Thousands of people drive by the marquee to this abandoned drive in every day. But not many of them know what’s behind it or just how popular this place used be. This was once a massive social spot, and boasted a giant screen tower design popular during the late 1940s. So big, you could even walk inside it.

The cars have been replaced by trees, and the screen hasn’t shown a movie since 1996. Welcome to the abandoned Sutton Motor-In.


Filmed/Edited by Jason Allard
Additional Footage by Dave Lawlor | https://rb.gy/sixwzy
Historic photos provided by Don Brown

My website: www.UncomSenseMedia.com
Follow me on Instagram: @Uncomsense
Drone: DJI Mini 2 Fly More Combo
Main Camera: DJI Osmo Pocket w/ Freewell lens attachments
Editing: Final Cut Pro X w/ custom plugins

Music By:
Elevated Productions | https://rb.gy/768e90
WaveyyBeats | https://rb.gy/pcsrlk
DWNLD | https://rb.gy/v2by3u
Knox | https://rb.gy/ejkt9s
Unknown Instrumentalz | https://rb.gy/wopy7g
Malloy | https://rb.gy/lldbrz
F Beatz | https://rb.gy/uu6k8l
Stanic beats | https://rb.gy/mtvpoj

THANK YOU to Dave Lounder, Steve Coan, and Don Brown helping with my research. They are the former operators of this drive-in and work to preserve the history of theaters like this one. They provided me with historic photos of the Sutton Motor In, fact checked my script, and answered my nonstop questions.

Support the preservation of drive-in theaters | https://rb.gy/1qkiaz


The first patented drive-in was opened on June 6, 1933 by Richard Hollingshead in New Jersey. He created it as a more comfortable alternative to the traditional theater, after testing different set ups in his driveway. Appealing to families, Hollingshead advertised his drive-in as a place where “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” That’s right, not even your annoying kids could ruin how cool these things were.

Drive-in numbers exploded and peaked in the late 1950's to early 1960's. During this time, which is generally considered the golden age of drive-ins, there were over 4000 drive-in theaters across the United States. Guys, I can count, and that’s a lot. At its height, about 25% of the nation's movie screens were at drive-ins. You’d pull up with your greaser friends and leather jackets in your Ford De Luxe, sing a couple songs and you know what I’m describing the movie Grease now I’m sorry. Still, drive ins were the place to be. But the golden age only lasted a decade or so, and in the 1960’s through the ‘80s the number of drive-ins began to decline for three main reasons.

1. Daylight savings time. In 1966 the uniform time act pushed the clocks forward from April thru October. This meant sunset would come an hour later during the prime drive-in movie season… too late for those noisy kids to be up. Bummer.


2. Property value. During the 70s property values in the United States soared and urban sprawl continued. It became more practical for owners to close their drive-ins in order to sell their land to developers. Today, there are a ton of big box stores that now sit on land once occupied by drive-in theaters.

3. The VCR. With those VHS tapes you could just rent a movie and watch it on your burnt orange couch. Why go to the drive in when you can see ya boy mark hamill fly an x wing on your 30 inch tube TV? This had arguably the biggest effect on drive-ins - between 1987 and 1988 alone, 1000 drive ins closed.

Back to Sutton now. As you can imagine, it’s pretty rare that this entire drive in is still here despite being closed for 25 years. This is one of the originals, too, being constructed in 1947 on 10 acres of land, which could fit about 450 cars. The screen measures in at 120 feet wide and 54 feet tall. Again it’s amazing this is still standing here after over 75 years - they built em solid back in 1947.

So what’s going to happen to it now?

Today it’s owned by a trust and family of the original owners, who are asking for what's described as a lucrative amount for what's here. This could be all yours for only 1.2 million dollars. Until someone decides to pay up, this relic of the past will remain here, being reclaimed by nature.


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