Lanesboro Drive-In

379 N. Main Street,
Lanesboro, MA 01237

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Additional Info

Previous Names: Sunset Park Auto Theatre, New Sunset Park Auto Theatre, Sunset Drive-In

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Lanesboro Drive-In

The Sunset Park Auto Theatre was opened in 1947. On August 24, 1948 it reopened as the New Sunset Park Auto Theatre. In 1950 it was renamed Sunset Drive-In This was a drive-in theatre located in Lanesboro, MA. which for many years played adult movies. In 1979 under new owners it was renamed Lanesboro Drive-In and screen family movies. Now long closed, and in a heavily dilapidated state. The property was for sale as of 2005. The site is now sports fields.

Contributed by James Morris

Recent comments (view all 8 comments)

shoeshoe14
shoeshoe14 on August 15, 2009 at 9:22 am

Biked by here the other day en route to Mt. Greylock’s summit and caught this drive-in. It’s on the left side just after Lake Pontusac and right before the town center. The ticket booths are still in front but the bulk of the property has fill on site. Must have been cool with the lake behind it, cooling off the patrons.

NYozoner
NYozoner on February 14, 2011 at 7:43 pm

379 N Main St, Lanesboro, MA 01237

The above address will map accurately to the location of the drive-in, which is visible on Google Earth using historic aerial imagery.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on February 14, 2011 at 9:36 pm

There are several pictures of the remains of this drive-in on its gallery page at Drive-in.com: http://www.drive-ins.com/gallery/matsuns

Roger Katz
Roger Katz on August 4, 2012 at 6:43 am

It appears athletic fields have been built over this drive-in.

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on August 30, 2015 at 4:52 am

Began in July of 1947 as the Sunset Park Auto Theatre. Major improvements led to a grand re-opening as the New Sunset Park Auto Theatre August 24, 1948. In 1950, the theatre changed to its final name of Sunset Drive-In Theater.

The Sunset’s 30th year proved to be its most challenging. A back tax collection issue led to the ozoner failing to get a license to operate in April of 1977. Once that was resolved in early May, the Sunset was back in business. But playing X-rated and R-Rated fare at despite promises to have at least one family feature a month, the Sunset was not a beloved 30-year old member of the community. In December of 1977, that came to a head when the country district attorney ordered troopers to seize the films, “Hot Shots” and “The Double Exposure of Holly” as obscene.

The theater would soldier on, close standing vacant for a period, and then the drive-in land owner would offer the Sunset for the Bill Laston Memorial Park.

TomMc11
TomMc11 on April 30, 2018 at 9:20 am

It may be a park now, but the Google Street view from August of 2017 shows what appears to be the marquee still standing and the building that housed the projection booth has either been repurposed or something built exactly in the same spot.

kennerado
kennerado on March 30, 2020 at 4:49 am

The concession building is definitely still there, probably used for equipment storage for the sport fields or a club house/facility.

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on March 15, 2022 at 3:21 pm

Boxoffice, Jan. 8, 1979: “William and Marjorie Baumgartner of Dalton, Mass., have purchased complete properties in Lanesboro on which are located the Pittsfield and Sunset drive-ins. The underskyers were previously owned by Cates Enterprises of Cambridge. The Sunset will be renamed the Lanesboro Drive-In and will be devoted to family entertainment.”

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