East Buffalo Drive-In

Here a little information from someone who’s familiar with these three drive-ins. Hopefully this will clear up at least some of the mystery. According to a friend who was a former projectionist (and who worked for 3 years at one of these drive-ins) these three drive-ins were located in fairly close proximity to each other. I don’t have the physical addresses for each but the names were Columbus, 40th Street, and East Buffalo.

The Columbus and East Buffalo were both segregated black theatres. My friend worked at both the Columbus and the 40th Street. According to him the Columbus was located at 29th Street off of Columbus Drive. The lot itself was not near Columbus Drive but was actually two or three blocks south of Columbus at 29th. This is the drive-in where Interstate 4 today runs over the property.

The photo in the first aerial link provided above by NYozoner shows a 28th Street Drive-In which may or may not be the Columbus. My friend says there was never a 28th Street Drive-in in Tampa although St. Petersburg did have a 28th Street D/I. But since the Columbus was located at 29th Street this could very well be the Columbus. In looking at the aerial it’s hard to say for certain without seeing any identifying buildings or other landmarks.

The East Buffalo Drive-In was located on the south side of Martin Luther King Boulevard a couple blocks west of 40th Street. The photo in the second aerial link above is most definitely the 40th Street which was exclusively white. This drive-in was located on the north side of 7th Avenue (Broadway) at 40th Street.

Aerial from 1957. Lot was narrow but long:
View link

In contrast with the 1957 aerial above here’s an aerial showing what the property looks like today:
View link

thanks again Nick,you and a few other members add so much enjoyment to CT.

Nice historical coming attractions handbill—thanks for posting!