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Home > New York Drive-ins by Region > Western New York Region > Niagara County Drive-ins > Nite-Way Drive-in

Nite-Way Drive-in
Status: Demolished
Location: 6500 S. Transit Road, at Fisk Rd., Pendleton, NY 14094
Screens: 1
Capacity: 400 cars
Original owner: Built by Fred Henn and Miller; property owned by Michael Koller.
Opening date: August 3, 1948
Final season: 1948; screen blown down on January 18, 1949 in wind storm.
What's there now: Undeveloped, empty lot.

This page was last updated on January 25, 2023.

The Nite-Way Drive-in may have been the shortest lived outdoor theatre in the country. Opening on August 3, 1948, the Nite-Way was decades ahead of its time, offering an AM radio transmission for the movie audio many years before other drive-ins would switch over from in-car speakers to radio sound.

After operating through August, September, and October of 1948, the Nite-Way was closed for the winter months, which was normal for a northeastern seasonal drive-in. There would be no second season for the Nite-Way, as the screen tower "distintegrated into peices" during a heavy wind storm on January 18, 1949.

To the best of anyone's knowledge, the screen was never rebuilt and the drive-in remained closed, since no ads appeared in the Lockport Union-Sun and Journal after their initial 1948 season to indicate they were back in business. Sadly, the only picture in existence of this drive-in comes from the newspaper story of its demise.

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Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size.
Topo map from 1980, courtesy of TerraServer USA. Aerial image from 1958, courtesy HistoricAerials.com. Aerial image from 1966, courtesy of the Niagara County Soil and Water Conservation District. Aerial image from 2006, courtesy of Google Earth.
Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size. Click on image to view at full size.
Aerial close-up image from 2006, courtesy of Google Earth. Opening soon ad from the Lockport Union Sun and Journal on July 31, 1948. Ad from the Lockport Union Sun and Journal on August 17, 1948. Article and picture from the Lockport Union Sun and Journal on January 19, 1949.

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