27th Avenue Drive-In

Shortly before the theater closed after the 1986 season, Miami Police responded to a call of a 29-year-old epileptic man shot and lying bleeding in the weeds of the theater’s traces during the afternoon hours of August 16, 1986. According to authorities, the victim was born deaf and can’t read or write, but after 11 operations, his ears finally opened to sound. Meanwhile on the other side, the incident goes as follows:

The man, James Justice, and his co-worker Debbie Blankenship were sleeping on the floor inside the drive-in’s boarded-up concession stand when two men walked by, one carrying a .22-caliber rifle. Justice used to live near the 27th Avenue Drive-In with his mother. The gunman ordered Justice to “not move or else he’ll kill him”. Justice asked, “Is that gun real?” The man then said, “You better not run”. The man fired on a corner wall before turning back to Justice. Justice ran around the stand and headed for the street. A bullet tore into his right side, punctured a lung and lodged in his chest. The two men ran away. Both Blankenship and Justice were sleeping in the drive-in because their Miami Beach apartment was too far away from the late-night job they had cleaning a Dairy Queen across the street from the theater.

Opened in 1950 and closed in 1986. Screen demolished in 2001. Site is now municipality facilities.

Here is a 1969 high resolution close-up photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS.

Wow an air conditioned drive-in what will they think of next.

The Wometco 27th Avenue Drive-in was one of the longest lasting in South Florida. It was already open by 1957 and closed in 1986, outlasted by the Tropicaire and Turnpike.

Near Miami Dade Community College North Campus, anybody know the name of the drive in theatre between NW 119 St and NW 135 St on NW 27 th Ave? I remember it was a XXX Adult drive in theatre then became an Used Car lot in the 80’s.

What was the name of the drive-in on 27th AV and 170th St of so. Lived directly across the street from the entrance (corner house) for a short time in 1969?

Al is correct as far as the hose goes, but the diameter was much bigger than an ordinary air hose used to fill your tires. The hose was more like the vacuum hoses you now see at gas stations. The 27th Avenue Drive In featured an ac unit where the cold air was blown into the car via a large 6 inch diameter tube. The tube was connected to a plastic flange that fit just right when you closed your car window. We used to put it on the back seat because the air would freeze you to death if you put it on the driver’s window. Our station wagon’s layout was idea for this purpose.

A quote from Kerry Segrave’s book “Drive-In Theatres” – A history from their inception in 1933 (published by McFarland & Co 1992):–

One of the attempts to air condition the great ourdoors was seen in 1953 at Phoenix, AZ, Cinema Park Drive-In. A number of fouteen foot poles were installed on the lot. Each was topped by vertically mounted propeller blades behind water pipes containing tiny holes. With the blades whirring around, water was forced up the pipes, out of the holes, and then blown across the lot in the form of a fine mist. It caused the temperature to drop, said the marketers, several degrees. A few years later a similar invention was announced. Again it was a tall pole with baldes mounted on top, horizontally this time. The idea was to circulate the air, thus lowering the humidity. Models were said to be available especially to control fog and mist as well as humidity. These units called “Fogmaster” and “Weathermaster”, could operate successfully over several acres or more. Another feature touted was that it helped overcome the mosquito nuisance. Presumably they blew them away!

Seemingly all attempts to control the climate to their patrons, greater comfort have been singularly unsuccessful.