Casa View Drive-In
5299 Gus Thomasson Road,
Dallas,
TX
75150
5299 Gus Thomasson Road,
Dallas,
TX
75150
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Additional Info
Previous Names: White Rock Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
Located to the northeast of Dallas to the east of the Casa View district. The White Rock Drive-In opened June 5, 1954 with Lucille Ball in “The Long, Long, Trailer” and “Arena”. It was closed in November 1956.
It reopened as the Casa View Drive-In on April 4, 1958 and continued until its closure on in late-1970. The screen was demolished around 1972.
It has been demolished and the Larry G. Smith Elementary School now occupies the site.
Contributed by
Billy Holcomb / Billy Smith / Don Lewis
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
Street view is wrong. This theatre was not located at the intersection of Gus Thomasson and Ferguson, as that would have put it smack in the middle of one of Casa View Shopping Center’s huge parking lots; it was actually located farther west on Gus Thomasson, at its intersection with Maylee Blvd. It occupied the present site of Larry Smith Elementary School.
We lost some of the comments when we switched over to the new format – one of them being that the Casa View originally opened in (IIRC) 1954 as the White Rock Drive-In. Still called White Rock as late as 1959. Exactly when name changed, I don’t know but from the time my family first started attending (ca. 1961), it was already the Casa View.
The last time I remember visiting this drive-in was in 1970, to see a double feature of “Giant” (which had just had a national reissue in badly faded WarnerColor prints) and “Return of the Seven.” Long night.
This drive-in opened in 1954 as the White Rock Drive-In; name changed to Casa View in 1961. An educated guess would be that, by the late 50’s, the neighborhood & shopping center that grew up around St. Pius X Parish (est. 1954) had taken on an identity quite separate and apart from the general White Rock area.
You’re right Matt54. The Drive-In was on the curve at the intersection of Gus Thomasson, Maylee, and Mandalay -just north of Motley. BTW, it’s east of Casa View.
glasspolish, you are so right about direction – east is right and west is left!
Looking at the advertisements, the White Rock Drive In began its advertisements and its listings begin on June 5, 1954 with “The Long, Long Trailer” and “Arena.” The listings are continuous until November 1956. Ads and listings stop. On April 4, 1958 advertisements begin for the Casa View Drive-In continuing year-round all the way until the end of the season in 1970. A guess would be that the White Rock only lasted three seasons. After a year off or of doing alternate programming, it resumed operations as the Casa View.
My first job was there back in 1969 or 1970
Owner info from the July 3, 1954 issue of Billboard: “White Rock Terrace Drive-In has been opened at Dallas by Robert Hartgrove and Joan Holt. The drive-in has a 600-car capacity.”
Motion Picture Exhibitor, July 20, 1966: “I. B. Adelman reopened the Casa View D-I. The theatre has been closed for some time and was remodeled for the reopening. The reopening of the Casa View raises to three the number of movie houses operated (in Dallas) by Adelman. The other two are the Delman and the South Loop D-I.”