Just visited the restaurant and the ad is actually a photo copy of an announcement of the opening of the Sunset Drive-In which had been put in the Knoxville newspaper. It opened September 1, 1950 and had parking for 1400. The movie, Sunset In The West, was shipped in by “special” shipping just for the opening.
Just looked up Sunset In The West and it was released in 1950 so the Sunset Drive-in opened in the summer of 1950. Yes, I would have been 8 or 9 and my brothers 6 and 11.
My Mom and her 3 young sons were sitting in her old ‘51 Chevrolet in the Woods Motor Company parking lot at the end of Bradshaw Gardens Drive looking across Clinton Highway down into the Sunset Drive-In Theater the night it opened. The first movie to be shown there was that night and it was a Roy Rogers western called Sunset In The West and we saw it free without any sound. I imagine that is where the theater name came from or so I was told then. Just past the cross roads in Halls Cross Roads is a chicken wing restaurant on the left and they have an original Sunset Drive-in pamphlet framed on the wall. Would love to have a copy of it. What about the Tillery Theater across the hill where Jim Claytons auto dealership is now. Anyone remember it?
Just visited the restaurant and the ad is actually a photo copy of an announcement of the opening of the Sunset Drive-In which had been put in the Knoxville newspaper. It opened September 1, 1950 and had parking for 1400. The movie, Sunset In The West, was shipped in by “special” shipping just for the opening.
Just looked up Sunset In The West and it was released in 1950 so the Sunset Drive-in opened in the summer of 1950. Yes, I would have been 8 or 9 and my brothers 6 and 11.
My Mom and her 3 young sons were sitting in her old ‘51 Chevrolet in the Woods Motor Company parking lot at the end of Bradshaw Gardens Drive looking across Clinton Highway down into the Sunset Drive-In Theater the night it opened. The first movie to be shown there was that night and it was a Roy Rogers western called Sunset In The West and we saw it free without any sound. I imagine that is where the theater name came from or so I was told then. Just past the cross roads in Halls Cross Roads is a chicken wing restaurant on the left and they have an original Sunset Drive-in pamphlet framed on the wall. Would love to have a copy of it. What about the Tillery Theater across the hill where Jim Claytons auto dealership is now. Anyone remember it?