At the turn of the new century, the Laurel Drive-in was still making headlines.
The out door theater graced the front page of the Standard Speaker on June 26, 2000, with a splash about the venue celebrating its 50th anniversary..
At the time, Ed Conrad wrote in the Hazleton paper that the owner, Frank Sacco, was also celebrating his 50th birthday. Sacco was born in 1950 when the theater first opened. His late father Anthony opened the drive in and it was a family operation since.
The Standard Speaker’s profile of Frank and the Laurel Drive-In adds in an interesting perspective of what we thought about drive-ins’ demise 20 years ago. The paper reported how there were once 5000 locations nationwide, and then in the year 2000 just 600 remained. TVs and other forms of indoor entertainment replaced them.
THE GRANDEST OF OPENINGS
It all started on July 14, 1950, with the opening of the Laurel Drive-in.
21 acres strong.
It was situated on the Hazleton/McAdoo highway after three years of construction.
60 feet screen.
Room for 500 cars.
Times were grand during this grand opening!
The feature attraction during the opening night that hot mid-July was THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINHOOD.
Along with the theater’s film, there was a mini-golf course, a restaurant, and a playground.
The theater was designed by contractor Peter Yannes.
PLENTY OF PARKING
This ad that ran in local papers during the summer of 1952 advertised ice-cream and one of the “fines Bar-Be-ques you have ever tasted.” All for 20 cents.
The theater was open every evening. And plenty of parking for your parking delights…
THE RISE AND FALL ON ROUTE 309
In 2006, when Frank Sacco was 56 years old, the Laurel Drive-In was continuing in popularity.
And even more, Jim Dino in the Standard Speaker wrote that the Laurel could soon feature a second screen.
Sacco spoke about the appeal six years into the 21st century of his drive-in, good made-to-order fast food and popcorn like the 1950s served. Teenagers still were the biggest goers just as it was during the IKE Administration..
The Sacco ownership stayed steady, continuing this amazing and expansive plot of movie theater land well into the 2000 teens.
On May 10, 2014, and older and wiser Frank Sacco, then 64, was profiled in the Standard Speaker. The drive-in theater would live on for another summer during these Obama years.
But there were sadly clouds on the horizon for the prized possession of two counties.
In 2016 the movies were still playing loud into the summer air.
By 2017 there were delays opening.
In 2018, the theater never opened. Newspapers profiled a yet to be revealed opening date.
On Facebook, the Laurel Drive-In posted a message on Facebook:
Hello. Let it be known that the Drive In is not closed for good but there is a possibility we might not open this season. It all depends when we get the digital equipment.
The theater’s closing was blamed on its continued use of 35mm film while others went digital. Efforts by local fishwrappers in 2019 to contact the owners were not successful.
And now three seasons later.. darkness fills the land once inhabited by motion pictures and make out sessions in the heat of mid-summer nights.
The theater is listed of permanently close on most review sites online.
We have tried contacted the Saccos and the Facebook page for the Laurel Drive-In with no success…
We can sadly count this theater as shuddered.
And that is one sad thing.
