Swap Shop Drive-In
3291 W. Sunrise Boulevard,
Lauderhill,
FL
33311
3291 W. Sunrise Boulevard,
Lauderhill,
FL
33311
7 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Bailey Theaters
Previous Names: Sunrise Drive-In, Thunderbird Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
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Plantation Theatre
-
Brown's Drive-In
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Lauderhill Mall Cinemas 1 & 2
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Lauderhill Theatre
-
16th Street Cinema
News About This Theater
- Nov 22, 2013 — Swap Shop celebrates 50 years
Originally opened by Bailey Theatres in the late-1950’s or early-1960’s as the Sunrise Drive-In, catering for an African-American audience. The Thunderbird Drive-In opened on November 27, 1963 with Jack Lemmon in “Irma la Deuce” & Frank Sinatra in “The Manchurian Candidate”. On July 13, 1973 it expanded to three screens. This is not your average drive-in theater. This drive-in, located on 88 acres of property now has 14 movie screens, a flea market, a circus, amusement rides, and a video arcade. It is open 365 days a year.
On April 4, 2022 screen 5 was destroyed by fire. The Swap Shop Drive-In was closed for renovations by December 2022. It never reopened and a cell phone repair store now operates on the site.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 40 comments)
Looks like this drive-in may have started its life even earlier as the Sunrise. I ran across this note in Motion Picture Exhibitor, Dec. 18, 1963: “A. W. Cook and Preston Henn have taken over the Sunrise Drive-In, Fort Lauderdale, and have renamed it the Thunderbird.”
There’s a Sunrise listed for Fort Lauderdale in the 1957-76(!) editions of Motion Picture Almanac. It had a capacity of 500 and was owned by Bailey Theatre. When the MPA finally rebooted its drive-in list in 1977, the Sunrise was gone, replaced by the Thunderbird Twin, owned by P.B. Henn.
I am pretty sure also that this was the Sunrise, but I haven’t found solid proof.
Bailey Theatres, which operated the Sunrise Drive-In also owned several other locations in the south. The other locations appear to all be “negro theatres”, as they were then known. I suspect that may be the reason for the lack of mainstream advertising for the Sunrise. The change to Thunderbird may have been a change in policy or owner.
Perhaps “A. W. Cook” passed away soon after he helped purchase the Sunrise and rename it the Thunderbird. From the Theatres For Sale column in the classifieds in the April 17, 1964 issue of Boxoffice: “Large Florida Drive-Ins: Ft. Lauderdale, 700 cars; … Death of partner forces sale. … Call Henn Thunderbird Drive-In, (phone number), Ft. Lauderdale, nights.”
WPLG Just Reported Two Days Ago On April 4, 2022 That Screen #5 Was Badly Damaged By A Fire, Along With The Storage Facility Which Was Heavily Destroyed.
Correction: Thanks to several hurricanes, the growing vagrant population, vandalism, the ever expanding flea market and the aforementioned fire in April 2022, THIS DRIVE-IN NOW HAS 8 SCREENS!
Please update.
Another correction: THIS along with the elementary school next to it is in Lauderhill NOT Fort Lauderdale! Same zip code. Please update.
This this stop showing movies for renovations? Showtimes are not showing anywhere.
The Fort Lauderdale Drive In Movie Theatre is currently undergoing renovations.
Nooooo I hate to hear this. It was such a popular drive in