Chief Drive-In
5600 N. Lamar Boulevard,
Austin,
TX
78751
5600 N. Lamar Boulevard,
Austin,
TX
78751
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I raced there in 1958 dodging the speaker poles going over the humps.
Seems like yesterday…vivid memories of winning a race passing a yellow Kool Kart.
Still racing 62 years later. Some things do not change
“The Chief Drive-In now has a giant chief on horseback on the front of its motion picture screen tower – the side facing the highway. The figure was painted by H. R. McBride, artist whose work appeared on the covers of the old Liberty and Colliers magazines. The Indian and horse are approximately 50x30 feet.” — Boxoffice, July 18, 1960
Opened as the Chief Drive-in with a colour cartoon(not named), and “The Virginian”.
The Chief Drive-In closed after the night’s showings on Tuesday, July 24, 1973. The last films to play there were a double bill of Soylent Green and Skyjacked.
Little Toot was the kiddie train at the drive in.
Whats “Little Toot”?
This weblog post from Preservation Austin credits architect Jack Corgan with the design of the Chief Drive-In. There’s a nice black and white photo of the screen tower, featuring a Texas longhorn painted by Dallas muralist H. R. McBride.
The Montopolis and Chief drive-in theatres both opened on September 19th, 1947. Grand opening ads below and the photo section.
A brief article with two photos depicting the recently-opened family dining room and television lounge at the Chief Drive-In appeared in the May 9, 1960, issue of Boxoffice.
I remember this place well. I grew up in the trailer under the movie screen. Lil Toot was always fun to ride. I guess what I remember the most was learning how to ride my bike up and down the rows, and watching the movies from the front of my yard.
The Commerce Park office/retail center is on the site of the former drive in. border streets are: North Lamar, Koenig, Guadalupe and Nelray.
Do not know what paper this was published in, but here is an ad of the opening of Chief Drive-In….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zip_up_hoodie/3932133504/
This theater was originally named “Joseph’s Drive-In Theater”. The name was changed in 1947 to “North Austin Drive-In Theater” prior to the opening of the “South Austin Drive-In Theater”.
STATISTICS Opened: 18 November 1940Screens: 1Capacity: 450 cars
Well it seems that another Austin Drive-In was already in operation when the Chief Drive-In opened. http://www.captainchicken.org/austindrivein/north_austin/north_austin.html
It was on Southeast corner of Koenig and N.Lamar. I went there many times. If I was a good boy I got to ride “ Little Toot”.