(Before I could post anything, though, I had to figure out exactly when it did close. There's not exactly a lot of sources for things like this. Even my morgue of newspaper clippings through the years only indicated it was either 1986 or 1987. So I headed back to the microfilm reader at the library and slowly began take note of when the theater was in the theater listings and when it wasn't. One stiff neck later, I had my answer!)
I can now safely say that the Lorain Drive-in's final weekend was September 5, 6 and 7, 1986. Here is the ad that ran in the Journal's entertainment tabloid on Friday, Sept. 5
Actually the double feature for Screen 1 looked like a pretty good one: Armed & Dangerous with John Candy and Eugene Levy, and Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield. I'm not so sure about Screen 2's double feature of No Retreat, No Surrender with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Runaway Train with Jon Voight.
I looked at the Journals from before and after the drive-in's closing to see if there was any sort of article about it. As far as I could see, there wasn't. Which was too bad.
Strangely enough, the Lorain Drive-in did show up the 1987 city directory, seemingly just to make it tougher for me in my research. But the show was definitely over by then. My stiff neck confirms it.
2 comments:
IIRC, the Lorain Drive-In was used as an outdoor storage facility for a few years after the movie screen shut down. People could park their RVs or boats there along with other assorted stuff.
John Kovacs
Thanks for the comment, John! In a couple of days, I'll post a 'then and now' photo of the drive-in; I snapped a few of the storage facility this week.
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