Local Drive-In Theatre Saved From The Scrap Heap

I was so glad to hear the Delevan Drive-In will be staying open after a buyer was found.  Don Loomis has been operating the drive-in on Route 16 in Delevan for years but decided last fall it was time to call it quits so he put it up for sale and found a local buyer who intends to keep it open.

The biggest problem for drive-in owners has been switching to the new digital projectors because movie studios are no longer producing reel to reel films.  At a cost of $80,000 per projector, small time movie houses and drive-ins just can't afford it.

New owner Michael DiBella says he hopes to have the newly renamed Twin Delevan Drive-In open by May 1st.  And that's great news for drive-in fans.  There aren't too many of them left.  Three of them closed last year in New York State.

In the late 1950's and early 1960's there were some 4-thousand drive-in theatres across the country.  Now that number has fallen to less than 400 including the Transit Drive-In on Transit Road in the Town of Lockport, the Sunset Drive-In on Route 31 in Midddleport and Silver Lake Drive-In on Rt. 39 in Perry.

Do you remember some of the drive-ins that operated here in the Buffalo area?

• The Sheridan Drive In at the end of Ensminger Rd. in Tonawanda is now a business park.
• The I-290 Drive In on Young Street in Tonawanda was cleared to make room for BJ's Wholesale.
• The Delaware Drive-In in Tonawanda was torn down to make way for the I-290.
• The Niagara Drive-In on Niagara Falls Blvd. in Amherst was cleared to make way for a K-Mart.
• The Lockport Drive-In on Rt. 31 in Gasport is now an empty lot.
• The Boulevard Drive-In on Niagara Falls Blvd. in Wheatfield is now an office park.
• The Buffalo Drive-In on Harlem Road in Cheektowaga is now a medical building.
• The Wherle Drive-In at Transit and Wherle in Lancaster is now Hobby Lobby.
• The Twin Drive-Ins on Walden at Dick in Cheektowaga is now California Closets.
• The Areo Drive-In on Union Rd. in Cheektowaga became the Holiday Theatres and now is a shopping center.
• The Broadway Drive-In on Broadway near Harlem in Cheektowaga is now a frozen food storage warehouse.
• The Park Drive-In on Orchard Park Rd. near Ridge in West Seneca is now a medical park.
• The Skyway Drive-In on Lake Shore Road in Athol Springs is now a tractor trailer training school.
• The Grandview Drive-In on Route 5 in Evans.  It's a vacant lot after Walmart pulled out of plans to build a store on the property.
• The Star Drive-In on Lake Avenue in Blasdell became a Hills department store.
• One that lasted only one season was the Nite-way Drive-In at the corner of Transit Road at Fisk in the Town of Pendleton.  A wind storm blew down the screen and it was never rebuilt.  It's now an empty lot.

Can you think of any others?