The Washington opened on June 27th, 1956 and was located just next to East Rochester on North Washington Street near Linden Avenue. According to the International Motion Picture Almanac, it held 970 cars. The theater was originally under the ownership and management of the Redstone theaters (the owners of Lakeshore). Therefore, from that point on, nearly all ads for the Lakeshore and Washington were together in their own ad on the movie page. One of the grand opening ads in the paper mistakenly read "South Washington Street" which is on the other side of the city! This was the last drive-in to be built in Monroe County, and was the second to last one to close. Its final year of operation was 1988.
    I am still in the process of researching media and articles about this theater.
I visited the site and I plan on taking pictures of it as soon as I can. All physical structures are long gone, but the driveways, car ramps, and aisles are well preserved. All of the site is still whole - nothing has been cut away by other developments. If you're interested in opening a drive-in, this would be an excellent site...however, I do not know who currently owns this property. You would just need to clear away the several trees that have grown up all over the property since 1988. If you know anything more about this theater, please send me an e-mail!!

Grand Opening Ad (with street name error) (from Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - June 24, 1956)

Grand Opening Day Ad (from Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - June 27, 1956)

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