The Flamingo was located at about 2800 North Dal Paso at what is now the location of the Dal Paso Shopping Center. It had two screens, with a snack bar and projectionist room located in a building midway between the two facing screens. It had a great neon sign.
You can see a photo of the Frontier at the following link. It’s from the 1955 Sandstorm, the yearbook of Hobbs High School. The same advertisement contains the names of the Reel, Scout and Sky Vu Drive-In:
The Eagle Drive-In was located at 300 North Burk. You can see a photo of the place at the following link, taken from an advertisement in the 1955 Sandstorm, the Hobbs High School yearbook:
According to Max Clampitt, who writes about early Hobbs history for the Hobbs News-Sun, the operators of the Rig had a Model A Ford with the doors removed that they would cruise around Old Hobbs and pick up people to give them a ride to the Rig Theater.
The Reel was opened in 1937 at 211 W. Broadway. The opening movie was “May Time”* starring Nelson Eddy and Janette McDonald. It was operated by Griffith Theaters.
I’ll look at my collection of postcards and photographs of Broadway to see what I have on the Reel. I don’t think I have anything on what the Frontier sign looked like but I’ll check.
There was a glass ticket booth to the left of the entrance to the The Frontier. Once inside, the snack bar faced the entrance. The men’s room was on the left of the snack bar and the ladies room on the right. You had to walk down a few steps into each of the restrooms. To get to the theater you could either go left or right from the snack bar. You walked around the corner and up a ramp. At the top of the ramp was a wide aisle that ran from one side of the theatre to the other. There was a wall along this aisle with aisles branching off at the left, center and right hand sides of the theatre. You could either walk downwards toward the screen, or climb some stairs into the balcony, which would be physically located above the snack bar. On the right-hand (facing the screen) side of the balcony was a glassed in room called “the crying room” where I guess you were supposed to take your crying children so you wouldn’t disturb other patrons.
The seating below the wall referred to above was divided into four sections. Going from left to right, there were maybe 10 seats against the wall, a left-hand aisle, 20 or 30 seats, a center aisle, 20 or 30 more seats, a right-hand aisle and another 10 or so seats against the right hand aisle.
I remember the style as being somewhat art-deco and it seems to me that one of the murals had a riverboat in it. And was the woman in the mural an Indian maiden perhaps?
I can remember going to “monster movies” at the Frontier during the mid-1960’s and remember one particular show where they had a live magician perform on the stage.
Newspaper advertisements from August 1945 and August 1946 indicate that The Reel was operated simultaneously by the same company with another theatre in Hobbs called The Scout.
The Reel was located in the 200 block of West Broadway.
I just pulled out my old newspapers and found advertisements for The Reel and The Scout theatres in advertisements from 8/10/45 and 8/12/46. All of the ads indicate that these two theaters were owned by the same people, but there are no addresses. I know that The Reel was located in the 200 block of West Broadway.
To the best of my knowledge, the Frontier was only known as the Frontier. I’ve often wondered if the Frontier was owned by R.E. Griffith, who built the Last Frontier Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. I’m checking with a knowledgable casino chip collector who also hails from Hobbs.
I believe the Rig, Derrick and Reel theatres were all separate operations in separate locations from the Frontier. I’ve got some early Hobbs newspapers I’ll look through and see what I can confirm on the addresses.
The Frontier has been opened various times as a restaurant over the past few years, and part of the building has been converted to apartments. Sadly, the murals, which as I recall included oilfield flares and a beautiful woman, have been painted over.
I’ve posted a photo of the Flamingo Drive-in online at the following link:
View link
According to the 1935 Hobbs city directory, the Roosevelt was located at 118 East Broadway.
Here’s a link to a photograph of the Sky-Vu, which was located at 1900 North Turner:
View link
According to the 1935 Hobbs city directory, the Rig was located at 204 West Broadway.
According to the 1935 Hobbs city directory, the Rex was located at 115 West Broadway.
Location was 1900 N. Turner.
Location was on North Grimes.
The Flamingo was located at about 2800 North Dal Paso at what is now the location of the Dal Paso Shopping Center. It had two screens, with a snack bar and projectionist room located in a building midway between the two facing screens. It had a great neon sign.
You can see a photo of the Frontier at the following link. It’s from the 1955 Sandstorm, the yearbook of Hobbs High School. The same advertisement contains the names of the Reel, Scout and Sky Vu Drive-In:
View link
The Eagle Drive-In was located at 300 North Burk. You can see a photo of the place at the following link, taken from an advertisement in the 1955 Sandstorm, the Hobbs High School yearbook:
View link
The Scout was located at 119 East Broadway, according to the 1954 telephone book.
The Rig Theater was located in the 200 block of West Broadway, directly across the street from the Reel. Here’s a link to a picture:
View link
According to Max Clampitt, who writes about early Hobbs history for the Hobbs News-Sun, the operators of the Rig had a Model A Ford with the doors removed that they would cruise around Old Hobbs and pick up people to give them a ride to the Rig Theater.
The Frontier’s address was 120 S. Shipp.
The Reel was opened in 1937 at 211 W. Broadway. The opening movie was “May Time”* starring Nelson Eddy and Janette McDonald. It was operated by Griffith Theaters.
I’ll look at my collection of postcards and photographs of Broadway to see what I have on the Reel. I don’t think I have anything on what the Frontier sign looked like but I’ll check.
There was a glass ticket booth to the left of the entrance to the The Frontier. Once inside, the snack bar faced the entrance. The men’s room was on the left of the snack bar and the ladies room on the right. You had to walk down a few steps into each of the restrooms. To get to the theater you could either go left or right from the snack bar. You walked around the corner and up a ramp. At the top of the ramp was a wide aisle that ran from one side of the theatre to the other. There was a wall along this aisle with aisles branching off at the left, center and right hand sides of the theatre. You could either walk downwards toward the screen, or climb some stairs into the balcony, which would be physically located above the snack bar. On the right-hand (facing the screen) side of the balcony was a glassed in room called “the crying room” where I guess you were supposed to take your crying children so you wouldn’t disturb other patrons.
The seating below the wall referred to above was divided into four sections. Going from left to right, there were maybe 10 seats against the wall, a left-hand aisle, 20 or 30 seats, a center aisle, 20 or 30 more seats, a right-hand aisle and another 10 or so seats against the right hand aisle.
I remember the style as being somewhat art-deco and it seems to me that one of the murals had a riverboat in it. And was the woman in the mural an Indian maiden perhaps?
I can remember going to “monster movies” at the Frontier during the mid-1960’s and remember one particular show where they had a live magician perform on the stage.
Newspaper advertisements from August 1945 and August 1946 indicate that The Reel was operated simultaneously by the same company with another theatre in Hobbs called The Scout.
The Reel was located in the 200 block of West Broadway.
I just pulled out my old newspapers and found advertisements for The Reel and The Scout theatres in advertisements from 8/10/45 and 8/12/46. All of the ads indicate that these two theaters were owned by the same people, but there are no addresses. I know that The Reel was located in the 200 block of West Broadway.
To the best of my knowledge, the Frontier was only known as the Frontier. I’ve often wondered if the Frontier was owned by R.E. Griffith, who built the Last Frontier Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. I’m checking with a knowledgable casino chip collector who also hails from Hobbs.
I believe the Rig, Derrick and Reel theatres were all separate operations in separate locations from the Frontier. I’ve got some early Hobbs newspapers I’ll look through and see what I can confirm on the addresses.
The Frontier has been opened various times as a restaurant over the past few years, and part of the building has been converted to apartments. Sadly, the murals, which as I recall included oilfield flares and a beautiful woman, have been painted over.