item about a promotion at the theater which involved giving away 6,000 barbecued beef sandwiches over a four day period.

The October 19, 1957, issue of Boxoffice ran an article about drive-in concession stands which featured several paragraphs about the operation at the 110 Drive-In, with two photos of its concession area.

Looking at local maps one sees that as you travel north on 110 it goes from being Broadhollow to Walt Whitman. Since the map was not conclusive in showing a line of demarcation I checked the phone book listing for the Dunkin Donuts which is located at Old Country Road about one third of a mile north of the theatre. Broadhollow. The address of Waldbaums about a half mile up is Walt Whitman. My guess is that the Northern State Parkway is the line of demarcation. All of which confirms the theatre address should be Broadhollow Road.

Yes it was. On the west side of the road just north of the LIE north service road. The capacity was 2,500 cars making it one of the largest, if not the largest on Long Island. It was Century’s only Drive In. The Sunrise in Valley Stream was Redstone all the rest were Prudential.

I also remember one time they were resurfacing the screen. It was a windy day and whatever they used for the job was blowing onto traffice, including my car, on 100, aka Broadhollow Road.