River Breeze Drive-In
6110 Asheville Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37924
6110 Asheville Highway,
Knoxville,
TN
37924
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing all 24 comments
Yes,And I think that close to the interstate and as Large as Knoxville is I would think one might make a go of it, really in a great location last time visited the area really hadn’t changed that much.
Wow. I love the street view of the River Breeze at the top of the page with the sign and box office still standing, and the lot still empty, ready for someone to put up a new screen and start showing movies again!
thanks bbrown for the ad remembering the old River Breeze.
At the links below are the photo of the River Breeze Drive-In opening night ad from July 13, 1950, and photo of the River Breeze in 1965 that were formerly on the Restore Knoxville site:
http://flic.kr/p/9myXqV
http://flic.kr/p/9mBZSo
Not a lot of Knoxville folks on CT i see,anyways this from Georgia, Now Showing at the RIVER BREEZE on Oct.24 1964 is THE BEATLES In “A HARD DAYS NIGHT” with a rather strange double feature we see at Drive-ins,“THE SON OF CAPTAIN BLOOD” with Sean Flynn.Like father like son? Beatles movie played twice that night.
You are getting off Topic.LOL.
Maybe you could get on the new HORDERS show,anybody can get on T.V. now.
I just have a bad habit of collecting Movie ads and never getting rid of them.COULD I BE A HORDER?
Your the man Mike.
NOW SHOWING Sept.18 1967 2 epics of terror
“THE HORRIBLE DR.HICHCOCK” and “THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF.” This was also playing at the DIXIE-LEE in Knoxville,Tenn.
HOW come someone in KNOXVILLE has not worked up an article on THE TWIN AIRE DRIVE IN in Knoxville.How could you guys forget it and i live in Georgia.
HERE IS A GOOD ONE FOR YOU KNOXVILLE THEATRE LOVERS….MONDAY SEPT. 25 1967 THE RIVER BREEZE AND DIXIE LEE DRIVE IN THEATRES WERE PLAYING DAY AND DATE SOMETHING YOU NEED NOT SEE MUCH IN THOSE DAYS. THE DOUBLE FEATURE WAS FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE AND JOHNNY TIGER. THE NEXT TWO FEATURES FOR WED-SAT.WOULD BE THE WAY WEST AND SECOND FEATURE THE PLAINSMAN. SEEMS LIKE KNOXVILLE LIKES COWBOY MOVIES. HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY TO ADD TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL CITY.
I ONLY PASSED IT QUICKLY GOING ON THE INTERSTATE, BUT ALWAYS LOOKED FORWARD TO SEEING IT EVEN FOR 15 seconds.. GOING TO SEE RELATIVES IN SPEEDWELL. TENN. I ALWAYS KNEW LIKE THE DRIVE IN IN NEWPORT YOU COULD SEE FROM I 40 TO GET READY. ABOUT 13 years ago my wife,understanding me , drove off the interstate to the county road and drove down and i snapped some shots. hated to see the screen gone. like the HILLTOP DRIVE IN IN NORTH AUGUSTA A BEAUTIFUL SPOT!
To get the map link at the top of the page to work, change the spelling of the highway to Asheville.
At the link below is the opening night ad for the River Breeze Drive In on July 13, 1950:
View link
and at the link below is a photo of the River Breeze from 1965. By the time I first went to the River Breeze in 1972, the marquee in the front had been replaced by a smaller one:
View link
Car capacity given for the River Breeze Drive-In in 1975 is 325.
Looking on the city/county property website www.kgis.org shows the property was bought by Ben and Sara Maloy on April 16 1945. Ben Maloy died on June 26 1983. Sara Maloy sold the property to John William Brewer and Bertha Marie Brewer on April 19 1991 for the sum of $80,000.00. According to the website, as of today, the property is still in the Brewers' hands (and the taxes are current.)
Hi JohnH1954 I want wondering if your brother still had those speakers from the drive in. I am interested in knowing what kind he got. Also, Junkinben do you have an update on who the new owners are or how to get in touch with them?
The theater is now up for sale. I live a mile from there and the offical for sale sign went up a couple of weeks agao by a real estate company. The Projector, booth, ticket booth and the concession stand ( straight from the 60’s) is fully intact. The current owner was keeping the snack bar “Opened” on weekends for insurance purposes I think. It would be a restorable option, but I fear the riverfront property will go condos or a nursing home or something like that. Anyone want to buy it, let me know and I’ll post the info on the sign.
the large brick home was where the owners lived. A few years back they had an estate sale and my brother bought a few of the old speakers and bits of this and that. I got my first hickey at this drive-in when I was a senior in high school.
Google Earth has a nice photo of the River Breeze site (see address above). Though the screen is long gone, the parking lot and its curved rows are still clearly visible. The entrance drive is also clearly visible, though some newer buildings seem to have been constructed across it. Or is that the box office? Is that the projection/concessions building still standing in the middle of the site? I’ve never been to the flea market even just to poke around looking for drive-in artifacts.
Actually I remember the old Horne Drive-In’s screen was the back of a retail building on Chapman Highway. The block rear wall extended well over the roof line of the building. I used to play golf in 1974-76 at an old par-3 course located across the street. This is when I noticed the strange looking building and realized that there was a drive in located there at one time. All of it was torn down in the early 80’s to build a K-Mart, which has since closed.
I remember that house being on the left as you drove into the theater after you went through ticket booth, so it was not part of the screen tower. The screen was free standing and the back of the screen was very close to the bridge.
However, for a great photo of a screen tower house, go to listing for the Sunset Drive In in Shinnston WV to see an example in a still open 60 year old drive in.
Bob, There is a red-brick 1950’s era colonial house still standing on the River Breeze property. Was this part of the screen tower? I’ve seen a couple of designs (in old trade journals) where the screen tower sort of grew out of the house. The house would be where the manager and his family lived. It was one twisted architect that came up with that idea!
There’s a great book waiting to be written about growing up living in the base of the drive-in movie theatre screen.