Ideal Drive-In
442 PA-247,
Greenfield Township,
PA
18407
442 PA-247,
Greenfield Township,
PA
18407
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I grew up at Newton Lake in the 1970s and ‘80s and remember hearing about the drive-in but I wasn’t born when it was open. I remember sort of being able to see it driving past on the highway and riding my bike to explore the “ruins” - cracked asphalt, concession building, and poles for the speakers, overgrown with blueberry bushes that grew all around the area. I haven’t been back for many years but believe all traces are long gone. I bought some paraphernalia from this drive-in on ebay this past year.
In March 1961, during a severe winter storm, the ice-covered screen collapsed and blew onto the roof of a garage on a neighbor’s lot, destroying an antique car inside. Owners Anthony and Joseph Cerra valued the screen at $15,000 (about $130,500 in 2021). For a few months in the summer of ‘61, they turned the drive-in grounds into a go-kart course but then closed and never re-opened. The last movie shown was “Psycho” in October 1960. - from articles and ads in The Scranton Times and The Scrantonian found on Newspapers.com
The Ideal Drive-In Theatre launched September 18, 1948 with the film, “Come and Get It.”
A more accurate address for this theater would be 442 Pennsylvania 247 Greenfield Township PA 18407. This points to just south of the entrance road part of which is still there.
Please update.
For Google Maps, the address is PA-247 and Wagner Blvd, Greenfield Township, PA. The drive-in sat on the SE side of the intersection.
Today, a private home sits on the north end of the property, but the rest is overgrown and marked by trails.
A street view shows what may be the remnants of the ticket booth. In addition, what’s left of the projection booth/concession stand also remains. http://tinyurl.com/y8jm27fm
I believe I have located this Drive In. It appears to have been at the corner of State Route 247 and Wagner Boulevard. Bing Maps changed it from Greenfield Township to Carbondale, but I see no other reference to a drive in in Carbondale, and Greenfield Township IS in that same area. There is a 1969 aerial at Historic Aerials that clearly shows that a drive in was there, but I don’t see a screen so it may have already been closed. With current aerials from Bing and Google you can still tell one was there if you know what you are looking for, remnants of the projection booth/concession stand are easily visible on Bing.
O.K.
Trouble in 1957:
http://tinyurl.com/25zx4b