Park Drive-In
Petersburg, Virginia1949-1985
Shop Park Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. Its screen tower faced the road as a tall black slab, with Park in big white script and a scatter of stars around it. One man whose father was stationed at nearby Fort Lee in the 1960s remembers the playground at dusk and a lifelong taste for Orange Crush. Pick a style below, then read the full Park history further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
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Park Drive-In History
The Park Drive-In in Petersburg, Virginia, opened in 1949 at 2400 East Washington Street, with one screen and room for 500 cars. Its screen tower faced the road as a tall black slab, with Park in big white script, a scatter of stars around it, and DRIVE-IN THEATRE in block letters below. A sign out front offered a 1953 premiere of a Ford Motor film for the company's 50th anniversary.
Fort Lee was a short drive away, and military families were part of the crowd. One man whose father was stationed there from 1964 to 1967 remembers the children on the playground in front of the screen as it got dark, and says the place left him with a lifelong taste for Orange Crush.
In 1973 the theater moved to a new location at 2301 County Drive, on U.S. 460, and kept running under the same name. For a time before the end it ran adult films, according to a construction worker who says he later helped tear it down. It closed in 1985 after 36 years.
The Rock Church of Petersburg now occupies the County Drive property and still uses the drive-in's marquee.