The old in-car speakers and towering outdoor screens became symbols of the drive-in movie era that generations of Long Islanders grew up with. Photo by Logan Bush / Shutterstock.com
During the post-World War II suburban boom, Long Island became a major center of American car culture. For families growing up across Nassau and Suffolk counties, the drive-in movie theater was more than a place to see a film. It was a summer ritual built around station wagons, window speakers, concession stands, playgrounds, double features, and long lines of cars waiting for darkness.
Long Island once had drive-ins stretching from Valley Stream to the East End. Some were simple single-screen theaters, while others became enormous entertainment complexes with indoor cinemas, restaurants, playgrounds, and thousands of parking spaces. Rising land values, changing moviegoing habits, multiplexes, and home entertainment eventually erased them all. These 10 drive-ins were among the most memorable.
1. Westbury Drive-In
Location: 7000 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury
Active Era: 1954–1998
The Westbury Drive-In opened on June 23, 1954, with space for approximately 1,900 cars and a huge CinemaScope screen. It quickly became one of Nassau County’s best-known drive-ins and eventually expanded from one screen to three.
The size of the property made the Westbury Drive-In feel like a destination rather than simply a parking lot with a movie screen. Families arrived early, children used the playground, and summer crowds could fill the sprawling field with rows of cars.
What Happened: Westbury survived far longer than most Long Island drive-ins. It closed on October 24, 1998, making it the last traditional drive-in theater operating on Long Island.
What’s There Today: Movies are still shown at the address. The property became a conventional multiplex and is now home to Regal Westbury & IMAX at 7000 Brush Hollow Road.
2. Johnny All-Weather Drive-In
Location: 1001 Sunrise Highway, Copiague
Active Era: 1957–1984
Few Long Island drive-ins were as ambitious as the Johnny All-Weather Drive-In. Opened on April 20, 1957, the 28-acre complex could accommodate approximately 2,500 cars and included an indoor air-conditioned theater with seating for roughly 1,200 people.
The idea was that the moviegoing experience did not have to end when the weather turned bad. The complex also included a cafeteria, children’s recreation areas, and a small transportation system that moved patrons around the enormous property. It was less a single movie theater than a suburban entertainment complex built around the automobile.
What Happened: The drive-in closed in 1984 after nearly three decades of operation.
What’s There Today: The former drive-in property was redeveloped as a retail center anchored by stores including Home Depot and Target along Sunrise Highway.
3. Smithtown All-Weather Drive-In
Location: Middle Country Road at Deer Valley Drive, Nesconset
Active Era: 1962–1985
The Smithtown All-Weather Drive-In opened on May 29, 1962, as another of Long Island’s enormous indoor-outdoor movie complexes. Its outdoor field could accommodate roughly 2,500 cars, while an indoor theater allowed films to continue when weather made outdoor viewing uncomfortable. I can still remember the films I saw at the indoor theater and, of course, the outdoor theater. As teenagers, we often would sneak into the theater through an opening in the fence where it met the woods off Alexander Avenue. We would sit on top of the indoor theater’s roof, watching the outdoor screen. They actually had seats for people to watch from the roof. It was a very cool place.
The drive-in arrived as central Suffolk County was rapidly filling with new subdivisions, shopping centers, and automobile-oriented commercial development. For families and teenagers growing up around Smithtown, Nesconset, Lake Ronkonkoma, and neighboring communities, it became one of the area’s most recognizable nighttime landmarks.
What Happened: The outdoor theater completed its final season in 1985 as the drive-in era was fading across Long Island.
What’s There Today: The former theater property was redeveloped as the Country Pointe residential community around Deer Valley Drive.
4. Sunrise Drive-In
Location: 750 West Sunrise Highway, Valley Stream
Active Era: 1938–1979
The Sunrise Drive-In occupies a special place in Long Island history because it was the first drive-in theater in New York State. It opened on August 10, 1938, when much of the surrounding Valley Stream landscape was still far less developed than it would become after World War II.
The theater was built by Michael Redstone, whose theater business eventually developed into National Amusements. Decades later, the Redstone family’s media holdings would include major entertainment companies, but the roots of that empire can be traced in part to this early Long Island drive-in.
For generations of families living near the Queens-Nassau border, the Sunrise Drive-In became a familiar summer destination. Its large screen, playground, and proximity to Sunrise Highway brought audiences from both Long Island and New York City.
What Happened: The Sunrise Drive-In closed in 1979. A conventional multiplex later occupied the site, but that theater also eventually closed.
What’s There Today: The property is now part of Green Acres Commons, the outdoor retail development adjoining Green Acres Mall.
5. Century’s 110 Drive-In
Location: 288 Broadhollow Road, Melville
Active Era: 1956–1976
Century’s 110 Drive-In opened on July 25, 1956, along the Route 110 corridor in Melville. With room for approximately 2,500 cars, it was one of the largest single-screen drive-ins on Long Island.
The theater served families from both Nassau and Suffolk counties at a time when Route 110 was becoming one of Long Island’s major commercial corridors. Triple features, children’s attractions, and the enormous screen made the drive-in a familiar landmark for anyone traveling through the area after dark.
What Happened: The 110 Drive-In closed after the 1976 season. The theater structures remained for several years before the property was cleared.
What’s There Today: The Long Island Marriott complex occupies the former drive-in property in Melville.
6. Patchogue Sunrise All-Weather Drive-In
Location: 600 Sunrise Highway, Patchogue area
Active Era: 1965–1985
The theater remembered by many local residents as the Patchogue drive-in was officially the Sunrise All-Weather Drive-In. It opened on September 2, 1965, with space for approximately 1,000 cars and an adjoining indoor theater with roughly 750 seats.
Like the all-weather theaters in Copiague and Nesconset, the concept combined an outdoor drive-in with an indoor auditorium. During the later United Artists years, the indoor and outdoor theaters could show different films, turning the property into a hybrid movie complex before modern multiplexes became standard.
What Happened: The drive-in ended after the 1985 season. United Artists replaced it with the UA Movies at Patchogue multiplex, which opened in 1986 and itself eventually closed and was demolished.
What’s There Today: The former theater parcel has gone through additional redevelopment planning since the multiplex was removed. The drive-in, indoor theater, and later multiplex are all gone.
7. Shirley Drive-In
Location: 999 Montauk Highway, Shirley
Active Era: 1953–1988
The Shirley Drive-In opened on July 1, 1953, when the communities around William Floyd Parkway and Montauk Highway were still developing rapidly. The single-screen theater became an important movie destination for families living across the Mastics, Shirley, and the surrounding South Shore.
Like many Long Island drive-ins, Shirley offered an inexpensive night out for families who could bring children in the car without worrying about the formality of an indoor theater. Its long run also carried it through the drive-in’s transformation from family entertainment center to a nostalgic survivor of an earlier suburban era.
What Happened: The Shirley Drive-In closed in 1988 after 35 years.
What’s There Today: The property was redeveloped as the Southport Shopping Center on Montauk Highway.
8. Rocky Point Drive-In
Location: 115 North Country Road, Route 25A, Rocky Point
Active Era: 1961–1988
The Rocky Point Drive-In opened on June 16, 1961, with space for approximately 750 cars. For families living along the North Shore of eastern Suffolk County, the towering screen became a familiar Route 25A landmark.
Rocky Point remained in operation long after many older Long Island drive-ins had disappeared, surviving through the rise of cable television, videocassette recorders, and modern multiplex theaters.
What Happened: The drive-in ended its final season in 1988. A golf driving range later operated on the property, while the old drive-in marquee survived for years as one of the last visible reminders of the theater.
What’s There Today: The theater itself is gone, and the former property has passed through other commercial uses since the drive-in era.
9. Massapequa Drive-In
Location: 5550 West Sunrise Highway, Massapequa
Active Era: 1950–1969
The Massapequa Drive-In opened in 1950 on Sunrise Highway near Unqua Road, just as postwar housing construction was transforming Nassau County. It served hundreds of cars and became part of a larger stretch of family entertainment and roadside commerce that also included the Frank Buck Zoo and Kiddie Park.
For the young families moving into Massapequa and surrounding communities, the drive-in offered exactly the kind of inexpensive automobile-based entertainment that fit the new suburban lifestyle. The broader story of that transformation can also be seen in the rise of communities such as Levittown.
What Happened: The Massapequa Drive-In closed in early 1969 as the value of the Sunrise Highway property increased.
What’s There Today: Retail development occupies the former theater property around the 5500 block of Sunrise Highway.
10. Bayshore-Sunrise Drive-In
Location: 1881 Sunrise Highway, Bay Shore
Active Era: 1955–1991
The Bayshore-Sunrise Drive-In opened on May 26, 1955, as a large single-screen theater on Sunrise Highway. It later expanded to two outdoor screens and became one of Suffolk County’s longest-surviving drive-ins.
Bay Shore developed a particularly strong reputation among movie fans for double features and genre films. The drive-in survived into the era of home video and cable television, long after many of its Long Island competitors had been demolished.
What Happened: The Bayshore-Sunrise Drive-In closed for good in 1991, only a few years before Westbury became the last Long Island drive-in to shut its gates.
What’s There Today: A Home Depot and adjoining retail development occupy the former drive-in site along Sunrise Highway.
Sources
Long Island Press: At the Drive-In(s) on Long Island
Newsday: Long Island Movie Theaters, a Historical Timeline
Valley Stream Historical Society: History of Valley Stream and the Sunrise Drive-In
Cinema Treasures: Westbury Drive-In
New York Drive-Ins: Johnny All-Weather Drive-In
New York Drive-Ins: Smithtown All-Weather Drive-In
New York Drive-Ins: Sunrise Drive-In, Valley Stream
New York Drive-Ins: 110 Drive-In, Melville
New York Drive-Ins: Sunrise All-Weather Drive-In, Patchogue
New York Drive-Ins: Shirley Drive-In
New York Drive-Ins: Rocky Point Drive-In
Cinema Treasures: Massapequa Drive-In
Cinema Treasures: Bayshore-Sunrise Drive-In
More Long Island and New York Nostalgia
The drive-in era grew out of the same postwar suburban transformation that reshaped Long Island for generations. For more, read our History of Levittown and the American Dream, The Transformation from City Life to Suburbia for a Teen in the 1970s, and our visit to the Poughkeepsie Overlook Drive-In, One of New York’s Last Drive-Ins.
Updated August 20, 2026.
