Rock Road Drive-In
6898 St. Charles Rock Road,
Pagedale,
MO
63133
6898 St. Charles Rock Road,
Pagedale,
MO
63133
4 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Wehrenberg Theatres
Functions: Storage
Previous Names: Olympic Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
This drive-in opened July 3, 1962 as the Olympic Drive-In in Pagedale and had a 400 car capacity. It was soon screening ‘racy’ film fare and was renamed Rock Road Drive-In on May 27, 1977 when Wehrenberg Theatres took it over. It eventually began running porn movies. They had to install a large screen around the drive-in and it was drapped in a black vinyl material so that the screen couldn’t be seen from the Rock Road. There were constant battles between the drive-in owners and the city of Pagedale over violations because of the films that were being run. They would make inspections of the facility and cite them for the least of irregularities.
It was closed on November 6, 1980 and is now a junk yard, but the large marquee with the giant Olympic torch facing the Rock Road survived until around 2017.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
Yeah, the description needs a bit more cleanup.
Opened showing mainstream Switched to porn and the trouble with the city occurred Wehrenberg took over in 1977 and it stopped showing porn Closed in 1980 and now a junkyard
In addition to the battles with Pagedale, the U. S. Olympic Committee, in 1968 and again in 1974, notified the venue that the use of the name “Olympic” violated a 1950 federal law. Olympic was the drive-in’s name until it closed Nov. 30, 1976. When it reopened under Wehrenberg management in May 1977, it had become the Rock Road.
Listings in the Motion Picture Almanac give a capacity of 865 cars.
Even more update… The marquee no longer there
From the Oct. 20, 1965 Motion Picture Exhibitor: “The Olympic Drive-In on St. Charles Rock Road in the County has been the target of frequent raids by police and of a newly formed decent films committee in an attempt to close the theatre for allegedly showing obscene films.”
Added an ad for the grand opening of the Drive In as Rock Road Drive-In on May 27, 1977
Boxoffice, July 13, 1970: “The Pagedale Board of Aldermen again turned down an application for an operators' license by the Olympic Drive-In. According to City Atty. Paul J. Boll, the theatre has operated without a license for several years.”
Opened on 3/7/1962 with “The Snow Queen”, “A thunder of drums” and “village of the damned”. Opened as Rock Road Drive-in on 27/5/1977 with “The house by the lake” and “Strange shadows in an empty room”.
Mÿ Uncle Herb owned this Drive-In. He eventually was involved in something of a landmark court case in 1971 over the content of the films he showed. Feel free to Google “Herb Hartstein vs. Missouri Supreme Court” if you would like to read the whole details of the case.
Closed in style with a Blaxploitation quadruple feature on November 26, 1980 with “Blackula,” “The Mack,” “J.D.’s Revenge” and “Youngblood.”