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Hartford Drive-In in Newington is Gone


HartfordTycoon

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No more flea markets

No more christmas tree shopping.

Movies hadnt played there in YEARSSS

I haven't been to those flea markets in years. It's good to see the property is finally being developed.

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I used to go to that Drive In, no idea why they all closed down. We also used to have something that no other spot had (to my knowledge), an X-Rated Drive In. It was in Berlin where the Home Depot is now, I had a friend that lived across the highway from it and we would go hit the trails and sit in the woods looking at the 50 foot high porn...

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I think it is getting a little TOO developed down the Berlin Tpke.

I guess its better developed than left alone though.

Here is what happened to the old Manchester Drive In's- I think it closed in the 80's

Its now just a big sand pit with some green growing in it, you can see the whole outline

1z6v2hl.jpg

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The turnpike is sadly abuzz with development....A Lazy Boy is being built, Price Chopper opened recently, yet another Walgreens just opened, a new Soverign Bank opened in a former restaurant, Stew Leonards is being built (thats not really a bad thing), condos at the drive in, 55+ housing off of New Britan Avenue behind Home Depot...you get the picture.

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Why is development along the Berlin Turnpike sad?

Hasn't the turnpike always had development?

How many Drive-In's are left in Connecticut? I know there is one in Mansfield right over the Willimantic border on Rt. 32.

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Call me crazy, but that totally doesn't make sense to me. If you are implying that the Berlin Turnpike shouldn't get things because Manchester already has them is crazy. I live in Berlin about 5 seconds from the Turnpike, and I have about 6 other choices of places to go ( let's count, 1) Rte 372 Cromwell, 2) Rt 10/372 Plainville, 3)Queen St Southington, 4) West Farms area, 5) Silas Deane Highway, 6) Rte 5 Meriden/Wallingford, 7) West Main New Britain, 8) Rte 6 Bristol ... ok, 8 places) before I go all the way to Manchester to do something....

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Call me crazy, but that totally doesn't make sense to me. If you are implying that the Berlin Turnpike shouldn't get things because Manchester already has them is crazy. I live in Berlin about 5 seconds from the Turnpike, and I have about 6 other choices of places to go ( let's count, 1) Rte 372 Cromwell, 2) Rt 10/372 Plainville, 3)Queen St Southington, 4) West Farms area, 5) Silas Deane Highway, 6) Rte 5 Meriden/Wallingford, 7) West Main New Britain, 8) Rte 6 Bristol ... ok, 8 places) before I go all the way to Manchester to do something....

I agree, that doesn't make sense either.

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If you are implying that the Berlin Turnpike shouldn't get things because Manchester already has them is crazy.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but that's not even close to what I was implying!

I was referring to both areas being FAR over-developed and at this point I don't see more development as beneficial. It would be better elsewhere, like within city lines or in other struggling areas.

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Yet more condos for Hartford's red hot burbs. I've never seen Greater Hartford so actively developing, granted I'm only 25. Nonetheless, I'm glad to see things happinging.

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The hartford Drive-In was the last one on the Pike!! Just down the road was the Pike Drive-In (Now the shopping Center where Shaw's, Media Play, Office Max is (or in the case of Office Max - was). Home Deport, Syms was built on the old Berlin Drive-In.

I think there are 3 drive ins left...Mansfield, Pine Meadow and Southington!1 There are 3 in the Tampa area!

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I think it is getting a little TOO developed down the Berlin Tpke.

I guess its better developed than left alone though.

Here is what happened to the old Manchester Drive In's- I think it closed in the 80's

Its now just a big sand pit with some green growing in it, you can see the whole outline

1z6v2hl.jpg

Is the East Hartford Drive In site developed yet? Last time I was it - the frame of the screen was up, the sign was up and the Roadside Gourmet was selling food.

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The turnpike is sadly abuzz with development....A Lazy Boy is being built, Price Chopper opened recently, yet another Walgreens just opened, a new Soverign Bank opened in a former restaurant, Stew Leonards is being built (thats not really a bad thing), condos at the drive in, 55+ housing off of New Britan Avenue behind Home Depot...you get the picture.

Price Chopper was built in the old Ames store and Stew's will be in the old Caldor's. Stew Leonard's might help that shopping center (had Toys R Us, Service Merchandise and Caldor's - can you say 'DEAD MALL?").

Where is the La-Z-Boy place going to be? What restaurant closed for the bank? Did anyone move in the old Lechmere, Office Max and Frank's locations yet?

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I think there are 3 drive ins left...Mansfield, Pine Meadow and Southington!1 There are 3 in the Tampa area!

The Southington Drive-In closed down four years ago. The only two left in the state are the Mansfield Drive-In (3 screens) and the Pleasant Valley Drive-in in Barkhamsted (1 screen). A few others still sit abandoned.

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Price Chopper was built in the old Ames store and Stew's will be in the old Caldor's. Stew Leonard's might help that shopping center (had Toys R Us, Service Merchandise and Caldor's - can you say 'DEAD MALL?").

Where is the La-Z-Boy place going to be? What restaurant closed for the bank? Did anyone move in the old Lechmere, Office Max and Frank's locations yet?

It's about time their doing something with that old Caldor's building. It's been sitting idle for a long time.

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La-Z-Boy is going in the parking lot between Wal-Mart and the Grantmoore Motor Lodge...pretty much where the Nobody Beats The Wiz building was constructed and torn own. Also Office Max in the Shaw's plaza has now, ironically, reopened as Office Depot!

I remember going to the Hartford Drive-In as a kid. If I recall correctly, at least for a time, it was in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the largest movie screen in the world...whether by screen size or volume of the structue, I'm not sure.

I live in Newington, about five minutes from the Pike. I love it...almost everything you can possibly want is within a few miles drive. Except, of course, a drive-in!

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Price Chopper was built in the old Ames store and Stew's will be in the old Caldor's. Stew Leonard's might help that shopping center (had Toys R Us, Service Merchandise and Caldor's - can you say 'DEAD MALL?").

Where is the La-Z-Boy place going to be? What restaurant closed for the bank? Did anyone move in the old Lechmere, Office Max and Frank's locations yet?

A big Jo-Ann Fabric (my wife's favorite place), and Big Lots have split the Lechmere spot. They also build a TGIF in the parking lot. Whoever bought that strip mall did a really good job getting it revamped, it's packed...

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^ and Modell's!

Mo's is in Newington?? Wow!! I hear about Modell's when I listen to Yankees games here in Tampa on 1010. That's cool...Office Depot is where Office Max was. I wonder what went in the Office Max stores in NewBritan/Newington/Farmington and the Manchester location.

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A big Jo-Ann Fabric (my wife's favorite place), and Big Lots have split the Lechmere spot. They also build a TGIF in the parking lot. Whoever bought that strip mall did a really good job getting it revamped, it's packed...

Planet Fittness is in the same plaza and they doubled the size of their space just recently.

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