South Hills Drive-In
132 Lewis Run Road,
West Mifflin,
PA
15122
132 Lewis Run Road,
West Mifflin,
PA
15122
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The South Hills Drive-In was opened on May 29, 1959 with 4 feature movies: Kim Novak in “Bell, Book and Candle”, Tony Curtis in “Perfect Furlough”, Brigette Bardot in “La Parisienne” and June Kenney in “The Spider”. Formerly located on Route 51 South, the site of the drive-in is now the Bowser Pontiac car dealer. 300 car capacity.
One of three that were located within five miles of each other along Route 51 (see also Echo Drive-In and Colonial Drive-In). The South Hills Drive-In was closed on July 31, 1988.
Contributed by
Rick Aubrey
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
The last of the trio of drive-ins along the Pleasant Hills/Jefferson Hills stretch of PA 51 to open (May 29, 1959), it was also the last one to close, its final night of operation on July 31, 1988. This was one of many Pittsburgh area drive-in theaters owned by the family of Marty Warren, the others including Blue Dell, Belle-Aire, Greater Pittsburgh, Rose, and Super 30.
This is an aerial photo of the South Hills Drive In taken May 26, 1967
View link
Photo from Penn Pilot
http://www.pennpilot.psu.edu/learnHow.html
ah, I believe THIS is the one that was where Bowser Pontiac is now. Yeah, I did see one of the Superman movies and Jungle book here before it closed when I was 7.
http://pittsburghsigns.org/archives/72.jpg not exactly related.. but I believe this recently went down. :(
That’s right, Ria44. Bowser Pontiac now occupies the South Hills Drive-In site. Unfortunately, like many of the 40+ drive-ins Pittsburgh had at one time or another, I never had the pleasure of visiting this one. I would do anything to go back in time (ala Marty McFly) to visit all those great outdoor theaters.
I remember the last film that played there. It was Crocodile Dundee II. How do I remember this, you ask. A really good friend of mine, the late Bernie Kusibab, and I, used to go the South Hills every week for the movie. I think we went on Tuesday nights if memory serves me right. I believe they had some kind of special going on. We’d take turns driving. I’d bring the snacks, Bernie would bring the drinks, and we just had a great time. I still have the answering machine message from Bernie, (on my hard drive now), stating… “I think that Crocodile Dundee II will be playing at the South Hills for the rest of our natural lives”. See… the theater had closed and we didn’t know… but the marquee said Croc Dundee II for a very long time. Then we finally found out it closed. Kinda creepy hearing Bernie’s voice saying those words after all these years, and him now being gone. Great memories at the South Hills though.
This drive-in used to have a kids ferris wheel. My sister and I would ride it when we were kids. I was disappointed when they took it out years later. I understand it was because the insurance was too high.
When Bowser Pontiac took over this space, they left the screen up for a long time. It was finally torn down in 1992. For a while they used the concession stand building as a parts department.
Does anybody have any photos of this drive-in that they could post?
May 29th, 1959 grand opening ad in photo section.
A more accurate address for this theater is 132 Lewis Run Rd. West Mifflin PA 15122. This points directly to the entrance road. Still Bowser Automotive.
Please update.