A note in the July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice narrows the opening date, “The 1,000-car Mounds Drive-In on the Collinsville road near Monks mound has been opened by the owners, the Pimes (sic) Company, controlled by East St. Louis interests.”
BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. – Bakersfield’s first drive-in theatre, bought several months ago by Lloyd Miller and his associates William and Joe Gannon and Owen Clark, was reopened recently with new projection equipment, restrooms and an enormous snack bar.
The drive-in, located on South Chester avenue at the junction of Highway 99, popularly called “the busiest highway in the world,” was renamed the South Chester Drive-In, and is a companion theatre to the recently opened 99 Drive-In, located on the opposite side of town and also owned by Miller and his associates.
The South Chester has a 60-foot screen tower which dominates the lower end of the San Joaquin Valley, and is the first thing that can be seen by the thousands of cars that dip down from Fresno into the cotton and oil bowl.
The huge snack bar can serve 1,000 persons in 15 minutes with its rapid-service soft drink equipment and huge commercial popcorn poppers. RCA sound and projection equipment also was installed.
The July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice places the opening date that year.
MONROVIA, CALIF. – The $350,000 Edwards Drive-In has opened on a 16-acre plot at Live Oak and Peck road. The drive-in, which has accommodations for over 400 cars, is managed by G. G. Henderson, former manager of the Temple in Temple City. Architect for the new Edwards circuit theatre was Charles Lee. Simplex sound and projection equipment is in use.
The July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice places the opening that year.
EVANSTON, WYO. – An early July opening was arranged here for a 300-car drive-in located back of Wood’s Motel on Highway 30S. Cartwright & Wilson, Tooele, Utah, contractors, are building the theatre for Charles Wood, owner and operator of the motel and Wood’s cafe. Russell Dauterman, Salt Lake City, will do the booking and Rudger Davis will be the projectionist.
A 1948 aerial photo showed the Motorena looking active.
The drive-in still looked good in the 1969 aerial I uploaded. Topo maps for 1970-83 still included the drive-in. By the 1999 aerial, it was long gone. The Motorena’s final appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac Drive-In list was the 1976 edition.
According to the July 2, 1949 issue of BoxOffice, the “Riverroad” was segregated when it opened. The drive-in had a special section for black patrons “with a separate entrance and separate concession stand and playgrounds.”
Perhaps it opened as the Lennox. From the July 2, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
LENNOX, S. D. – H. E. Davidson plans to open the Lennox Drive-In about July 17. Population of the town is 1,164. Capacity of the drive-in will be 130 autos. Davidson formerly had theatres at Bridgewater and Marion, S. D.
For Konnieann, the 1966 Motion Picture Almanac also listed A.W. Adamson as the owner. That’s probably who it was for the next couple of decades or as long as the Canyon was open.
This origin story in the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice may explain some of the confusion about the early San Angelo drive-ins:
R. S. Starling, a gasoline distributor and retailer of San Angelo, Tex., says he got into the drive-in business by accident. It happened like this:
About five years ago, in an attempt to sell more gasoline he put up a big screen on the back roof of one of his filling stations and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. The idea clicked. Cars came in droves; filling station attendants couldn’t even get to the pumps.
The oil man decided there must be something to the drive-in business. He started enhancing and improving the place, called it the Twilite Drive-In and charged a regular admission. Gas sales continued to boom as a result of many cars on the lot.
As materials eased up and costs leveled off, Starling was set to put in a real drive-in and the Starlite was the result. He has since also enlarged and improved his Twilite Drive-In.
It won’t help us figure out its location, but the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice had a great origin story for the Starlite:
R. S. Starling, a gasoline distributor and retailer of San Angelo, Tex., says he got into the drive-in business by accident. It happened like this:
About five years ago, in an attempt to sell more gasoline he put up a big screen on the back roof of one of his filling stations and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. The idea clicked. Cars came in droves; filling station attendants couldn’t even get to the pumps.
The oil man decided there must be something to the drive-in business. He started enhancing and improving the place, called it the Twilite Drive-In and charged a regular admission. Gas sales continued to boom as a result of many cars on the lot.
As materials eased up and costs leveled off, Starling was set to put in a real drive-in and the Starlite was the result. He has since also enlarged and improved his Twilite Drive-In.
Y'know, jwmovies, it’s weird. When I stood at the Safeway and the little office buildings just south of it, I was sure I was at a former drive-in even before I checked here. But we were both wrong; the Diane was just south of those offices. Aerial photos show that after 1994, the drive-in was replaced by a neighborhood of duplexes along Garfield and Gabel Streets. The address of the Senior Citizen’s Center at the entrance to the neighborhood is 205 S 10th St, so that would make a more accurate address for the Diane.
More details in this planning announcement in the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
ARTESIA, N. M. – A 16-acre tract one mile west of here has been purchased by Ray Bartlett and his son Bill, Carlsbad, as the site for a 400-car drive-in which they will build at a cost of approximately $75,000. Features of the new open air theatre, construction of which is expected to be started soon, will include a playground with slides, sand piles and other equipment. A contest now is being sponsored to select a name for the ozoner, with a $10 book of tickets as the prize for the one judged best.
The Le Mars Daily Sentinel reported today that for the second year, Total Motors will host a drive-in movie at “the original location of the 1950’s drive-in theater.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included the Norwood, owner F. H. Buss, capacity 62.
The drive-in debuted in the Motion Picture Almanac list as the T. A. Buss Drive-In in the 1953-54 edition, capacity 65. That changed to the Norwood in the 1956 edition, but the capacity and owner never changed until the drive-in dropped off the list in 1977. A 1983 topo map still included the Norwood.
In the 1952 aerial of the site, a smaller possible screen is pointing to a clamshell field in the same direction as the obvious screen in the 1963 & 1965 aerials. My guess would be that a Buss expanded the Norwood a little as early as the 1956 name change but the MPA didn’t notice.
A lengthy June 15, 2013 article in the Chaffee County Times indicated that the original owner’s son, also named John Groy, would continue operating the Comanche using the original projection equipment.
The drive-in was on the east side of town on US 6. Nothing remains today; it’s a farm equipment yard across the highway from High Plains Cattle Supply, which has the address of 29576 US-6.
In the Motion Picture Almanac, the Brush debuted in the 1952-53 edition, capacity 300, owner Jack Bauer. In 1955-59, the MPA recognized John Roberts as owner. In the 1960-61 editions, the owner changed to W. M. Ashton, and then it was gone.
The 1952-56 Theatre Catalogs also have the Brush, capacity 350, owner John C. Roberts.
More details of the opener were in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
CLAREMORE, OKLA. – With a large neon portrait of Will Rogers adorning the front, the new drive-in named for the famous Oklahoma humorist here recently was opened. Calvin Council is manager of the open-air theatre. A 50-foot screen tower supports a 29x39-foot screen. A building in the center of the parking area houses the projection booth and a concession stand. A playground for children is one of the features of the new drive-in.
The Hi Way 63 last appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list in 1982.
Here are details of its opening from a note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
MOBERLY, MO. – The new 300-car Highway 63 Drive-In erected by Elmer Bills on a 10-acre tract near the Omar Bradley airport north of here recently was opened. Bills is operator of the Lyric Theatre in Salisbury, Mo., where he lives, and eight other houses in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The new drive-in is the first to be opened near here. …
Surrounded by an aluminum fence, the new open-air theatre has such features as a playground for children and a modernistic snack bar. The projection booth is situation in a portion of the building housing the concession stand. Equipment installed in the booth includes Century projection and sound, Strong lamps and RCA in-car speakers. The parking area is covered with crushed rock.
A few more details emerged a month later in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
PANORA, IOWA – Dorothy Kean and Mrs. Margaret Gibson have opened the new Star-Vue Drive-In here with a car capacity of 250. The ozoner is equipped with Century sound purchased from the Des Moines Theatre Supply Co.
Willis Warner and Otis Hesket constructed the ozoner and concessions stand. The drive-in is equipped with a horseshoe pit for use in daylight hours.
I wonder whether this drive-in opened as the Sunset, which is listed in the 1950 & 1951 Film Daily Year Books as the only one in Socorro.
Or maybe it was the Star-Lite, based on this note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
SOCORRO, N. M. – Fire believed to have been caused by static electricity caused damage estimated at $4,000 to the projection booth and equipment at the Star-Lite Drive-In near here recently. A show was in progress when the blaze started, and about 30 cars parked on various ramps were hurriedly driven out of the open-air theater. Paul Padilla, projectionist, suffered burns on his head and body when he attempted to put out the fire. He was taken to a hospital in Albuquerque for treatment. The drive-in is owned and operated by Edsell Casavos.
Thirty seconds with Google Maps, and I learned that Newport faces Yaquina Bay. Something I did not know before.
Anyway, from the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice, we start with an apparently old note:
“NEWPORT, ORE. – Fire of undetermined origin recently caused heavy damage at the new Yaquina Drive-In near here. The loss was estimated at approximately $20,000 by Bill McKevitt, manager. Rebuilding of the open-air theatre was started immediately, and reopening is expected to be possible before July 1.”
Followed by an update a few pages later in the same issue:
“NEWPORT, ORE. – The Yaquina Drive-In on Route 101 south of here, recently damaged by first, has been reopened following extensive building. New projection and sound equipment was installed. William McKivvits is manager of the house.”
The Hillcrest was scheduled to open July 15, 1949, according to a note in the July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice.
A note in the July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice narrows the opening date, “The 1,000-car Mounds Drive-In on the Collinsville road near Monks mound has been opened by the owners, the Pimes (sic) Company, controlled by East St. Louis interests.”
From the July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
BAKERSFIELD, CALIF. – Bakersfield’s first drive-in theatre, bought several months ago by Lloyd Miller and his associates William and Joe Gannon and Owen Clark, was reopened recently with new projection equipment, restrooms and an enormous snack bar.
The drive-in, located on South Chester avenue at the junction of Highway 99, popularly called “the busiest highway in the world,” was renamed the South Chester Drive-In, and is a companion theatre to the recently opened 99 Drive-In, located on the opposite side of town and also owned by Miller and his associates.
The South Chester has a 60-foot screen tower which dominates the lower end of the San Joaquin Valley, and is the first thing that can be seen by the thousands of cars that dip down from Fresno into the cotton and oil bowl.
The huge snack bar can serve 1,000 persons in 15 minutes with its rapid-service soft drink equipment and huge commercial popcorn poppers. RCA sound and projection equipment also was installed.
The July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice places the opening date that year.
MONROVIA, CALIF. – The $350,000 Edwards Drive-In has opened on a 16-acre plot at Live Oak and Peck road. The drive-in, which has accommodations for over 400 cars, is managed by G. G. Henderson, former manager of the Temple in Temple City. Architect for the new Edwards circuit theatre was Charles Lee. Simplex sound and projection equipment is in use.
The July 9, 1949 issue of BoxOffice places the opening that year.
EVANSTON, WYO. – An early July opening was arranged here for a 300-car drive-in located back of Wood’s Motel on Highway 30S. Cartwright & Wilson, Tooele, Utah, contractors, are building the theatre for Charles Wood, owner and operator of the motel and Wood’s cafe. Russell Dauterman, Salt Lake City, will do the booking and Rudger Davis will be the projectionist.
A 1948 aerial photo showed the Motorena looking active.
The drive-in still looked good in the 1969 aerial I uploaded. Topo maps for 1970-83 still included the drive-in. By the 1999 aerial, it was long gone. The Motorena’s final appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac Drive-In list was the 1976 edition.
The 1961 aerial showed empty ground.
The 1966 topo included the Trail. So it probably opened in the early 1960s.
The 1999 aerial showed a drive-in that still looked active, but then again, it still looks decent today, 20 years later.
According to the July 2, 1949 issue of BoxOffice, the “Riverroad” was segregated when it opened. The drive-in had a special section for black patrons “with a separate entrance and separate concession stand and playgrounds.”
Perhaps it opened as the Lennox. From the July 2, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
LENNOX, S. D. – H. E. Davidson plans to open the Lennox Drive-In about July 17. Population of the town is 1,164. Capacity of the drive-in will be 130 autos. Davidson formerly had theatres at Bridgewater and Marion, S. D.
For Konnieann, the 1966 Motion Picture Almanac also listed A.W. Adamson as the owner. That’s probably who it was for the next couple of decades or as long as the Canyon was open.
This origin story in the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice may explain some of the confusion about the early San Angelo drive-ins:
R. S. Starling, a gasoline distributor and retailer of San Angelo, Tex., says he got into the drive-in business by accident. It happened like this:
About five years ago, in an attempt to sell more gasoline he put up a big screen on the back roof of one of his filling stations and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. The idea clicked. Cars came in droves; filling station attendants couldn’t even get to the pumps.
The oil man decided there must be something to the drive-in business. He started enhancing and improving the place, called it the Twilite Drive-In and charged a regular admission. Gas sales continued to boom as a result of many cars on the lot.
As materials eased up and costs leveled off, Starling was set to put in a real drive-in and the Starlite was the result. He has since also enlarged and improved his Twilite Drive-In.
It won’t help us figure out its location, but the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice had a great origin story for the Starlite:
R. S. Starling, a gasoline distributor and retailer of San Angelo, Tex., says he got into the drive-in business by accident. It happened like this:
About five years ago, in an attempt to sell more gasoline he put up a big screen on the back roof of one of his filling stations and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. The idea clicked. Cars came in droves; filling station attendants couldn’t even get to the pumps.
The oil man decided there must be something to the drive-in business. He started enhancing and improving the place, called it the Twilite Drive-In and charged a regular admission. Gas sales continued to boom as a result of many cars on the lot.
As materials eased up and costs leveled off, Starling was set to put in a real drive-in and the Starlite was the result. He has since also enlarged and improved his Twilite Drive-In.
Y'know, jwmovies, it’s weird. When I stood at the Safeway and the little office buildings just south of it, I was sure I was at a former drive-in even before I checked here. But we were both wrong; the Diane was just south of those offices. Aerial photos show that after 1994, the drive-in was replaced by a neighborhood of duplexes along Garfield and Gabel Streets. The address of the Senior Citizen’s Center at the entrance to the neighborhood is 205 S 10th St, so that would make a more accurate address for the Diane.
More details in this planning announcement in the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice:
ARTESIA, N. M. – A 16-acre tract one mile west of here has been purchased by Ray Bartlett and his son Bill, Carlsbad, as the site for a 400-car drive-in which they will build at a cost of approximately $75,000. Features of the new open air theatre, construction of which is expected to be started soon, will include a playground with slides, sand piles and other equipment. A contest now is being sponsored to select a name for the ozoner, with a $10 book of tickets as the prize for the one judged best.
The Le Mars Daily Sentinel reported today that for the second year, Total Motors will host a drive-in movie at “the original location of the 1950’s drive-in theater.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included the Norwood, owner F. H. Buss, capacity 62.
The drive-in debuted in the Motion Picture Almanac list as the T. A. Buss Drive-In in the 1953-54 edition, capacity 65. That changed to the Norwood in the 1956 edition, but the capacity and owner never changed until the drive-in dropped off the list in 1977. A 1983 topo map still included the Norwood.
In the 1952 aerial of the site, a smaller possible screen is pointing to a clamshell field in the same direction as the obvious screen in the 1963 & 1965 aerials. My guess would be that a Buss expanded the Norwood a little as early as the 1956 name change but the MPA didn’t notice.
A lengthy June 15, 2013 article in the Chaffee County Times indicated that the original owner’s son, also named John Groy, would continue operating the Comanche using the original projection equipment.
The drive-in was on the east side of town on US 6. Nothing remains today; it’s a farm equipment yard across the highway from High Plains Cattle Supply, which has the address of 29576 US-6.
In the Motion Picture Almanac, the Brush debuted in the 1952-53 edition, capacity 300, owner Jack Bauer. In 1955-59, the MPA recognized John Roberts as owner. In the 1960-61 editions, the owner changed to W. M. Ashton, and then it was gone.
The 1952-56 Theatre Catalogs also have the Brush, capacity 350, owner John C. Roberts.
More details of the opener were in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
CLAREMORE, OKLA. – With a large neon portrait of Will Rogers adorning the front, the new drive-in named for the famous Oklahoma humorist here recently was opened. Calvin Council is manager of the open-air theatre. A 50-foot screen tower supports a 29x39-foot screen. A building in the center of the parking area houses the projection booth and a concession stand. A playground for children is one of the features of the new drive-in.
The Hi Way 63 last appeared in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in list in 1982.
Here are details of its opening from a note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
MOBERLY, MO. – The new 300-car Highway 63 Drive-In erected by Elmer Bills on a 10-acre tract near the Omar Bradley airport north of here recently was opened. Bills is operator of the Lyric Theatre in Salisbury, Mo., where he lives, and eight other houses in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The new drive-in is the first to be opened near here. …
Surrounded by an aluminum fence, the new open-air theatre has such features as a playground for children and a modernistic snack bar. The projection booth is situation in a portion of the building housing the concession stand. Equipment installed in the booth includes Century projection and sound, Strong lamps and RCA in-car speakers. The parking area is covered with crushed rock.
A note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice said that the White River would open on Thursday, July 27, 1950. It was run by Commonwealth.
A note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice said that the Sunset opened on Friday, July 21, 1950. It was run by Commonwealth.
A few more details emerged a month later in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
PANORA, IOWA – Dorothy Kean and Mrs. Margaret Gibson have opened the new Star-Vue Drive-In here with a car capacity of 250. The ozoner is equipped with Century sound purchased from the Des Moines Theatre Supply Co.
Willis Warner and Otis Hesket constructed the ozoner and concessions stand. The drive-in is equipped with a horseshoe pit for use in daylight hours.
I wonder whether this drive-in opened as the Sunset, which is listed in the 1950 & 1951 Film Daily Year Books as the only one in Socorro.
Or maybe it was the Star-Lite, based on this note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice:
SOCORRO, N. M. – Fire believed to have been caused by static electricity caused damage estimated at $4,000 to the projection booth and equipment at the Star-Lite Drive-In near here recently. A show was in progress when the blaze started, and about 30 cars parked on various ramps were hurriedly driven out of the open-air theater. Paul Padilla, projectionist, suffered burns on his head and body when he attempted to put out the fire. He was taken to a hospital in Albuquerque for treatment. The drive-in is owned and operated by Edsell Casavos.
Thirty seconds with Google Maps, and I learned that Newport faces Yaquina Bay. Something I did not know before.
Anyway, from the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice, we start with an apparently old note:
“NEWPORT, ORE. – Fire of undetermined origin recently caused heavy damage at the new Yaquina Drive-In near here. The loss was estimated at approximately $20,000 by Bill McKevitt, manager. Rebuilding of the open-air theatre was started immediately, and reopening is expected to be possible before July 1.”
Followed by an update a few pages later in the same issue:
“NEWPORT, ORE. – The Yaquina Drive-In on Route 101 south of here, recently damaged by first, has been reopened following extensive building. New projection and sound equipment was installed. William McKivvits is manager of the house.”