Home > New York Drive-ins by Region > Hudson Vally Region > Rockland County Drive-ins > 303 Drive-in

303 Drive-in Drive-in
Status: Demolished
Location: 141 Rte 303, Orangeburg, NY 10962
Screens: 1
Capacity: 1,800 cars
Original owner: Built by Spyros Skouras Sr., operated later by United Artists Theatres
Opening date: August 3, 1956
Final season: 1988
What's there now: Town Compost/Recycling Center, Snackbar and Marquee being reused for new interests.

This page was last updated on April 25, 2011.

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Topo Map from 1979, courtesy of TerraServer USA. Aerial image from 1974, courtesy of HistoricAerials.com. Aerial image from 1995, courtesy of Terra Server USA. Aerial image from 2006, courtesy of Google Earth.
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Aerial image courtesy of Joseph Guzzo. Opening tomorrow article from the Rockland County Journal News on August 1, 1956. Opening soon ad from the Rockland County Journal News on August 1, 1956. Grand opening tonight article from the Rockland County Journal News on August 2, 1956.
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Grand opening FULL PAGE ad from the Rockland County Journal News on August 2, 1956. Grand opening picture from the Rockland County Journal News on August 2, 1956. Motion Picture Herald article from 1956. Miracle Playrgound Equipment catalog.
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Article from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in marquee picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in entrance picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in playground picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble.
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303 Drive-in screen tower picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in snackbar outside picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in snackbar inside picture from the 1956-1957 edition Theatre Catalog, courtesy of James Goble. 303 Drive-in marquee in 1995.
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Refurbished 303 Drive-in marquee in fall 2007, courtesy of Rick Cohen. 303 Drive-in field and screen in 1995.    

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My dad worked there when we were kids. He would take my mom and us when he worked. He operated the merry go round and he was also a ramp man. We always had fun, we would bring our pajamas and watch the movie. When I grew up I also worked at the 303 Drive In, I was the Assistant Manager, I also brought my children. Although drivein movies are pretty much a thing of the past they will always live forever in our hearts. They will always be sadly missed.
#1 - Alma L. McKenzie - 03/03/2023 - 07:50
I grew up in the 70's and the 80's and remember the drivein real well. Saw a quite a few movies as a kid there and my we used to be vendors at the Sunday flea markets. We used to bring our dog with us to the flea market and I used to take him on slide in the playground. The one with the stairs to go up and the little tunnel to slid down. He used to love it and the spectators used to find it funny that this terrier was going on up and down the slide with all the kids. I remember once this one guy that got annoyed that the dog in the playground with but everyone basically told him to mind his own business.
#2 - Adam - 03/23/2023 - 21:15
Drive-In are not dead, they still have them in places upstate.
#3 - Mr.Lick - 08/17/2023 - 12:20
In 1970-71 I worked at the 303 drive-in concession stand selling soda, egg rolls, popcorn etc. I remember at the intermission they had the cheesy dancing egg rolls to entice the movie goers to get a snack. Little did they know those egg rolls we reheated night after night in the same oil if they didn't sell. When we were not busy my coworkers or ramp men (the ticket takers) would walk around the parking lot with flash lights and shine the light in on the cars that had steamed up windows and 2 heads would pop up! Almost every night a few movie goers would drive away with the speaker still attached to their window! We would find the ripped wires hanging off the post. I could get my friends in for free without having to hide them in the trunk of the car! Ahhh those were the days!:-)
#4 - Janet - 09/24/2023 - 06:29
The first movie I saw at the 303 drive-in was "Rebel without a cause". My uncle took us while he slugged down quarts of beer. Later years, 15 of us all piled in a rental van ($15 a car load) for the 'Midnight horror shows'.
#5 - Danny - 09/24/2023 - 07:54
I remember my first movie was for my 8th birthday party at the Drive In. We saw Merrill's Marauders in 1962. What a great night out for a group of 6 eight year olds and their parents.The parents all had their folding chairs set out in front of the cars lined up next to eachother while we ran around like mad men through the rows and rows of cars. Ignorance was bliss. Thom
#6 - Thom - 03/09/2011 - 20:45
My dad took me (age 6), my older brother Mike(age 8) and my mom to a double feature, The Guns of Navarone and Bride Over the River Kwai at the 303 Drive-in back in the late 70's. We were all very excited until we realized dad was watching another war movie, except this time it was on a twenty yard screen. I tried my best to like the movie but I ended up romping around on the play yard. My mom had to stay in the front seat with dad.
#7 - John - 05/14/2011 - 20:35
I worked in the snack bar the summer of 1974. I made 2 great friends that summer and we are still close almost 40 years later. I remember always being hot at work cooking with the pizza oven, grill and freyers going. That summer I must have seen American Graffitti, Monty Python's Holy Grail and The Posideon Adventure a 100 times. We used to hide a case of beer in the walk-in freezer and sit on the patio after work drinking till the last movie was finished. As a kid, my parents would take me in my pajamas and I would go to sleep during the movie. Oh the simple fun times of the 60's and 70's.
#8 - Jack Roeser - 07/20/2012 - 18:25
My mother-in-law, who just passed away last week at 90 years of age, worked in the 303 concession stand when she was young. She had wonderful stories about her family and this theater. My wife recalls many hours of fun there. When we visited the area to bury my MIL, I got to see the 303 sign as we passed by. It is now a plant nursery. What a loss for the community!!! Losing tradition and simple pleasures like the 303 Drive In is exactly what is wrong with America. Turn off your TV's and go see family and friends! TV rots your brain and makes you stupid.
#9 - Dave - 12/22/2012 - 08:52
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