Sunset Drive-In
4205 W. Chestnut Expressway,
Springfield,
MO
65802
4205 W. Chestnut Expressway,
Springfield,
MO
65802
2 people
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A 1985 aerial shows the screen gone. By 1990, the entire drive-in had been demolished with the trailer park being built. About the only remnant is the entrance/exit road which is still in the same location.
The trailer park is known as the Sunset Estates.
Grand opening ad posted.
After being discharged from the US Army, I was Night Manager at the Springfield Drive In before going to the Sunset Drive In. I managed all the Drive In Theaters in Springfield at one time or another.
I managed the Sunset Drive In in 1973 after being discharged from the US Army….I was Trainee Manager at the Hi-M Drive in when I was drafted. From the Sunset, I went on to the Holiday Drive In and finally the Queen City Twin. I was Assistant City Manager under City Manager Dean McMillen. I joined the Projectionist Union and operated at the Fox, Gillioz, Petite 3, Northtown 3 and 4, Battlefield Mall 6, and Campbell 16 and whatever Drive In’s were still operating at the time during the Summers.
In a four-page article about Commonwealth’s drive-ins, the Feb. 6, 1954 issue of Boxoffice included a photo of patrons playing at a horseshoe pitching court at the Sunset.
The final night for Springfield’s Sunset Drive-In was Sunday, Sept. 4, 1983. Its final program was Naked Weekend, Center Fold Girls, Senior Snatch, and Miss Nude America, all rated R.
A note in the July 22, 1950 issue of BoxOffice said that the Sunset opened on Friday, July 21, 1950. It was run by Commonwealth.
The Sunset’s first appearance in the Film Daily Year Book drive-in list was the 1951 edition.
In the 1952-56 Theatre Catalogs, the Sunset was owned by Commonwealth, capacity 520.
The Sunset’s first appearance in the Motion Picture Almanac drive-in lists was the 1951-52 edition, capacity 546, owner Commonwealth. That’s how it stayed till 1977, when the capacity changed to 520. Despite its earlier demise, the Sunset stayed on the MPA list through its final edition in 1988.
An Associated Press story said that high winds knocked down the screen on May 30, 1977.
I worked in the concession stand at the Sunset Drive-In when I was 16 in 1969. It was my first job. I met my wife there and we are still married after almost 44 years.
I was a manager in late 69-70.
When I worked for Commonwealth in the ‘70s, I was sometimes asked to help out at another manager’s theater in an emergency. My most vivid memory of the Sunset (and this was my childhood theater)was a second run showing of “Smokey and the Bandit”. I was asked to rush over to help on opening night. When I arrived, I was stunned to see a line of cars on Chestnut Expressway stretching(I found out later)over three miles! It must have been timing, but the entire run of the show,all summer, was mostly like that. For once in its life, The Sunset had broken attendence and concession sales for the entire chain. I’ve never seen a sight like that again, even opening day of “Star Wars” at my theater, The Queen City Twin.