Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In
299 Lincoln Highway,
North Versailles,
PA
15137
299 Lincoln Highway,
North Versailles,
PA
15137
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The miniature golf course mentioned in the overview was called Movieland Miniature Golf and opened on May 20, 1989
Grand openings of the other screens include June 16, 1956 (#2), April 3, 1981 (#3), May 25, 1984 (#4), and June 20, 1986 (#5)
I loved the Greater Pittsburgh Drive in, went to it in the early 1960,s with my parents, usually to see a war movie or cowboy movie my old man would want to see, lol. I went to it almost every weekend in my late teens in the late 60,s and 70,s with dates, usually to make out but to see the movies too, lol. In the 80,s when I was married, we would take the kids one night to see kiddie movies and one night for me and my wife to see a movie. I always liked the first screen because of the big grassy play area. Would play football or baseball with the kids. I hated it when they sold the property to wal mart, I wouldn,t go to wal mart the first 5 years it was open. Joe Warren, the son of Marty Warren took the money he got and bought an existing drive out in Scottdale. It’s called the Evergreen Drive In and now has 3 screens. I still go out there, but not like I did to the Greater Pittsburgh. Sad that drive in,s are almost all gone, but Joe is still trying to keep his going. Still miss the Greater Pittsburgh, was my favorite of all the drive in,s.
1994 photo added, photo credit & copyright Martin Treu.
Another reason to hate W*l-M**t!!!
Ed Blank,
Your comment from a few years ago about the Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In occupying some of the land that the old Loews 20 sits on makes sense.
I tried looking at a Google Map by entering the address of the drive in and the address of the Loews. Don’t use Google Maps—they would have you believe the drive-in occupied the site of the bowling alley.
I used Yahoo Maps instead and I could see tht what you said is true. Just one thing though—use zipcode 15137 for both addresses.
Added grand opening ad and 1959 and 1969 aerials. It looks they reconfigured the screens and parking.
This was a great place to see a movie. The main screen was slightly curved for Cinemascope features. I remember being able to see this drive-in from a distance as I climbed the big hill on the Thunderbolt at Kennywood. You could see the back of screen one (the curved one) and the front of screen 2 from the top of the Thunderbolt. In later years, they had five screens. We went there the last summer they were opened (1997) to see “Air Force One”. It is sorely missed.
Sucks this place closed.
My then-girlfriend and I saw “Basic Instinct”, “Sister Act” & “Jurrasic Park” here.
Renewing link.
Found the grand opening ad at View link
The Wal-Mart and its parking lot occupy much/most of the site of the old Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In. However, when the short-lived, ill-fated Loew’s North Versailles opened on property adjacent to the Wal-Mart, I asked several key people if the Loew’s parking lot, in stretching toward the Wal-Mart, did not also cover some of the land formerly occupied by the drive-in. The concensus was that it did. Those five drive-in lots occupied a fair amount of acreage up there. Sorry it’s all lost to us now. – Ed Blank
Does anyone out there have pics of this place? I live right down the street from where it used to be and I went there as a kid. I would love to see some pictures of it.
Oh, that’s right. The Walmart is where this place stood. When we were teen-agers, my brother, who is two years older than I, used to come here with his friends. Sometimes he’d let me tag along. I’d been here with my friends too. It closed when I was 19 and I remember that this place did good business.
The Loews was close by, but not on the site. I think.
Wasn’t the ill-fated Loews 20 North Versailles theatre on or near this site?