Islander Drive-In
Balido Terrace and 5th Avenue,
Stock Island,
FL
33040
Balido Terrace and 5th Avenue,
Stock Island,
FL
33040
3 people
favorited this theater
One of two drive-in theatres to open in the Key West area was the Islander Drive-In. It opened on February 28, 1953, screening the 1952 western “The Cimarron Kid” with Audie Murphy, Beverly Tyler and James Best, plus three color cartoons. The Islander Drive-In was opened by Joe Sirugo and he sponsored a contest to name the new drive-in theatre. Out of 470 entries, the $100 prize winner was Mrs. Mickey Renna with “The Islander Drive-In” as the winning name. When it opened it was said it had the largest screen in the state of Florida. A lot of drive-ins claimed that when they first opened. The parking ramps had a capacity of 650 cars with in-a-car speakers. Starting in 1960, it was operated by K. Gordon Murray & Joseph Fink (dba Murray and Fink Theatres) from Dania, FL. After they left the operators/owners are unknown. The drive-in closed in July of 1984, fell into spectacular ruin, and was finally torn down in 2004 to build the Islander Village which is multifamily modular homes.
The Islander Drive-In lives on in Jimmy Buffett’s song, "Grape Fruit, Juicy Fruit," which is about "committing a little mortal sin at the drive-in." The song was inspired (so says Buffett on his live album "You Had To Be There") by taking a date to see the Rip Torn movie "Payday" (interestingly enough, about a country singer who has a tendency for extreme behavior), where they mixed up cheap Gilbey’s Gin with Welch’s Grape Juice to create Purple Passions, and then "had a good go at it."
Contributed by
Don Solosan, Randy Studer
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Video from 1997
Boxoffice, April 29, 1963: “Joe Serugo of Key West, former owner of the Islander Drive-In, the southernmost airer in the continental U.S., died April 11 … The Islander is managed by Ed Chumley, former Paramount manager of this city.”
Jeff Schaeffer of Key West, Fla., writing to Joe Bob Briggs, July 15, 1988: “It is my sad duty to inform you of the impending demise of what is probably the best drive-in in the whole U.S. of A. - the Stock Island Drive-In in Key West. What makes this drive-in different from all others? Well, it’s built out over the water on Cow Key channel, and to my knowledge it’s the only drive-in in the U.S. where you can fish for snappers and groupers while watching the flick. In fact, there is a place in the back where you can fish from both sides of the car. This was a beautiful place where generations of kids learned math by counting heads, drank beer and caught their next day’s breakfast, but it’s going to be taken over by the Monroe County Land Authority. They plan to use it for the godless activity called affordable housing.”