Ah, the drive-in theatre. That weekend ritual for so many teenagers of the 20th century. In a flash, one hyphenated word can elicit so many memories in the minds of those who had the privilege to experience them.
The smell of popcorn, pretzels and hotdogs with mustard. Trying to fit as many friends as you could in the trunk to avoid paying (I counted three T-Birds bounding out of that dark hideaway in the movie “Grease”, that 1978 love letter to ’50s culture). The tinny sound of the speaker hanging in the window of dad’s car (or if you just happened to be old enough, your own). And, of course, depending on how your date may have gone, as Danny Zuko mused while wandering the drive-in grounds in that same classic movie, “What would they say Monday at school?”
In 1946, Canada’s very first drive-in, the Skyway Theatre, opened in Stoney Creek, just east of Hamilton. The Skyway had speaker poles that played the film’s soundtrack at each parking spot, since at the time, not all cars had built-in radios. Those flimsy speakers were replaced with AM transmission of the movie soundtrack in later years.
The drive-in theatre experience reached its zenith of popularity in the 1950s with the post-war baby boom and carried on through into the teenage years of the Baby Boomer generation. Drive-in theatre culture slowly declined before truly disappearing from the public’s consciousness in the 1980s and 1990s.
On the eve of Sudbury’s Diamond Anniversary, in the middle of the 1950s, the city was graced with two popular drive-in theatres. The City Directory of 1954 includes listings for both the Sudbury Drive-In Theatre and another unnamed (at the time) Drive-In Theatre.
These drive-ins exhibited a mixture of both contemporary and past films designed to entertain the entire family. The drive-ins even had a “free kiddies playground” to keep occupied those kids that were just too restless to sit through a movie in the back of the family car.
The previously unnamed Drive-In Theatre was known as the Copper Cliff Drive-In by 1958 and was located (you guessed it) in an area just to the east of Kelly Lake Road in Sudbury and now known as Concord Crescent.
The large white projector screen of the drive-in was built on a rise in the hill facing what is now Robinson Drive. Cars lined up in the drive-in lot not only had a great view of the movie, they also had a clear and unobstructed view of the three smokestacks of the INCO complex in nearby Copper Cliff.
It made for a stark contrast between the fantasy land of the movies on one side and the moonscape land of the reality in which the moviegoers lived.
This drive-in continued to entertain Sudburians into the 1960s, but its heyday was clearly in the past (or maybe there was just not a big enough market for multiple drive-ins in Sudbury). By 1970, an aerial view of the subdivision shows the visible tracks of past moviegoers’ cars, but the screen is gone.
On the other hand, the Sudbury Drive-In Theatre became a long-lasting landmark in the city. It was a fixture along what was originally known as the Garson Road in the far-flung region of McKim Township — the area became known as “New Sudbury” in the 1950s.
Development in the area resulted in Garson Road becoming “Lasalle Boulevard” so the drive-in was rechristened the “Lasalle Drive-In”.
Its bright yellow facade, with “Drive-In” written in bold blue block letters stood in stark contrast to the surrounding neighbourhood, which included the Laurentian Hotel to the west and the Temelini family farm across the street.
Although the Lasalle Drive-in lasted much longer than its original competition at Kelly Lake Road, by 1985, its time was up as well. In the latter half of the year, all but two councillors voted in favour of approving the construction of a brand-new strip mall on the site of the Lasalle Drive-In. Two years later, in late November 1987, the Northern Life declared the “Lasalle Drive-in demolition (is) definitely the end of an era” as the $7.5-million Lasalle Court Mall began construction.
Now, these were not the only two drive-in theatres in the Sudbury area. There are two others that exist (unfortunately) more as anecdotes within the historical record (and this is where you come in dear readers) that we will touch upon briefly.
The Starlite Drive-In was located in Hanmer on the north side of Linden Drive for an unknown period of time. It can be seen in aerial photos from 1975 with its large white movie screen facing the enormous CN railyard south of Capreol.
By June of 1977, it was listed as for sale in the Northern Life, along with 20 acres of surrounding land. However, that is not where the story of the Starlite begins and ends. Within the Sudbury historical record there exists two photos of an extremely charred and melted drive-in theatre screen, identified as the Starlite Drive-In. At some point during the 1970s, the theatre allegedly fell victim to arson from which it never returned.
At the polar opposite end of the city, the 69 Drive-In could be found less than half-a-kilometre north of the shores of McFarlane Lake. Unlike its predecessors in the city, it was a product of a different time for drive-ins. It found its credentials within the burgeoning “Canuxploitation” film genre which began in the early 1970s.
Lawrence Zazelenchuk, who owned the 69 Drive-In in 1974, wrote and produced a zombie horror-exploitation film called “Corpse Eaters”. The movie was filmed entirely within the city of Sudbury on a shoestring budget of $36,000 raised by Zazelenchuk himself from the proceeds of the 69 Drive-In, which he owned.
Upon completion, the film was fittingly launched at the 69 Drive-in. The 70-minute feature length movie (apparently) played to a capacity house of an estimated 400 cars. Zazelenchuk said at the time that “it's the first time no cars left during the showing.”
The original “Star Wars” film (now known as “A New Hope”) launched a galaxy of blockbuster films. It had its first Sudbury outdoor showing on Sept. 9, 1977. Even while being shown indoors at the Odeon at the very same time, I can imagine the wonder of watching “Star Wars” while parked under the stars.
Now it’s your turn, dear readers. We would love to hear all of your memories of the drive-in movie scene in Sudbury, dating (and who didn’t go on a date at the drive-in in those days?) all the way back to the beginning. How many people did you sneak in the trunk to avoid paying? Did you meet your wife there? Your husband? Any favourite movie memories? Or, maybe you have more memories to flesh out the histories of the two lesser-known local drive-ins?
Share your memories and photos by emailing Jason Marcon at [email protected] or the editor at [email protected]
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
