Suburbia Triple Drive-In
2801 NW 13th Street,
Gainesville,
FL
32609
2801 NW 13th Street,
Gainesville,
FL
32609
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: ABC Florida State Theatres
Previous Names: Suburbia Center Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Suburbia Center Drive-In was on Route 50 and opened on March 10, 1952 with Frankie Laine “Sunny Side of the Street”. It had a capacity for 700 cars. It was operated by Shafer Theatres Inc. & ABC Theatrical Entertainment. In 1971 it had a brief spell screening adult movies. Around 1973 another two screens were added. It was destroyed by a tornado on May 4, 1978.
Contributed by
Dave Bonan
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
Actually, an article on Gainesville.com says that this was a Sam’s Club from 1990 to 2016 when they decided to move to Butler Plaza. And apparently, there’s now a store called Rural King where this drive-in once stood.
Boxoffice ran a full-page layout on the Suburbia Center Drive-In in its Sept. 6, 1952 issue, including several photos of its unusual screen tower and concession building. The tower included three floors of apartments for personnel, and the three-story concession stand included 350 theatre seats on its second floor.
Thats the first multi level concession stand, i have heard of at a drive-in theatre.
How tall was that screen tower?
The Suburbia Drive-In once had a brief stunt with X rated films throughout 1971 but stopped before 1972 came along, and returned to normal film runs including first-run. 2 more screens were added in either late 1973 or early 1974.
One of the owners of the Suburbia was once arrested by an FBI agent, and would later plead not guilty over an obscenity film in July 1974. Throughout the rest of the 1970s is where the theater had a bunch of ups-and-downs on films and even projection, as more incidents were being taken place there.
Opened March 10th, 1952. Grand opening ad posted
A 1984 aerial shows the drive-in demolished and seemingly for some time.
On December 29th, 1969, two mini cinemas named Penthouse Mini 1 & 2 opened on the second floor of the refreshment stand. The Drive-In expanded on March 29th, 1974, by adding two more outdoor screens, bringing the total to five screens. One of the indoor penthouse cinemas began showing adult movies.
The Suburbia Drive-In and cinemas closed on May 4th, 1978 after a tornado tore through the drive-in.