The Judy Drive-In

One of the absolute last of a dying breed, the Judy Drive-in carries the tattered flag of outdoor film enjoyment into the 21st century. The drive-in is so named for the tiny community of Judy, a suburb of Mt. Sterling.

Located at 4078 Maysville Road, the Judy Drive-In is actually one of the more progressive examples of this highly retro line of business. Not only do they show first-run movies, they broadcast the audio signal in FM stereo and actually encourage people to get out of their cars and stroll around the grounds, watching the film while listening to the audio on their walkmans. They also sell PIC insect-repellant coils. Their screenings go on rain or shine, and are only ever cancelled in the event of a severe thunderstorm.


On September 6th they'll be hosting a car show, "Cruisin' the Judy", with games, prizes, food, music, and Smokey & The Bandit showing on the big screen at dusk.

The Judy Drive-In opened on the fourth of July, 1952, and has been in continuous operation ever since.

(Photo above from UnK regular Nicosia's wonderful photo-travel blog, Roadside Weirdness.)

Mt. View Drive-In

Another of Kentucky's few remaining old drive-in theaters, the Mt. View Drive-In has operated continuously since 1956. It's located in Stanton, KY in Powell County. See more photos here.

Win One Dead Body!

Pictured above is part of an advertisement for "Dr. Satan's Shrieks In The Night Show", a Girdler-esque live spook show that took place in Hopkinsville, KY in the 1960s. Among the odd features of the attraction, they promise you will see "dead painter Van Gogh materialize" and "the posing apparation of Marilyn Monroe". But most curious of all, a drawing was held and "one real dead body" was given away to some lucky contestant.

Another interesting horror-show attraction in Hopkinsville was "Kirma's Ghost Party", pictured below.

Buccaneer Drive-In

Once this was a proud drive-in theater on U.S. 25 bringing customers from surrounding counties. I saw many first-run films here in the 1960s and 1970s, including The Blob, Westworld, Death Race 2000, Vanishing Point, Bonnie & Clyde, Equinox, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, Frogs, Jaws, etc.

The Buccaneer has been deserted for many years, and was originally on our old site's "Abandoned Places" section. Only a few weeks after we added it to our site, bulldozers appeared and began demolishing the place. Last we saw, the property was being used for storage of timber for some sort of commercial logging company.


Madison County's other drive-in, Richmond Drive-In, is also gone, having mutated into Krazy Karts, which is itself now also defunct.

Richmond Drive-In / Krazy Karts

This was Richmond Drive-In in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, then it went out of business.

After an idle period it was purchased and transformed into Krazy Karts, a rather lame go-kart track and miniature golf course. Krazy Karts lasted at least until 1997, which was the last time I was there. Not sure when it lapsed into disuse, or when the place got wiped out by a fire, but when we got there to take some pictures awhile back, we discovered that all that remained is the sign out front and the charred rubble and remnants of what was once Richmond Drive-In's snack bar.

Let's just be real quiet for a few minutes.

Stanford Drive-In

Unfortunately, America's Drive-in Theaters have been on the wane for years now, to the point where just finding one that still exists warrants inclusion in our collection of unusualities. The Stanford Drive-In and Flea Market in Lincoln County won't disappoint any seeker of true Americana, merging together two of the cultural concepts that made our country great. And unlike many a low-budget Drive-in struggling to just carry any schlock they can get their hands on, the Stanford Drive-in actually still carries first-run movies. (As of this writing, "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull" is playing.)