Johnny All-Weather Drive-In
1001 Sunrise Highway,
Copiague,
NY
11726
1001 Sunrise Highway,
Copiague,
NY
11726
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Showing 51 - 59 of 59 comments
I remember seeing GREASE from our station wagon in my pajamas at the drive in!!! Does anyone remember the rooler/ice skate rink across the street???
I can’t speak for the entire history of the drive-in, only from 1978 to it’s destruction and of the site presently.
I don’t remember the exact date the indoor closed. I will iterate, UA did not like the clientele of the indoor, but closing the whole drive-in for winter led to increased costs in springtime due to brake-ins and vandalism occuring on the unattended grounds. After that, the drive-in remained open over the winter. Then, after that, the buildings were boarded up over the winter and we took the panels down for spring. The flea market continued to operate on Sundays and Wednesdays when the drive-in was closed. Open or closed for the winter? it went back and forth.
The indoor did not stay open all winter?
UA did not like the clientele of the indoor.
One winter, I put up “Closed for Season please
visit Movies at Sunrise Mall” on the marquee.
I was told to take it down. I am glad to have
been present for that last great joyful night of the
indoor. Dolefully, I sold the very last tickets for the Drive-in. I let last carload in free.
How I loved the All Weather Drive In as a child. Yes, my parents had my sister and I crunch down in our seats to make us appear younger to pay the lower “child under 12” admission. We got away with it for awhile until one day a very large Afro-American woman actually came out of her booth and yelled at my parents, “Don’t you all tell me them kids aint tweleve! Since that day we were honest. There was a small place for rides for the kids. Indoors, the screen was so large it was over whelming and the sound enveloped you…this was before stereo now. The seats were super comfortable. The popcorn was delicious, nice and buttery. I’ve never had better. One time we watched a movie outside, and I got my sex education early when I noticed the going ons in the car next to ours! That’s life!
Does anyone remember how long the indoor was closed before the drive-in closed? I am guessing maybe 5 years.
WBAB Radio had a DJ booth for “live” broadcasts from the Copiague Drive-In. The place had a restaurant, tram car to shuttle people around, et al. Saw hundreds of films there, including matinees at the indoor in the 1960s…2 hits for the price of one! The indoor was huge with a balcony. I once saw “The Chairman” and “The Detective” in 1968 at the indoor and was the ONLY person there for the 2pm show!
I grew up in Setauket on Long Island, and in 1968 a friend’s mother took my friend, his younger brother, and me to see 2001: A Space Odyssey at a theater on the Island not long after it opened.
I’ve been trying to figure out exactly which theater it was and suspect this may have been it — mainly because I remember the theater was not close by and the place had both indoor and drive-in screens.
Does anyone else recall seeing 2001 at this theater not long after it was released? I’d be grateful to know! Thank you.
The other side of the street from pep boys it is now condo houses