Westbury Drive-In
7000 Brush Hollow Road,
Westbury,
NY
11590
7000 Brush Hollow Road,
Westbury,
NY
11590
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 76 comments
A little trivia going back to RobertR’s posting of the “Born Losers” ad… This was the precurser to Tom Laughlin’s notorious Billy Jack movie series from the 1970’s. Love those ads, by the way. Keep ‘em coming! I’d love to see more of those lurid double bills from the '70’s and even very early 80’s that played Times Square and certain neighborhood screens… I’m thinking about blacksploitation and Kung Fu flicks, but also some of the horror twin-bills from the turn of the decade '79-'81. Unfortunately, those ads didn’t really run as large as they did in the '60’s, if they even ran at all. Sometimes, you just had to scour the Neighborhood Movie Clock listings in the papers to see what was playing.
1976 the Westbury was open all year round with the in car heaters
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Robert: I have to tell you that my wife and I saw the Born Losers at the Westbury DI——We had everything to do to get my 5 year old Daughter to go to sleep in the back seat when some of the violent scenes were showing—-lol——-No she is 42 years old, and I have the film on dvd——-Thanks for the memories——-JoeR from Florida
Another typical AIP drive-in double bill from 1968
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Is there a more perfect drive-in double bill then this?
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Hey BobT——-I have the whole family here and was just checking e-mails————I sure do remember those Co-Op ads that were run in Newsday & the old Long Island Press among others……Jyts called my Daughters in to see them———Now we are all down here in Central Florida, home of the destructve Hurricanes from last fall——-many homes are still with tarped roofs——-Keeping our fingers crossed that they steer clear of us this year———Last year was enough, as my Wife and I were living with my eldest Daughter & her family for almost 6 months while my home was being repaired———Thanks for the memories….Joe From Florida
Here is a perfect summer drive-in bill
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Thats good to hear…..We moved to Florida from Levittown in 1976, and the rumor was from a visiting New Yorker……….On the concession stand; even though we brought snacks with us, with two kids by Intermission, the concession stand was mobbed……….I had a 1960 Ford Sunliner Convertable back then for about 10 years( could never part with it)…and on hot summer nights, it was a joy to sit under the stars and watch the films…….Thanks again for that up-date——Joe From Florida—-sasheegm
Joe from Florida – you’ll be happy to hear the Westbury Drive-In never descended as low as to show XXX features. It physically couldn’t have because the screens were easily viewable from the homes and businesses nearby, including my elementary school across the street. Granted, kids generally weren’t at school after dark, but still, I’m sure the community would never have permitted it. The Westbury did, however, occasionally show some mildly exploitive R-rated fare such as the classic t-and-a film “H.O.T.S.” That may be the source of the XXX rumor, or your source may have mistaken the Salisbury adult theater (also in Westbury) for the Drive-In.
I took the Wife and kids there in the late 60s & early 70s, and it had one of the brightest screens…..Apparently the Projector had a very good lens system……..we also went to the 110 drive inn and that screen was much less vivid then the Westbury drive inns…..Great memories……..In 1968, we had all to do to get my 5 year old daughter to sleep in the back seat, while wife and i watched the first Billy Jack movie “The Born Losers”——-later on in the 70s, I heard that it was playing xxx features——too bad….It was a great place for families to go…..Joe From Florida—-sasheegm—-user name
Westbury still did good grosses and there had been talk about another drive-in being opened on Long Island after it closed. I think we could support a drive-in out here, the only problem is the real estate is so expensive. To get the city people to attend it would make more sense to have it in Nassau instead of Suffolk.
I did some research in the NY Times archives and discovered an article from July 25, 1954 about the soon-to-open Westbury Drive-In theater. Acording to this article, the theater was built with a capacity for 2,000 cars on 28 acres, so I’m curious about the 950 listed above – after all, cars have gotten smaller so you would think the capacity would go up, not down. Maybe the theater sold off a significant parcel of land at some point.
The article continues on to say that the theater would be equipped with “a playground for about 500 children, and a nursery supervised by a matron.” Not only that, other amenities would be “a personal telephone service for professional people and patrons, and automobile maintenance facilites.” Sounds like those amenities didn’t last very long if they were ever there at all after it opened.
Interestingly enough for Long Islanders – the theater is described as being off of Exit 34 of the Northern State Parkway, because the Long Island Expressway (I-495) hadn’t been extended through Nassau County yet. Hard to believe…
I used to manage the Westbury Drive-In Concession stand back in the late 80’s and let me tell you we did some business back then. We were always packed and hardly ever got a break during prime time. As for figures it was so long ago I can not recall how much. I do remeber that Westbury made more money then any other Multiplex built during the summer. Because it was seasonal it was not economically good for UA to keep it. I miss it and have lots of good memories here. I was even thinking of opening my own drive-in.
Ah, fond memories of the Westbury. I remember the concession stand alsways being packed. They had a great selection of food, though we did bring our own beer. The bleachers were usually for hanging out if you were waiting for friends in the bathroom or the concession stand, nor for really watching the films. Used to go there a lot between say 1976 and 1980. I remember when it was just one screen.
micohen. I was always in the booth so I dont remember seeing people on the bleachers but that is what they were for. A Drive-in in New Hampshire has the same thing. I do remember seeing people there on them. Sometimes they just want to sit out in the open.
RCDTJ: Thanks for the info on the drive-in business. You seem to know alot about the Westbury – can you fill me in on the bleachers in the center next to the refreshment stand. Am I misremembering this? I can’t imagine there were any walk-ins to the theater. Did some people just get tired of sitting in their cars and want to watch the movie from outdoor seats? The very few times I was at Westbury there was absolutuly no one on the bleachers, so maybe they never got any real use – an idea whose time never came.
Point#1 correct. Point#2 A lot of people still did visit the cocession stand believe it or not. Point#3 Many times I saw the place packed. There were a lot of sneak ins though. But how many people can you really hide. Point#4 You really only need 1 of age person to drive. Point#5 Bingo. Big killer. By the way, all the equipment from Westbury went upstate to another Drive in under renovation.
It’s sad that the Westbury had to close, but now that I think about it, the drive-in movie theater did not have a particularly good business model. Consider the following, and correct me where I’m wrong:
1) Since movies can only be shown after dark, there are no matinees or early evening shows to add to the revenue stream.
2) Refereshment sales are a major part of any theaters business, yet drive-ins probably did very little sales as people tended to stay in their cars and take in their own food and drinks.
3) Drive-ins are very land hungry, probably requiring at least double the acreage of a comparable indoor theater, including the parking. At the same time, they probably couldn’t charge much more per person then the indoor theaters and were subject to a significant amount of “sneaking in."
4) They were essentially off-limits to teenagers younger than the driving age, a prime theater market.
5) The Westbury was open 365 days a year,with no refunds for weather, but attendance couldn’t have been very high from November to March. Yet the cost of the land (property taxes, etc) stayed the same year-round.
Can anyone with real-world experience managing a drive-in comment on this?
The Westbury Drive-In opened with a single screen in 1953, but expanded to 3 screens around 1976. I only know this because my elementary school was directly across the street in Jericho and we had a birds-eye view of everything (kind of an odd view to have from your grade school classes, now that I think about it). People used to park in our school lot and try to watch films for free (I’m not sure if they could get the sound over their car radio). I never actually went there very much for some reason – it must have had too close an association with school for me. I do remember that there was a funky fifties-style snack bar in the center, and bleacher seats for people who walked in (or who didn’t want to sit in their cars) to watch the movies. Did anyone actually do this? The property is now a BJ Wholesalers in addition to the 12-screen indoor theater.
Sunrise was such a huge moneymaker I was always suprised they never added an indoor screen there. I guess they did not have to since the drive-in was open 52 weeks a year.
The Johnny only had one outdoor screen, the other was an inside cinema.
I used to wait for my two best friends to get off work on Saturdays and we’d head to the late show at the drive-in. There were usually six of us in the car, and two of us would hide in the trunk. It was just a drive-in tradition. We used to get out of the trunk and celebrate like we just crossed over the border. Went on a lot of dates here, too. Boy, I really miss this.
They should look at the success of the Delsea Drive which reopened in Vineland, Nj after many years. It was the first drive in theater in NJ in over 20 years. Irememebr seeing the Westbry Drive in from the LIE expressway when I lived in NYC and traveled to the island.
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Yes I went there many times, it was actually called Johnny all-weather drive in. It had an indoor screen as well that UA closed a few years before it closed the drive-in. The last summer this place was open the screen was so dirty the picture was very dark, but one thing I remember the screen was HUGE like Route-110 was.