Ocean City Drive-In
624 Eglin Parkway NE,
Fort Walton Beach,
FL
32547
624 Eglin Parkway NE,
Fort Walton Beach,
FL
32547
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The Ocean City Drive-In was opened on March 22, 1952 when it was operated by L.E. Craig & Cecil Howard.
The drive-in closed in 1965 and was demolished to make way for Gibson’s Department Store which opened the following year (on July 13, 1966). The store ended up closing for a while in 1967 due to severe tornado damage. A parking lot now occupies the former drive-in and department store.
Contributed by
50sSNIPES
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Just sayin', the Ocean City site was in Ocean City FL, a census-designated place across Cinco Bayou from most of Fort Walton Beach. It gets its mail service from a FWB post office, but it’s not within the city limits.
Exhibitor, March 26, 1952: “Louis Craig, manager. Park Drive-In, Crestview, Fla., will also manage the Ocean City Drive-In.”
Motion Picture Herald, April 5, 1952: “L. E. Craig opened his new Ocean City drive-in, Ocean City, Fla., on March 22, completely equipped with RCA equipment.”
Exhibitor, April 9, 1952: “Raymond Gremillion, Southeastern’s sales and service representative, checked in after installing RCA equipment in L. E. Craig’s new Ocean City Drive-In, Ocean City, Fla. It has accommodations for 250 cars.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Dec. 18, 1957: “Mr. and Mrs. Tom Barrow, western Florida circuit operators, acquired ownership of the Ocean City Drive-In, Ocean City, Fla., from L. E. Craig.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 7, 1959: “Lewis Craig, owner, reassumed management of the Ocean City Drive-In, Ft. Walton, Fla., previously operated by Tom Barrow.”
On Feb. 3, 1964, Boxoffice said that Gulf States Theatres had acquired the Ocean City from Craig.