A beloved piece of Americana in historic Hyde Park on the Hudson is making a comeback.

Work is well underway to revamp the Hyde Park Drive-in movie theater on Route 9. Locals were crushed in 2023 when the previous owners announced they would be shutting down after 72 years of business. They were equally pumped this week upon learning that after three years of searching, the National Parks Service — which owns the land — found a new operator to lease the land and pick the tradition back up later this season. Contractors on site on Thursday said they were stripping down and cleaning up the main building, so remodeling can begin next week. The parks service cannot yet say who the new owner is, only that the lease allows for operation of the drive-in plus other daytime events.

Sharon Piraino-Buko, of the Hyde Park Historical Society, said that as a child, she would wear her pajamas to the drive-in for family outings. "Then, as you got older and went to the drive-in," she said, the activities would change since many of her friends had cars.

"So the half-keg would go in the back of the station wagon," she said, "and everybody would hide or come following in later. It was fun. Lots of parties going on at that drive-in."

Pizza shop owner George Karatonis said it makes sense to save a drive-in in a bastion of American history and culture like Hyde Park. The drive-in is just across Route 9 from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site.

"It'll be great for the community," Karatonis said. "It'll be huge. The kids will have something else to do." There is not yet a solid reopening date for the drive-in. The lease is signed, though, and local officials expect movie screenings to happen this summer. Attempts to reach the new, still unnamed, operator were unsuccessful.