Wellfleet Drive-In Theater
 Main entrance of the theater | |
 | |
| Address | 51 State Highway, Route 6 Wellfleet, Massachusetts USA |
|---|---|
| Owner | Spring Brook Center |
| Type | Drive-in theater |
| Opened | 1957 |
41°52′38.88″N 69°59′30.88″W / 41.8774667°N 69.9919111°W The Wellfleet Drive-In Theater, the only drive-in theater on Cape Cod, located in Wellfleet, Massachusetts along U.S. Route 6,[1] near the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. The complex offers first-run double features in season, with other attractions such as indoor cinemas, a flea market,[2] a miniature golf course,[3] and restaurants.
The Drive-In is one of the venues for the annual Provincetown International Film Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts .[4] Frommer's lists the Drive-In as one of the "500 Places to See Before They Disappear"[5] and Travel and Leisure selected it as a Top Ten Retro Escape.[6]
History
Its original owners, John Jentz and Charlie Zehnder, opened the drive-in on July 3, 1957.[7] It has a 100-by-44-foot (30 m × 13 m) screen, with sound provided by both a FM stereo signal[1] and the original individual monaural speakers that can be attached to a car's window.[5] The mini-golf features obstacles that date back to 1961.[3] The cinema was built in the 1980s; according to Eleanor Hazen, its owner at the time, one of the reasons the cinema was built is that film distributors started refusing to allow drive-ins to show first-run feature films.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Drive-In Theatre". Spring Brook Center. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ "Flea Market". Spring Brook Center. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ a b "Mini-Golf/Ice Cream". Spring Brook Center, Inc. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ "Screening Venues". Provincetown International Film Festival. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ a b Hughes, Holly; West, Larry (2008). Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear. Frommer's. p. 440. ISBN 0-470-18986-X. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
- ^ Savino, Charlotte (April 2009). "America's Best Retro Escapes". American Express Publishing Corporation. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
- ^ Pierson, Elspeth (July 11, 2008). "Nostalgia featured showing at Wellfleet Drive-In". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
- ^ Segrave, Kerry (1992). Drive-in theaters - a History from their Inception in 1933. McFarland. p. 182. ISBN 0-89950-752-2. Retrieved 2010-11-02.