Apollo Drive-In

This was a McClendon Theatre, like all the others with "outer-space" type names which opened in the late 60's in the Dallas area (Gemimi, Saturn, Astro, etc.). I had friends working the box-offices (two sisters) who used to let me and some of my other friends in free if I would call ahead of time to find out which entrance (Garland Rd. or Jupiter Rd.) one of them would be working that night. This was where I first saw trailers advocating contacting state representatives to keep Texas from having Daylight Savings Time, which began in the spring of 1967--my senior year in high-school. I really think that had more to do with the demise of not only the Apollo but all the drive-ins than Wal-Mart or any other factor; just my opinion.

Car capacity was 1,800.

Hyper-mart came in to take over the land. THen, I guess it couldn't make it so Wal-Mart stepped in. Now, the Wal-Mart has closed. THe building at this time is still vacant. I did a walk around for some photos about a month ago. What a place to NOW put back a Drive In Theatre! RAC
www.flickr.com/photos/racphotography

Here is a 1979 aerial view. The 1956 view shows the drive-in when it was one screen.
http://tinyurl.com/y9nzgm5

Change ZIP in map link in the title to 75041 so that it maps correctly.

HyperMart was a brainchild of Wal-Mart to combine a Wal Mart with a grocery chain (Cullum Companies - AKA Tom Thumb stores) to make a large combination grocery and crap store. I didn't last long at all. They just started calling them Wal-Mart SuperCenters.