Picture East Windsor - Then And Now

EAST WINDSOR, CT — The drive-in movie theater may have gone the way of the dodo bird, the lost continent of Atlantis or me having hair (all extinct), but from the 1950s through the '80s, they were all the rage. Jamming eight people into a '72 Chevy Vega, with someone inevitably having to be "trunk boy" to save two bucks - ah, the memories!

It was seventy years ago this month - Oct. 26, 1950, to be exact - that the drive-in craze came to East Windsor, with the opening of the cleverly-named East Windsor Drive-In Theatre at 22 Stoughton Road (though it is called the "east side of Route 5" in this opening night advertisement). The opening night double feature was "Broken Arrow" with James Stewart, and "Everybody Does it" with Paul Douglas.

The drive-in had parking capacity for 756 cars, and this ad highlighted some of the wonderful amenities available to patrons - "Perfect Vision! Perfect Projection! Perfect Sound!" It also promoted the "smart new cafeteria style concession," and mentioned the "completely paved ramp area" (I'm assuming other places must have had their customers parking in dirt and mud).

East Windsor's theatre was around for about 35 years, closing sometime in the mid-1980s. In 1987, the Stoughton Ridge condominum complex was built on the site.

Here is a contemporary look at the property, taken by me last month.

Do you have a photo of an old East Windsor business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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