Surf Drive-In
4609 Ayers Street,
Corpus Christi,
TX
78415
4609 Ayers Street,
Corpus Christi,
TX
78415
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The Surf Drive-In was opened in 1953. It was closed in 1980. The site of the Surf Drive-In is now occupied by warehouses and offices.
Contributed by
Bobby P.
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Recent comments (view all 7 comments)
The Surf was heavily damaged by Hurricane Celia in August of 1970. Someone quickly added ‘Gone With The WInd’ to the marquee.
A link to more info with photos and articles to come……….
Wasn’t one of the office buildings on the site a Sam’s Club for a while?
One of our city’s first Walmarts was built next to the drive-in site in 1982, perhaps encroaching a little on the widest part of the drive-in parking. The projection booth site is still visible in an undeveloped field next to the old Walmart building. The Walmart became a large Telemarketer building for a while and is now headquarters for the Stripes convenience store chain (owned by Susser). An office/retail/warehouse plaza was built on the screen end of the drive-in in 1979. If memory serves me correct, they tore down the screen and marquee at that time.
One can briefly see the marquee in our home movies of Hurricane Celia here…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZUCJMiZvA at 1:45 into the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZUCJMiZvA
Same video at 4:23 one can briefly see the remnants of the marquee for The Lexington Drive-in.
Walmart. i was close.
Here are some aerial images, newspaper ads and a bit of history for the Surf.
View link
A very good shot of the Surf Drive-in marquee can be seen in this video of Hurricane Celia from 1970. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D45-MPJKNU&feature=related It’s at the 19:56 point of the movie. The Surf’s screen was completely destroyed by the hurricane, and someone with a sense of humor put on the marquee “GONE WITH THE WIND”. It took quite a while for the Surf to make a comeback. Destroyed Aug 3, 1970; re-opended Nov 24, 1971. A link to some aerials and newspaper ads https://picasaweb.google.com/114660070182931171464/CorpusChristiSurfDriveIn?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIXCo6-SiPXQYw&feat=directlink