Old Drive-In Theater

I just got an open-ended permission to detect the grounds of this old drive-in movie theater. I am told that it opened in the 1940s and closed in the late 1970s. I know there wouldn't be any super old coins there but there might be some silver. I have no idea if it has been detected before. My wife says the grassy area in front of the screen was a playground.

I am expecting tons of pull-tabs and bottle caps. The area is now somewhat overgrown so detecting may be a challenge. Not to mention most of it will be gravel under the weeds.

I am curious about how you guys would approach this. Would you concentrate only on the high tones, hoping for silver?


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It looks like you could locate that center building. It could be the bathroom, projection, concession area. That child's area looks like is has potential too. That's a lot of property! I wonder if all your finds will be near the surface?...because of the gravel. Maybe the growth is not thick as it's not really dirt.
I bet there are coins everywhere...so many that, like you said, I'd forget about copper and dig higher. Best of luck!!!!:thumbsup01::crossfingers:

Yes, the center building was the concession stand. The building is gone now but I think the concrete pad is still there. The property was bought by the city and it will soon be turned into a water treatment plant.

Nice score. Keep us updated!

Hi Tony,

I have quite a bit of experience doing exactly this. When I was younger, I was walking distance to an old Outdoor Theater (as we called it). I was using my dad's very old Garrett (green box with the knobs and only went down about 3" for coin size objects). I dug is all and I would say that 1 out of 20 hits was a coin. TONS of pull tabs and bottle caps, but I found a lot of silver too and clad. Our drive in theater closed in about 1980. I hunted it around 1985-89. It was about as big as yours.

I would likely go after more targets around the concession stand (where I found most of my coins) and as I orbit around that, go after the silver. Keep in mind people ate/drank/watched/and other things :angelic: from their cars. They pulled money out of their pockets when they got nearer to the concession stands.

I did a drive in theater once and did the grassy area below the screen with a buddy. I got about 60-70 bucks in quarters in about 45 minutes. And same for my friend. No silver though. Skipped just about every other signal.

It looks like a great opportunity for sure!

Only one way to find out. Good luck!!

I would be pretty excited at the possibilities if I had permission at that place. I would think the trash might be pretty high but there should be silver there too. Hope it pays off for you.

Here are the results from the first trip to the old drive-in. These coins were found in about an hour and a half. I found the Merc right off the bat within the first five minutes. My buddy Moose also found a Merc, his was 1935. The newest coin I found is dated 1975 which confirms what I was told about the drive-in closing in the 1970s.

Unfortunately, a large part of the site is undetectable due to high weeds and stubble. The site is also infested with poison ivy. All of our finds came from the areas around the movie screen and the concession stand. Those areas are detectable because a bulldozer has been used to remove the concrete footings.

There has to be a ton of coins there, if only we could get to them! I was encouraged by the two Mercs.

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You're off to a GREAT start!

Can you go back in winter,Tony?

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Originally Posted by OxShoeDrew

Can you go back in winter,Tony?

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Yes, I can go back any time. Winter might be best as the vegetation will be died down.

Awesome job Tony. Glad your drive in had silver!

You should check the far back end of the site. That's were the young'uns would sneak off to do what young'uns do at drive-ins if you didn't have your own car to do that kind of young'un stuff. You are not paying to what is falling out of your pockets when you are preoccupied doing that young'un stuff.

:grouphug:Sounds like an american detectorist group hunt.....

Nice permission score Tony and your early finds confirms it's gonna be productive for you. As other's have said I'd wait until winter until things have died down and concentrate on high tones only. When I dig colonial sites I have to dig anything above about a 40 vdi, but at a place like yours the pull tabs and soda pop lids would be overwhelming. Good luck on your future returns!

John

Great start Tony!

I sure hope you can hunt that place after the snow packs all the vegetation down in the spring , I can only imagine all the easy swinging and coins to be found .

Dan

Sounds like a good spring hunt spot after the thaw. Good luck on the new spot. WD