Buffalo Drive-In
3085 Harlem Road,
Cheektowaga,
NY
14225
3085 Harlem Road,
Cheektowaga,
NY
14225
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Original capacity of 900 cars.
Grand opening ad:
Opened on 1/8/1941 with “Down Argentine way”. Reopened as a 3 screen drive-in on 18/7/1974 on screen 1 with “The sound of music” and a Disney docomentry short “People and places(no. 3 Switzerland)” and on screen 2 with “Three Musketeers” and “The heartbreak kid” and on screen 3 with “The great Gatsby” and “Paper moon”.
Opened on 1/8/1941. Rebuilt and reopened on 18/7/1974. Snack bar is now used as a maintenance building. All other buildings have been demolished.
From New York Drive-Ins
Took my 11 year old daughter for the final night. Saw one of the Die Hard films. Very bittersweet. Now it’s just the Transit Drive-In. I know Sunset in Middleport and the Silverlake are still around but they are a little far out for city residents.
Looks like, by aerial view, the snack bar was saved! But there is still quite a bit of land not being used by the new business' there. The back 2 lots of the drive in are still there. Possibly could have still had at least 1, possibly 2 screens for the area to have their drive in theatre. Seen here. <— Google Maps… Oh well. Progress?
Randy A Carlisle
Goggle Earth View 2005
This theatre was actually in Cheektowaga. There is a picture of the marquee in the snack bar of the medical complex, which occupies the site of the former drive-in.
I was serching in my 1956 Motion Picture Almanac and NO drive-ins are listed in Buffalo.They must have had a small city limits and all the Drive-ins were in nearby towns?
Located in Cheektowaga, NY, phone number 1960: TAylor 0406
This is from forgottenbuffalo.com:
http://tinyurl.com/yqlp37
If so, then the status should be changed to closed.
The Buffalo Drive-in was the first ozoner to open in the Buffalo area on August 1, 1941. Their first movie was DOWN ARGENTINE WAY, and the ticket cost was only 31 cents per person.
The original drive-in was torn down after the 1973 season and rebuilt as a triple screen drive-in, which reopened on July 18, 1974.
The Buffalo Drive-in’s final season was 2007, when it was sold to a developer for the construction of a medical office park.
When I found out that this drive-in was closing, I immediately made plans to make the 150+ mile trip to visit. And I’m sure glad I did! Great 3-screener with one of the most excellent snack bars I have ever seen! So hard to accept that another fine outdoor theater now belongs to the ages. Hopefully, the screens will not be sold for scrap (since they are in excellent shape) and go to other drive-in owners who are looking to expand or maybe even open new drive-ins.
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This article deals with its closing.
This drive-in,which was the last remaining drive-in in Erie County, closed on Sept.2,2007. The land was being sold to a developer.
Some links showing where the Buffalo Drive-In is.
Aerial view 1995
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Topographical map
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