Forest Park Drive-In
4436 Jonesboro Road,
Forest Park,
GA
30297
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Georgia Theatre Company
Previous Names: 54 Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
Opened around 1953 by the Georgia Theatre Company, the 54 Drive-In was located about a mile along the road from the Thunderbird Drive-In, although it closed before the Thunderbird. In its later years, it was renamed Forest Park Drive-In, and in its day was a nice drive-in right outside of Atlanta. It was still open in 1967, but had closed by 1968. Today airliners from all over the world buzz the sky over Forest Park, Georgia, making it hard for a drive-in to operate.
I am sure the drive-in closed with all the commerical buildings in that area.
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
This and the 54 Drive-In are probably the same.
Thanks J.B.
In the mid 1970s someone opened a second-run storefront theater in the shopping center where this drive-in was. It lasted about 2 months before it closed. One of the movies it showed was Airport 77. This should give you a timeline of when it was opened. Also there is a street beside the current shopping center that is called Theater Way.
GEO for GEOrgia??
Open for sure in 1967.
Need an address, more info and photos.
4436 Jonesboro Rd, Forest Park, GA 30297
The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is now occupied by a shopping plaza.
Here is a 1955 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com.
I like the way you combined what I said about the 54 Drive-In with Forest Park Drive-In
To the best of my knowledge, this drive-in closed quite some time before the Thunderbird up the road. It was demolished for a grocery store, probably an A&P. There was also a 24-hour Eckerd Drug Store here. Other smaller businesses were in this strip center.
During the late 1970s someone tried to open a second run theater in this center. It was also called the Forest Park Theater, not to be confused with the other Forest Park listed CT. This theater was a converted storefront. It had about 100 seats. I went there to see The Other Side of the Mountain. Later it showed Airport 1977. It was only opened for anout two months.
There is still a street that runs along the edge of the strip center called Theater Way.
Appears to have closed by 1968 as the screen has been removed in an aerial photo from this year, the site was completely demolished and redeveloped by 1972.