South Side Drive-In
4800 I-35W,
Fort Worth,
TX
76134
4800 I-35W,
Fort Worth,
TX
76134
3 people
favorited this theater
The 780-car capacity South Side Drive-In opened September 24, 1949 with William Bendix in “Life of Riley”. It was located at the 4800 block of Highway 81 (now I-35W and Felix ). It featured a State of Texas mural on the screen tower, covered patio seating and a playground.
It closed on November 4, 1967. A K-Mart was built on the site (now a Carnival Food Store).
Contributed by
Danny Hubbard
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
Operated by the Lutzer Brothers Circuit in the early sixties, along with the Co-Ed Drive-In in Denton TX and the Ship Drive-In in Durant, OK. Owners were David and Jacob Lutzer, headquartered in Dallas, TX. More specifically, the two Lutzer brothers owned the Texas drive-ins while Mrs. Jacob Lutzer owned the drive-in in Oklahoma. Perhaps she had a good divorce lawyer.
Here are two photos circa 1950s currently for sale on eBay:
http://tinyurl.com/px97gf
http://tinyurl.com/q9lvhw
According to the November 29, 1952 issue of BOXOFFICE magazine, J.H. “Jake” Lutzer, owner of the theatre, “reports that plans have been drawn to convert the Southside (sic) Drive-In at Fort Worth into a twin situation”, which was never realized. He passed away on August 10, 1965 (BOXOFFICE – August 23, 1965), in Dallas, and still owned the South Side Drive-In at the time of his death. His brother, David, passed away on June 20, 1969, at the age of 66 (BOXOFFICE – June 30, 1969).
The South Side Drive-In Theatre closed sometime in 1967. It was soon demolished and quickly cleared for the construction of the shopping complex that contained the K-Mart, a Kinney Shoes store, and the Cineworld 4 Theatre.
I didn’t remember that it closed in 1967 because I was going there in high school and graduated in 1969. My uncle was the manager at that time (Horace (Jr) Wilson. He just recently passed away. My boyfriend in the 60’s (accidentially) pulled off with a speaker still attached to the window and still have that speaker. It is a treasure to me. So many memories.
Great story about your boyfriend, skyhuggs! I’ve sent you an e-mail about the South Side. Thank you, again.
Aerial from 1963
When this drive-in was closed and demolished, another Southside Drive-in was built on Old Hemphill Rd.—-which was later twinned.
This opened on September 24th, 1949. Grand opening ad in the photo section.
Closed in 1966 and reopened on September 18th, 1968. Another ad in the photo section.
According to an article in the FT Worth Star Telegram from 1967, the South Side closed November 4, 1967. This makes sense as Historic Aerials shows the Drive In was completely gone in 1968.