Twilight Drive-In
3511 Christoval Road,
San Angelo,
TX
76903
3511 Christoval Road,
San Angelo,
TX
76903
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Rowley United Theatres Inc.
Nearby Theaters
No theaters found within 30 miles
Rick Smith, columnist for the San Angelo Standard-Times wrote in 2009 that the Twilight Drive-In was at “South Chadbourne and the Old Christoval Road”. The 1954 photo from Historic Aerials shows the drive-in at the northwest corner of that intersection.
Smith wrote that the Twilight Drive-In opened on March 30, 1946 with Edmund Lowe in “Oh, What a Night”. It was still on a 1958 topo map. “By 1965, the Twilight Travel Park had opened on the site.”
The Twilight Drive-In was in the first Theatre Catalog drive-in list (1948-1949), showing a capacity of 200 cars, owner R. H. Hendrick who also operated the Stardust Drive-In. By the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog, the owner was the Rowley United Circuit, and its capacity was up to 300.
The Motion Picture Almanac Lists also had the Twilight Drive-In with a capacity of 300 cars.
Contributed by
Michael Kilgore
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
This origin story in the June 4, 1949 issue of BoxOffice may explain some of the confusion about the early San Angelo drive-ins:
R. S. Starling, a gasoline distributor and retailer of San Angelo, Tex., says he got into the drive-in business by accident. It happened like this:
About five years ago, in an attempt to sell more gasoline he put up a big screen on the back roof of one of his filling stations and gave purchasers of five gallons of gas a free ticket to the show. The idea clicked. Cars came in droves; filling station attendants couldn’t even get to the pumps.
The oil man decided there must be something to the drive-in business. He started enhancing and improving the place, called it the Twilite Drive-In and charged a regular admission. Gas sales continued to boom as a result of many cars on the lot.
As materials eased up and costs leveled off, Starling was set to put in a real drive-in and the Starlite was the result. He has since also enlarged and improved his Twilite Drive-In.
The Twilight Drive-In opened on March 30th, 1946, as the first drive-in in the area. Grand opening ad posted.
Newspaper listings ended in 1955 for this drive-in.