South Clinton Drive-In
775 Blockhouse Valley Road,
Clinton,
TN
37716
775 Blockhouse Valley Road,
Clinton,
TN
37716
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previous Names: Cole's Clinton Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
Locaterd in the South Clinton district of Clinton, TN. Operated by the Cole Brothers and ABC Theatrical Ent. the Cole’s Clinton Drive-In was opened on April 9, 1953 with Sterling Hayden in “Kansas Pacific”. Motion Picture Exhibitor reported Williams and Lowry opened the Clinton Drive-In in July 1960, and on March 29, 1961, there was a change of ownership to James Clark.
Quentin Tarantino in his book ‘Cinema Speculation’ remembers he saw a double feature of “Sisters” and “Little Cigars” at the South Clinton Drive-In in 1973. That would be a 10-year-old Quentin.
Further speculations of Mr. Tarantino at the South Clinton Drive-In were covered in the Knox News, November 25, 2012. “In the year ‘73, when I was there, which was right when the kung fu movies exploded, I couldn’t go to Knoxville and see (movies at) the big theaters. I was stuck just watching movies sitting on the grass at the South Clinton Drive-In”.
Jim Pemberton, in a letter to the Oakridger News February 6, 2008, said his family operated the Skyway Drive-In, Elza Drive-In and Clinton Drive-In. “The drive-in closed on August 24, 1974 because the popularity of drive-in theaters was quickly waning, and my father decided that it was no longer worth the effort to continue operation”.
Contributed by
Ron Pierce
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
It’s great to see such well-documented research on a great find. Here’s more to help.
Cole’s Clinton Drive-In Theater, “South of Clinton on Highway 25-W,” held its grand opening on April 9, 1953, based on its ad in the Knoxville Journal. The first program, run twice that night, was “Kansas Pacific” plus a color cartoon and a three stooges short.
Cole’s Clinton advertised in the Journal through Sept. 27, 1956. After that, I couldn’t find any ads or mentions until June 19, 1960. The drive-in might have closed, or it may have just decided not to advertise during that time.
The last ad that I could find for the Clinton was on Aug. 24, 1974 in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. That newspaper later ran an obituary for Louise Duncan, who “was owner and operator of the Carefree Drive-In, Oliver Springs and the Clinton Drive-In, Clinton, both of which ceased operation in the mid 1970s”.
A 1981 aerial photo showed the remains of a drive-in, with plenty of parked cars, at modern-day 1320 Clinch Ave (the former US 25W), Clinton, TN 37716.
BTW, the drive-in site is within the current city limits of Clinton TN. I can’t find any references to “South Clinton” as a municipality or census-designated area; at best, it’s a neighborhood.
Also, Jim Pemberton’s letter to the editor said his family ran the Clinton until the 1980s. His memory was a little off, which is very common for us all.
Today, the drive-in is an empty field with trailers parked on it. From the overhead view, it appears that the concession stand/projection booth is in ruins with no roof. The screen is also gone. But the general outline of the drive-in remains.
“South Clinton” may not have an official designation, but there is a South Clinton Elementary School, a South Clinton Community Center, and a South Clinton Park. So, it does seem that the part of the town that is south of the river is called South Clinton.
https://tinyurl.com/3ts8bzdc
(shrug) We’re in agreement, just using different words. South Clinton is clearly the name of a neighborhood, but only that. If CT starts listing all theaters by neighborhood, as it does in several larger cities, then this one would be in the South Clinton neighborhood of Clinton TN.
I hope that when its editors update the drive-in’s likely address to 1320 Clinch Ave, they also update the city to Clinton.