Tyrone Garden Auto Drive-In

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Uploaded on: October 11, 2026

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The advertisement is for the Tyrone Garden Auto Drive-In (originally known simply as the Garden Drive-In), a classic outdoor cinema that was a staple of St. Petersburg, Florida.

The drive-in was located at 4103 Park Street North,
right at the intersection of Tyrone Boulevard.

Old advertisements and local memories often noted that it sat directly “opposite the Lighthouse restaurant”, an iconic local eatery whose actual lighthouse structures still mark the area’s entrance today.

The theater officially opened its gates on January 20, 1951. Its very first screening was the Abbott & Costello comedy classic, “In the Navy”.

It was originally opened and operated by Mark Cummins with an initial capacity to host roughly 350 to 525 cars.

Like many beloved mid-century drive-ins, it featured rows of classic in-car window speakers and was a popular hotspot for $1.00 “Buck-Nite” carload specials, where families or groups of teenagers could cram into a single vehicle for a cheap night out.

A popular local Italian restaurant stood right in front of the venue.

As land values skyrocketed and indoor multiplexes took over, the open terrain became too valuable to keep as a seasonal theater.

The Tyrone Garden Auto Drive-In ultimately shut down
in the late 1980s.

The property was cleared and a Walmart was built over the site in 1992, sitting near what is now the Tyrone Square Mall area.