Sky-Vu Drive-In
1900 N. Turner Street,
Hobbs,
NM
88240
1900 N. Turner Street,
Hobbs,
NM
88240
3 people
favorited this theater
The Sky-Vu was the first drive in theater to open in Hobbs. It was opened by Theater Enterprises, Incorporated on May 5, 1949. By 1955 it was operated by Frontier Theatres. It was closed on January 28, 1962 with Audie Murphy in “Hell Bent for Leather” & Glen Ford in “Plunder in the Sun”.
With thanks to the Hobbs Public Library.
Contributed by
Don Lewis
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
Location was 1900 N. Turner.
Here’s a link to a photograph of the Sky-Vu, which was located at 1900 North Turner:
View link
A Hobbs Daily News-Sun retropective on Sept. 18, 1975 mentioned, “In 1948 Theatre Enterprises opened the Sky-Vu drive-in theater on Hobbs-Lovington Highway.” However, two contemporary notes suggest that the Sky Vu opened on May 5, 1949. An ad in the May 1, 1949 Hobbs Daily News-Sun said that would the date of the Grand Opening. And a roundup of new theater openings in the May 14, 1949 Boxoffice included "Hobbs, N. M. - Sky-Vue Drive-In opened May 5 by R. W. Ferguson.”
Hobbs Daily News-Sun, Sept. 30, 1951: “In 1948, Theater Enterprises, Inc., acquired 14 acres from Hobbs Houses, Inc., on the Hobbs-Lovington highway and built the Sky-Vu drive-in theater."
I’ll bet that’s what someone read in 1975 and repeated. Was the date mentioned in 1951 just a typo, or did someone misremember a date that badly just 28 months after the drive-in opened?
Anyway, the last Sky Vu ad I could find in the News-Sun was $1 a carload on Jan. 28, 1962 for “Hell Bent for Leather” and “Plunder in the Sun”. The next day’s paper had ads for the Flamingo Twin Drive-In but nothing for the Sky Vu.