Franklin Park Drive-In - Toledo, Ohio

[schallrd1]

Those were the days...

[groundballfreddy]

Ha ha, is the Westwood still up and running?

[Gaydroid69]

@groundballfreddy its an "adult theater" now

[RetroToledo]

@Gaydroid69 I've been there!

[ratsmart9]

I't doesn't have drive in theater now it's some Cinama 16 Delux

[stuckinwoods]

it was the Telegraph Drive In, wasn't it?

[OhioLadyLouise]

Am I the only one that remembers the drive in theatre over on Telegraph road by Alexis?? They built the Wholesale Club on that site. It had a giant "T" on the backside of the screen

[disconnected22]

Actually, it's really sad the amount of closed theaters there are in Toledo. Not only do you have all the old ones that have been torn down, but ever since National Amusements combined their theaters 5 years ago, there are now empty newer theaters all over town - Spring Meadows, Westgate Showcase, and Franklin Park Cinemas. Wow, I remember going to the dollar theater that used to be at North Towne (before that place became a weed-strewn parking lot).

[sr71ablackbird]

@disconnected22 it is sad, as of to date, as far as I can remember, there are 400 drive-in theaters if that.

[disconnected22]

Anybody remember when there used to be a drive in near Miracle Mile?

Hell, I remember when there was a tiny theater at the old Food Town plaza in Point Place - I saw "Purple Rain" there.

[monkeynuts76]

what year did it close?

[JohnnyHoTep]

Atleast we still have the Sundance!

[driveinnut61]

those personalized trailers are pretty cool. I always marveled at the names they came up with. We had a PAUL BUNYUN up in Michigan.

[sakurahead]

omg i go there ever summer 5 times a week there still open lol^^ went there ever sense i was a baby

[crypto17]

That was cool. When I was a little kid in the 80's I used to live right behind the theater on Sutton Place, right off Nantucket. I remember I could actually see the screen from my bedroom window. It's too bad they tore it down. There was also some really nice woods behind the theater that were also destroyed when they put in the Target plaza. That's progress for ya. It's been years since I've been back there. Does anyone have any photos of the theater before it got torn down?

[Trekkerjon]

There is , or was, the remnants of an old drive in theater east of Port Clinton Ohio.

Wonder if anyone could bring them back.

[albydipped]

Check out this Drive In video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v­=tNfEqhtr4VE

[nostalgiabufff]

It's been removed because of T.O.S. violation

[abbabeffy]

OH GOD! That was way too cool! I have to show this to, well, everyone. I lived near it too and attended a lot of drive-in movies in my youth. Everytime one of them got shut down it brought me to tears. To see local memorabilia like this is more than amusing. Thanks SO very, very much.

[Toledo1837]

You were lucky, I don't believe I've ever went to a drive-in in my childhood at all, even the Miracle Mile just a mile soth of me. The best we have left in Toledo (though technically outside the city limits) is the Sundance on the east side. I also miss going to any cinema elsewhere in the northern section, since National Amusements felt we shouldn't make such necessary travel so they killed the compeition that once existed here.

[abbabeffy]

I know the owners of the Sundance, the original(Earl) and The new (Great Eastern). In the 80's the Butch Cassidy, Miracle mile, & the Maumee(Where the big theater is now) shut down, we had all assumed that Sundance would shut down. For years before GE bought the drive in, there were times that we were the ONLY ones attending. Now, its constantly packed. Its still a great experience, and I still go on the saturdays that I don't have RHPS at the Paramount Cinemas. (Also owned by GE)

[Toledo1837]

I only wish GE would try to grow, and try to buy out the theaters that NA had to abandoned like Showcase near Westgate. I'd love to buy out that, and turn it into some sort of altnerate cinema that would specialize in indie films, as well as the classics, touring festival compilations and other things of interest outside the mainstream system (love to even try getting an IMAX theater there too).

[disconnected22]

That's a LOT of acreage to try to buy, even at reduced prices. You seen how big that parking lot is?

[Toledo1837]

Amusingly the drive-in was next door to a 6-screened indoor cinema that had to shut it's doors last year when National Amusements decided to relocate all it's norther theaters in Toledo to one single one at Westfield Franklin Park (It has turned me off from bothering with going out to a movie at all when there's no REAL competition left in Toledo for a decade now). It's sad watching this. :(

[Toledo1837]

Thanks for making my day. I remember this place as a kid during it's final years in the 80's. Today, it's a crappy Target plaza that also once occupied a Media Play and some kiddie place called "Discovery Zone" (both stores now gone from the area and much of the country).

[caliburx1]

i got a couple of these,nice add