Metro Twin Drive-In

AnthonyTheKoala on December 17, 2018 at 7:55 pm

Putting the red circle in perspective, this marks the location of the entrance of the Chullora Marketplace. If you ever visit the Chullora Marketplace, there is a sign with historic photographs of the site for industrial use. Before the drive-in in 1956, the site was the site of the Cumberland Pottery works owned by the Liebentritt family. More information is available at https://collection.maas.museum/object/133214. Click “full description” tab to reveal more historical information.

The top of the picture is field 1 and the bottom of the picture is field 2. Behind field 2’s screen are houses in Norfolk st.

In the centre of the picture is the “Dine Inn”. To the left of the ‘Dine Inn’ is the covered seating area with several loudspeakers. In the direction of the left is the ‘amusement’ section with swings, merry-go-round.

Above and below the centre of the picture are the projection booths. One wonders why the architects didn’t integrate the booths into one booth and make adjustments for focussing. That’s how multiplex cinemas organise their projection equipment;

To the left of field 1’s screen is the entrance. Observe the number of lanes. After the motorist paid for admission, a person dressed in a white coat (looked like a lab coat) and holding a torch would guide the motorist to the large field to the right of field 1’s screen and eventually to the correct field. The person in the white coat knew which field to direct the motorist because after you paid admission price, the booth person would place a round white circle sticker which indicated that the motorist go to field 1.

Further perspective:
The road to the left of the drive-in is Waterloo Rd. In the direction of field 1, if you continue to go beyond field 1, you hit the Hume Highway. If you go in the direction (as the bird flies) you go in the direction of the rail maintenance yards, Rookwood, Homebush, Ryde, Eastwood.

In the opposite direction, you go in the direction towards Greenacre, Punchbowl and Bankstown.

Other aspects: In the early 1970s, behind field 1’s screen a large cardboard factory was built.

To the right of the screen and to the right of the large field was the government bus repair and maintenance depot. It was a large expanse of land on the corner of Norfolk Rd and Roberts Rd Greenacre.

When the drive-in’s site was redeveloped, the land was subdivided into about 1/3 for the high school and 2/3 for the marketplace. The high school was not developed till the 1990s. Until the start of construction of the high school, all the speaker poles and bases were piled up in a heap.

The sign at Chullora Marketplace entrance: The aerial photo is sourced by the Bankstown Council archives. Other photos on the sign such as a photos of Field 2 during the screening of “Love Bug” and the tall towering sign are at Mr Joe Simiana’s page, about one third down this page at https://joesimiana.wordpress.com/2010/06/04/history-of-the-panania-star-cinema/.