Texas Drive-In
5200 Leopard Street,
Corpus Christi,
TX
78409
5200 Leopard Street,
Corpus Christi,
TX
78409
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The Texas Drive-In was located only a few blocks away from what would later become the Thunderbird Drive-In. As the first drive-in in Texas, it was also one of the first to close, lasting from 1939 to 1955.
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Bobby P.
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Address: 5200 Leopard St (formerly SH 9) | Capacity: 200 cars | Opened: Sunday Nov 12, 1939 | First Feature: “East Side of Heaven” (7 April 1939) starring Bing Crosby, Joan Blondell | Owner / Builder: Lone Star Amusement aka Southwest Theaters – CA Richter, Leon Newman, Nick & Pete Katsaris | Closed: Friday Nov 5, 1948 (Last ad in Caller) | Currently (2010): Corpus Christi Greyhound Racetrack kennels, Sico White & Braugh Warehouse | The first permanent drive-in in Texas and one of the earliest in the country. It is often incorrectly stated that it opened March 1939. Richter & Newman opened The Boulevard Drive-in Feb 1942 on Lexington Ave (S.P.I.D. at Richter) where the Trade Center sits today. By 1948, the wooden Texas was rotting so a replacement (The Corpus) was built a few blocks closer to town on Leopard (SH 9), and would someday be known as The Thunderbird Drive-in.
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