Atlantic Drive-In
6733 E. Black Horse Pike,
Egg Harbor Township,
NJ
08234
6733 E. Black Horse Pike,
Egg Harbor Township,
NJ
08234
3 people
favorited this theater
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I saw The Poseidon Adventure there
My family loved the Atlantic Drive In, one of the first movies I remember seeing was The Amityville Horror, I loved the intermission breaks, great memories that I’ll never forget.
Opening ad:
Atlantic Drive-In opening 15 Jun 1950, Thu Press of Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey) Newspapers.com
Closed for reconstruction to make room for the mall in 1965 and reopened on July 1st, 1966, after a complete rebuilding. Grand opening ad posted.
I managed & projectionist in 1985. Still used Ashcraft Super Corelites Carbon Arc lamps & Century 35mm heads.
Last season: 1985.
The theatre was located in Egg Harbor TWP., not Egg Harbor city. The theatre had a Pleasantville address, because EHT had no PO at that time
Please up date the address to 6733 E Black Horse Pike.
1951 aerial photo uploaded, They must had moved the drive-in to make room for the shopping mall by 1969.
1970 USGS aerial photo uploaded showing the Town cinema (as a twin)
Informaton needs to be updated. This drive in never had 3 screens.It was always a single screen theater.
Address for the drive-in was 6733 Black Horse Pike. The screen was originally where the mall entrance is now. The latter screen was in the back on the mall on SW side, just west of the multiplex.
In the later years it was operated by the dreaded Frank Theaters.
Oh, and Crazy Bob, please go to this link for many pictures and more info on the Drive-In. Your picture is actually on there, as well as others. If you haven’t seen it, you’ll get a big kick out of it. http://www.drive-ins.com/gallery/njtatla
Hey Crazy Bob, in 1968 on Saturday nights, ours was always the last car there because we never watched the movie, our car windows were steamed up and then we fell asleep and got locked in. That cute guy and I got married and have been together for 44 years.
The man is me. I worked as a rural letter carrier, in Mays Landing for my day job, & put a suit on & managed the Atantic & Absecon drive-ins (also the Ventnor & Margate) & I loved the Atlantic so much, that I wore a suit to work. it was my idea, & the Franks loved it! Sometimes I had to run the projectors (20 minute reels, & carbon arc lamps.
..I also have Asperger’s Syndrome, so I’m pretty weird!
Assume the man in the picture was the Manager? Been around alot of Drive-ins Never saw a manager there yet in a Suit.Learn something everyday.
Around 1970, I lived on Pineview Ave., in Cardiff. I walked to the Atlantic Drive-In to go to work. Our mailing address was Pleasantville, NI, 08232. Egg Harbor City is at the intersection of NJ RT. 50, & US RT. 30 (White Horse Pike.) EHT got it’s own zipcode in the late 80,s or 90’s.
Legally the site was always in Egg Harbor Township, but the township name wasn’t commonly used for addresses until after the drive-in closed. Cardiff would be the nearest community within the township, but businesses around there that were looking to draw customers from out of town advertised as being in Pleasantville, which was better known and was probably the post office serving the area. In the 1990s the township started trying to build up an identity and asked businesses to say that they were in EHT in their advertising; many did, especially after the township got its own ZIP code. The address at the top of the page really should say Egg Harbor Township instead of just Egg Harbor; some people, especially older ones, interpret just Egg Harbor to mean Egg Harbor City, which is a completely different place.
Pleasantville would be correct, or Cardiff possibly. My brother lives close to the old site, and his address is in Cardiff.
Listed in 1956 Motion Picture Almanac as being located in Pleasantville.
How COOL! If you click on the 1963 or the 1957 link, you see the old Atantic DI.
The area south, between the screen, & the G.S. Parkway ramp was called Pioneer Town, I believe. I went there as a small kid.
My father had the Sinclair gas station on the Cardiff circle in 1957.
Here is a 1970 aerial photo. The Towne 4 is at the right:
http://tinyurl.com/yfodvbt
This is from Boxoffice in June 1950:
Walter Reade Theatres will open the 800-car Atlantic Drive-In Friday June 16 at Pleasantville, N.J. It will be the second drive-in opened by the circuit this year. An 850-car drive-in was opened April 21 at Eatontown, N.J. The Atlantic is the sixth drive-in on the Walter Reade circuit. It is located eight miles from Atlantic City and is the first to be built in the area. A play area has been constructed on the grounds. Jack Hamilton will be manager.
This is from Boxoffice magazine, August 1962:
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.-Expansion of Al Frank’s Atlantic Drive-In, recently acquired from Walter Reade, was made possible by replacement of the old wood tower by a new and larger Selby screen tower following the big Atlantic coast storm this spring.
Space on the back of the screen, visible from the Garden State Parkway and busy Route 40, was rented to a local radio station. Sign lettering was painted directly on the reverse side of Selby’s surface panels.