Anyone still have an active drive-in theater in their area?

Jay,

We have one in our county, which runs flea markets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from about 7 AM to 3 PM, then has movies every night. There is another one, in the next county over, that runs on the same basis. They both probably make some good money off the flea markets, from folks renting a space for selling.

I must admit, we haven't been to the drive-in in years, but our teenagers went recently. The offering of movies is random, sometimes all R-rated, sometimes more family friendly.

Chester

No, we don't. It closed back in 1984. Where my family is in Tennessee (Lewisburg) there is one there that shows the new movies. Mostly PG and PG-13.

They were great while I was growing up.

Cheers

I have one about 15 miles up the road from me, same one that is in the next county over from Chester7777. They don't use the old speaker in the windows but broadcast the sound over FM, which is ok if you have a good radio.

There is also one a few miles from where I went to High School that is still open, that is where my wife and I would go when we first started dating. Ahh the memories, we would hit Faster Farms drive through, grab a little farmers meal and then hit the drive-in.. diner and a movie for less than $10... and this was in 1988...

When I was in High School, that was the place to go on the weekends and weeknights if there was nothing else to do. It was taken down by a direct hit by a tornado back in the 90's. There is one that still operates 50 miles south, it opens from Spring (usually Easter) thru Fall (around Homecoming), it runs weekends only and plays premium 1st run movies. You have to get there 30 - 45 early to get a spot. It fills up fast and is alway at max. capacity.

Where I live now, they are fighting on who will be tearing down the old screen, the property owner or the city. I think they are hoping for a big wind to take it down. But I miss them... lots of good high school memories of the one back home and a girl I went steady with.

The only one that I ever knew of in our area closed in around 1982. I remember going to a couple movies with girlfriends in highschool. In fact the last movie I saw at a drive in was "Flashdance"!!! I went just for the girl I was dating, that was for sure. I haven't seen the movie since then nor do I plan on it!!!

The last one I went to was when I was living in Kingsville. They had one drive-in and it was located to the south edge of town on 14th street and I remember what was playing on the screen the last time I went. It was a Western double-feature. I don;t remember which was shown in which order but, the movies were: Paint Your Wagon & The Great White Buffalo. Sadly, this drive in went to playing foreign language movies and was forcably closed by the Kleberg County Sheriff's office because of all teh knife fights etc--always going on there. I don't remember what year it closed down but it was probably in the very early 80's.

I now live in Corpus Chirsti (about 45 miles from Kingsville) and only went to a drive in here, but that was with my older sister and soon-to-be-brother-in-law. We went to the Thunderbird Theater (which was located on Leopard Street) ((before the drug addicts and prostitutes took over that area)) I don't recall what movie we saw but I think it was a Burt Reynolds movie--or something similar?

Anyway, this drive-in fell into disrepair, briefly made a comeback--then only opened as a flea-market for about a year--untill troublemakers ruined that, then closed permanently. A few years ago, they tore it down and it is now an Industrial Park--which is overrun with drug and prostitute activity.

There used to be 2-3 other drive-ins here but all closed down by the late 1980's. I remember one was just off of Crosstown and South Padre Island Drive (S.P.I.D.) If you were traveling towards the Island (Padre Island) or to the west--you could get a view of what was playing for about a minute or so.

There are 2 or 3 not far from where I live in Northern Illinois. They are making a comeback around here.

I sure wish they would make a comeback here. The nearest one to me that I know of, is that one Jay is talking about that is in San Antonio--probably about 130 miles from me as the crow flies.

There's one in my old neighborhood where I grew up that is still in operation. I live about 45 minutes from it now. Bengies Drive-In is the name. The only John Wayne movie I saw in a theater was there, The Shootist. About 7 years ago, the owners were thinking of selling the property for new homes, but the outrage and nostalgia from the people of the county made them change their minds. They still show first run movies and still draw a good crowd.

Mark

Being bought up in England, we off course didn't have drive in movie theaters (propably too much rain). I did have the experience of going to one whilst staying with friends in Toronto,June 1975, I remember getting snacks at the kiosk and placing a speaker into the car. Unfortunatly i don't remember what we saw, believe it was a historic drama set severall centuries ago, so it seemed strange having an aircraft fly over the screen!

Bet they were great places to go for youngsters going steady in the 50's and 60's.

Chris.

Believe it or not, there are several web sites about drive-in movie theaters in Texas. Here's one such site.

Shame on you Jay!!!

We have one about 30 miles east of me in a tiny little town called Kanaoplis. It is still owned and run by the same family that has had since the around the 50's(?). We used to go when we were kids but I haven't been in years. We used to have one here in Salina until the early 80"s then they tore it down. I think they still have one in Wichita also.


Baby Sis

Check this site out....
http://www.driveinmovie.com/mainmenu.htm

Thanks for that site Harold. I didn't know I had one fairly near where I live.

Our local one closed some years ago when the camera broke. But the Admiral Twin in Tulsa isn't too far away.