Auto Drive-In
11801 Brookpark Road,
Parma,
OH
44129
11801 Brookpark Road,
Parma,
OH
44129
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: National Theatre Corp.
Previous Names: Cleveland Auto Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Cleveland Auto Drive-In, which was located at 11211 Brookpark Road near the Chevrolet stamping plant, had a distinctive round circular marquee. The Cleveland Auto Drive-In was opened on April 12, 1948 with George Sanders in “The Strange Woman”. It was operated by Ben Wachnansy and had a capacity for 700-cars. By 1951 it was operated by Sam Haas. It was closed after the end of the 1963 season.
A new Auto Drive-In was built on an adjoining plot of land which opened on July 1, 1966 with the Walt Disney animated feature “Bambi”. It was closed by National Theatre Corp. on August 18, 1987 with Andre Gower in “The Monster Squad” & Kim Basinger in “Blind Date”. The site now houses a building containing storage lockers.
Contributed by
Toby Radloff
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
This was the second Auto Drive-In on the site. The original one had the screen tower at the north end of the property, right at the entrance with the back facing Brookpark Rd. It was a substantially built masonry structure, I recall the side facing the road was pink with big blue letters spelling out Auto Drive-In. I can’t remember if the attraction board was was there or if it was free-standing on the ground. In the 1960s on a Palm Sunday there were tornadoes went through and knocked over the screen tower. It fell towards the street and broke apart, there were bricks and cinder blocks all over the place, even in the street. It was then closed for the rest of the season. When they rebuilt they put the screen tower in the southwest corner of the property and reconfigured the parking field and built a new projection/concession building, all oriented to the new screen location.
…and the circular sign was put up at the time of the re-build.
While it may be listed as being in Cleveland, it is in fact in the suburb of Parma. The south side of Brookpark Rd. is Parma, and the north side is Brooklyn (yes, there is a Brooklyn here, too).
Brooklyn Oh is part of metro Cleveland are ,but their mail is sercicice thru Cleveland PO
I found a Flickr site with a bunch of photos from 2011 that someone took while touring what was left.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixbyfire/sets/72157627158814077/
the concession stand and ramps stillstand plese update!
The Auto Drive-In opened its gates on April 12, 1948 with George Sanders in “The Strange Woman” (unknown if extras added).
The original location closed after the 1963 season. It was originally planned to reopen for the 1964 season but never happened due to various repairs. The theater was then completely rebuilt with the newer drive-in being located just southwest of the original location with its screen tower rotating 140 degrees. The newer Auto Drive-In opened its gates on July 1, 1966 with Walt Disney’s “Bambi” along with a marathon of cartoons.
The Auto Drive-In closed for the final time on August 18, 1987 with “Monster Squad” and “Blind Date”, and was last operated by the National Theatre Corp.
A closer address is 11395 Brookpark Rd, Parma, OH.
Google Maps has updated their addresses and this puts it right on the entrance road.
Today, the entrance road contains Public Storage. However, most of the property is still undeveloped and you can see the ramps and what is left of the projection booth/concession stand.
https://tinyurl.com/3xhz5sv8
Last operated by National Theatre Corp.