Y & W Drive-In
Merrillville, Indiana1953-1997
Browse Y & W Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. On Friday nights into the late 1970s, screen one played lucky Banko at intermission, an announcer reading bingo numbers over the speakers until the prizes ran out. The field also had a playground with a train and a carousel. Its huge steel sign was sold and removed in 2002. Pick a style below, then read the full Y & W 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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Y & W Drive-In History
The Y & W Drive-In in Merrillville, Indiana, opened on May 29, 1953, on Broadway, near Gary. It held 940 cars at first, and it was part of an Indianapolis company, Y. & W. Management, that had 17 Indiana theaters by 1967. One commenter says the letters stood for its founders, Young and Wolfe, though no other source confirms it. Its name ran in big painted letters along the fence, reading Y & W Open Air.
The early years were busy with ideas. It showed dual-strip 3-D in 1953 and 1954, got a wide screen late in 1954, and was reported as the first in the area with in-car heaters and the first open all year. Into the late 1970s, screen one played lucky Banko, a bingo game, every Friday night. A customer got a card with the ticket, and at intermission an announcer read numbers over the speakers until all the prizes were gone. One commenter recalled winning a coffee maker as a child. A playground ran most of the length of the field, with a train and a carousel, and Cinema Treasures adds a small zoo that was mostly monkeys.
A second screen opened in 1971, and a third in 1981. Attendance fell hard in the 1990s, and it closed after the 1997 season. Its huge steel sign was sold and removed in 2002, and the rest came down in 2004. A community center, a football field and a storage business now share the land.