When the Buffalo Drive-In opened at Harlem Road and Genesee Street in 1941, it was the first in the area and only the 65th drive-in theater in the country. Adult passengers were charged 31 cents each for tickets.
“Something new under the stars,” read the big ad in The Buffalo Evening News on opening night in August, 1941. “The greatest entertainment thrill since the advent of sound.”
The novelty and newness of the drive-in movie was made clear by the descriptions in the ad.
“See the best motion pictures from your car! Dress as you please! Eat, drink, smoke … bring the shut-ins!”
By the end of that first year of Buffalo area drive-ins, there were some growing pains. Amherst Police had to up their patrols at the area’s second drive-in, the Niagara Drive-In on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Police issued a handful of tickets for people “parking on a highway without lights.” The dozens of cars trying to sneak free peeks at the movies were traffic hazards.
There were a handful of drive-ins that would remain open year-round, but most, like the Buffalo Drive-In, were a seasonal concern – waited for by Buffalonians the same way we still wait for hot dog and ice cream stands to open in the spring.
“Those towering temples of cinema that stretch toward the nighttime heavens are again beckoning,” Jim Bisco wrote in The News in 1979. “In other words, the drive-in season has returned.”
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