23rd Street Drive-In
1600 E. 23rd Street,
Chattanooga,
TN
37404
1600 E. 23rd Street,
Chattanooga,
TN
37404
1 person
favorited this theater
The 23rd Street Drive-In was opened on May 4, 1951 with Bud Abbott & Lou Costello in “Here Come the Co-Eds”. It was still open in the mid-1970’s when I last drove by it. I believe it was part of the Martin Theatres chain at the time. I never went inside, but it looked large and impressive from the outside. It was closed in 1981 and was demolished in 1982. A Food City grocery store now stands on the site.
Contributed by
Bob Brown
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
My dad, James A. Duncan, managed this theatre from the time it was built, I believe, until 1959. At one time it had cartoon character cutouts adorning the exterior of the fence facing 23rd St. He often did promotions by emceeing from the roof of the concession stand. My father died in 2001 and my mother recently died. As I can find photos, I will forward.
Hello, my dad, Bill Vick Sr. was the projectionist there until the theater closed in 1981. He and I was the ones that went there after it closed and helped box up the reels and pack up the rewind motor and other related items. I wound up with the Orange Crush clock that was in the concession stand, I actually sold it on Ebay a few years ago, and now regret letting it go, if nothing else but the memory I had of being there with my dad. I remember well going there on the weekend with my friends and parking by the projection booth door and my dad coming out every so often and checking on us, plus he
d bring us refills and huge bags of popcorn. My dad used to let me help switch over the projector when the cue would come up on the screen, for those that dont know, a little black dot appears at the upper right hand corner of the screen just for a brief second, and that means you have about a minute before the film runs out, you have to be ready and just the right instand to have the other projector ready to go. And back then it was the carbon rod that was brighter than the sun that provided the light to project it onto the screen. I remember the little metal bucket at the base of the projector where he`d toss the little short rods when they burned down. Wow where did the time go. My dad passed away in 1997. Thank God for the memories we had together.Nice story bvick777.
Great Story Bvick777,Should have kept that clock I have a whole collection of items from a theatre i worked at.Took them out one night before the wrecking Ball showed. Wouldn’t think of selling them.
Actually, It Opened Sometime Between April And May 1951.
The site is now a grocery store(Food City).
Closed in 1981 and was demolished and being redeveloped the next year.
Boxoffice, June 9, 1958: “Independent Theatres has purchased the 23rd Street and the 58 Highway drive-in theatres from W. W. Fincher and J. M. Treadwell, North Georgia theatre operators … The firm now operates five outdoor theatres, the others being the Red Bank, Broad Street and Skyway.”
Placed its first ad on May 17th, 1951. Ad posted.
I just added the grand opening ad. The 23rd Street Drive-In opened on May 4, 1951 with “Here Come The Co-Eds” starring Abbott & Costello