Plainfield Edison Drive-In
1659 Oak Tree Road,
Edison,
NJ
08820
1659 Oak Tree Road,
Edison,
NJ
08820
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Actually, the full name of the the theater was the Plainfield-Edison Drive-in. It was located on Oak Tree Rd. in Edison.
The theater had both a drive-in and an indoor theater. To be honest, I think the the theater was constructed earlier then the 60’s, but I’d have to research that.
The indoor reference I believe was to the actual indoor theater that was part of the main building. I don’t recall a specific area for watching the drive-in films from indoors unless you were referring to the concession area that had picnic benchs in front that you could sit at.
The Plainfield-Edison’s indoor theater was somewhat unique. When it was a single theater, it was one of the few theaters that had what we now call stadium seating in it. There was floor seating in the front part of the theater and then the stadium seating in the rear that was about 5-6 steps up from the floor. I remember there was a steel tubular rail located at the front of the stadium seating area. As a kid, you always wanted to sit in that front row behind the rail because you could put your feet up on on it!
I believe the indoor theater stayed a single at least through the late 70’s when it was split in half to become a twin. By the mid-80’s the theater became very dingy and rundown and subsequently closed.
The Plainfield Drive-In was originally built in the early 60s and, if I remember correctly, was somewhat unique in that it was an indoor-outdoor theatre. You could watch from your car or you could go into a regular theatre that had a view of the drive-in screen through a large window. When built it had only one screen. If it closed as a twin the second screen must have been added later.
UA may have bought the theatre after it was built but I’m pretty sure they were not the original owner/operators.