The Caldwell Golf Course, that you noted is across the street, is listed in Medford. The small unincorporated town of Renfrow is closer than Medford, but I’m not seeing any Jefferson.
I have a possible location, 459 S. Ash, Nowata, OK
A 1959 entry in the Nowata Daily Star states that Chester Fleming, the owner of the now-defunct Park-Vu drive-in on US 169 leased the land for a trailer court to be constructed.
Given the description, that trailer court was opposite Jack Gordon Park. The article states that the trailer court would have gas, electric, water, and sewer service, so the location makes sense.
A 1971 aerial photo shows several trailers placed close together at that location, but no trace of a drive-in. Today, there are still a few trailers on the site.
Odd there is no address for the Parkvu when there is one for the Sky-Vu.
Nowata is a pretty small town, although there are three larger towns to the west, north, and east respectively. If you can find an address, that would make the confirmation a lot easier.
MichaelKilgore - If the County/No Name Drive-in was at 1100 S. Seventh Street, then what is sitting at the corner of W. Hines Avenue and S. 11th Street?
A closer address is 1807 Cherry Rd, Rock Hill, SC.
A 1965 aerial shows it in operation. By 1983 it had been demolished. Cherry Park Centre is currently on the property with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
A 1965 aerial shows a drive-in at that location with the screen no longer present. Today, a DDCSVC is present on the property with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
I do not know why the 11th Street was closed from the end of 1959 to 1964. So, I’m not going to guess. Only that the Tulsa TV Memories site listed it as being “rebuilt” before opening in ‘64. But the screen was not changed. Our manager said it was the oldest standing screen in Tulsa at that time.
But I can say I remember that the 11th Street and Airview were owned by the same company and I believe they closed at roughly the same time. The Apache was owned by someone else, but I know they closed no later than the end of the ‘83 season.
In those days we opened in April or May and closed in September.
The Tulsa TV Memories site has the drive-in closing by end of 1983. I worked at the 11th Street drive-in the year before and both drive-ins along with the Airview closed within a year or so of each other.
In looking at the 1947 topo map and 1955 aerial, it appears that the location was developed for residential housing. That would’ve wiped out any trace of the drive-in.
It’s only a guess, but I imagine the drive-in sat closer to the highway than the address indicates. Whatever the case, by 1955 it was totally gone.
A 1981 aerial still shows the drive-in intact.
A 1993 aerial appears to show the drive-in has been closed for a while.
By 1999, the sports fields have been created over the site.
Today, you can still see the faint parch marks of the ramps and outline of the drive-in.
In looking over the Google Street view and comparing that to the 1968 aerial along with the 1963 topo map, the maintenance station is still the best candidate for the location of the drive-in, IMHO.
A 200 car capacity drive-in (maybe). I think it is easier to believe that someone fudged the capacity numbers for whatever reason. 462 cars requires an area at least double the size of the maintenance shop.
And while topo maps are notorious for being out of date, they tend to accurate in terms of elevation changes. And we see that on the east side of Redwood Drive. If you use Google street view and go up 101, the highway was carved out between the hills. Nothing to me looks suitable for being the location of a drive-in along that stretch.
I don’t believe that anything on Third Street Southwest could be the location. Everything is private property and open, at least in 1951. 100 cars are going to leave their mark.
My guess is the property at the SE corner of what is now Old HWY 14 and Pennington Ave NW. In 1951, it had a series of odd structures that I cannot identify. Today, it’s an open field with lots of junk on it.
At least being next to the highway makes more sense than tucked away on Third Street SW.
There is a “West Park Avenue”, a street that runs north/south on the west side of the town. It’s about a mile west of the fairgrounds. However, there is no indication of a drive-in out that way from the 1951 aerial.
The area just to the west of the fairgrounds has a motel (which still exists today) and a considerably amount of private land mostly in its natural state. So, that doesn’t seem to be it either given the trees that are present.
You got me. I’m simply not seeing any area of land that fits the description of where a 100-car drive-in would be located west of the fairgrounds. At least nothing from the 1951 aerial. So, either the ads and description are wrong or it was totally demolished and rebuilt into something completely different.
Another possibility is it was a temporary drive-in when originally put in place. That would explain the lack of ramps and projection booth/concession stand in the 1951 aerial.
When that became a success, a permanent one was constructed and what we see in the aerial is the permanent screen, fencing, and ticket booth with the projection booth/concession stand yet to be constructed.
Agree with kennerado. That’s definitely a drive-in being constructed in the 1951 aerial.
By 1983, it had totally disappeared and nothing but farmland is present. I can just make out the crop marks of the ramps and projection booth/concession stand, but that might be more my imagination than anything else.
As to the address, “Finklea, SC” seems to be just as accurate, if not more so compared to every other address I’ve tried.
“Intact” seems like a strong word to use. While the screens are still up, the buildings are in shambles. It would take some major renovating to get this property back into shape assuming someone wanted to re-open the drive-in.
jwmovies - Where do you get Jefferson from?
The Caldwell Golf Course, that you noted is across the street, is listed in Medford. The small unincorporated town of Renfrow is closer than Medford, but I’m not seeing any Jefferson.
MichaelKilgore - You might want to look at the 1972 aerial photo again. The very large screen present in the 1959 photo is clearly gone.
The concession stand/projector booth still seems to be intact in a 1980 aerial photo, but is gone by 1995.
I have a possible location, 459 S. Ash, Nowata, OK
A 1959 entry in the Nowata Daily Star states that Chester Fleming, the owner of the now-defunct Park-Vu drive-in on US 169 leased the land for a trailer court to be constructed.
Given the description, that trailer court was opposite Jack Gordon Park. The article states that the trailer court would have gas, electric, water, and sewer service, so the location makes sense.
A 1971 aerial photo shows several trailers placed close together at that location, but no trace of a drive-in. Today, there are still a few trailers on the site.
https://tinyurl.com/2mvzk8k3
Odd there is no address for the Parkvu when there is one for the Sky-Vu.
Nowata is a pretty small town, although there are three larger towns to the west, north, and east respectively. If you can find an address, that would make the confirmation a lot easier.
MichaelKilgore - If the County/No Name Drive-in was at 1100 S. Seventh Street, then what is sitting at the corner of W. Hines Avenue and S. 11th Street?
A closer address is 1807 Cherry Rd, Rock Hill, SC.
A 1965 aerial shows it in operation. By 1983 it had been demolished. Cherry Park Centre is currently on the property with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/c9ddkt9p
Found It.
The address is 348 S Workman St, Rock Hill, SC.
A 1965 aerial shows a drive-in at that location with the screen no longer present. Today, a DDCSVC is present on the property with no trace of the drive-in remaining.
https://tinyurl.com/3r46czm9
I do not know why the 11th Street was closed from the end of 1959 to 1964. So, I’m not going to guess. Only that the Tulsa TV Memories site listed it as being “rebuilt” before opening in ‘64. But the screen was not changed. Our manager said it was the oldest standing screen in Tulsa at that time.
But I can say I remember that the 11th Street and Airview were owned by the same company and I believe they closed at roughly the same time. The Apache was owned by someone else, but I know they closed no later than the end of the ‘83 season.
In those days we opened in April or May and closed in September.
The Tulsa TV Memories site has the drive-in closing by end of 1983. I worked at the 11th Street drive-in the year before and both drive-ins along with the Airview closed within a year or so of each other.
http://tulsatvmemories.com/aida.html
A 1980 aerial shows the screen has been removed. By 1995, the concession stand was removed as well.
You can still see the remnants of a few ramps behind the AutoNation dealership.
Only the entrance and exit roads remain along with what might be the marquee.
A closer address is 1037 Washington Road, Westminster, MD. A 1971 topo map shows a drive-in on the east side of the road.
By 1979, a number of homes were established on the site with Marydell Drive replacing the entrance road. Today, there is no trace of the drive-in.
It appears that the foundation for the projector booth/concession stand still survives.
In looking at the 1947 topo map and 1955 aerial, it appears that the location was developed for residential housing. That would’ve wiped out any trace of the drive-in.
It’s only a guess, but I imagine the drive-in sat closer to the highway than the address indicates. Whatever the case, by 1955 it was totally gone.
A 1969 aerial shows the drive-in intact and appearing to be open.
By 1982, the drive-in looks to be closed as the exit road appears to be overgrown.
A 1981 aerial still shows the drive-in intact. A 1993 aerial appears to show the drive-in has been closed for a while. By 1999, the sports fields have been created over the site.
Today, you can still see the faint parch marks of the ramps and outline of the drive-in.
In looking over the Google Street view and comparing that to the 1968 aerial along with the 1963 topo map, the maintenance station is still the best candidate for the location of the drive-in, IMHO.
A 200 car capacity drive-in (maybe). I think it is easier to believe that someone fudged the capacity numbers for whatever reason. 462 cars requires an area at least double the size of the maintenance shop.
And while topo maps are notorious for being out of date, they tend to accurate in terms of elevation changes. And we see that on the east side of Redwood Drive. If you use Google street view and go up 101, the highway was carved out between the hills. Nothing to me looks suitable for being the location of a drive-in along that stretch.
I agree.
I don’t believe that anything on Third Street Southwest could be the location. Everything is private property and open, at least in 1951. 100 cars are going to leave their mark.
My guess is the property at the SE corner of what is now Old HWY 14 and Pennington Ave NW. In 1951, it had a series of odd structures that I cannot identify. Today, it’s an open field with lots of junk on it.
At least being next to the highway makes more sense than tucked away on Third Street SW.
There is a “West Park Avenue”, a street that runs north/south on the west side of the town. It’s about a mile west of the fairgrounds. However, there is no indication of a drive-in out that way from the 1951 aerial.
The area just to the west of the fairgrounds has a motel (which still exists today) and a considerably amount of private land mostly in its natural state. So, that doesn’t seem to be it either given the trees that are present.
You got me. I’m simply not seeing any area of land that fits the description of where a 100-car drive-in would be located west of the fairgrounds. At least nothing from the 1951 aerial. So, either the ads and description are wrong or it was totally demolished and rebuilt into something completely different.
Another possibility is it was a temporary drive-in when originally put in place. That would explain the lack of ramps and projection booth/concession stand in the 1951 aerial.
When that became a success, a permanent one was constructed and what we see in the aerial is the permanent screen, fencing, and ticket booth with the projection booth/concession stand yet to be constructed.
Agree with kennerado. That’s definitely a drive-in being constructed in the 1951 aerial.
By 1983, it had totally disappeared and nothing but farmland is present. I can just make out the crop marks of the ramps and projection booth/concession stand, but that might be more my imagination than anything else.
As to the address, “Finklea, SC” seems to be just as accurate, if not more so compared to every other address I’ve tried.
“Intact” seems like a strong word to use. While the screens are still up, the buildings are in shambles. It would take some major renovating to get this property back into shape assuming someone wanted to re-open the drive-in.
A 1956 aerial shows a drive-in in the same location what would be the 51 Twin Drive-In.
If the 51 Drive-In did not open until the late 1960s, then it seems reasonable that it and the Ellis Drive-In are the same.
All traces of both screens and ramps are gone. A shopping center has been put over the site.