Hillsboro Drive-In

I worked at the hillsbororugh drive in I have a picture of the concession stand the manager of the theatre was mike mckenny and billy white took his place I worked there a lot of years I also changed the marquee and repaired the speakers.

Thanks Don. I remember Lakeland also had the Filmland Drive-In. I visited the Filmland’s lot around 1992 and the only structures still standing were the box office with a caved-in roof and the bare remnants of a marquee. At about the same time the Hillsboro was being dismantled the Fun-Lan was adding a second screen. I thought for certain the Hillsboro had sold their screen to the Fun-Lan but instead they had installed a new but much smaller screen. Hard to believe that was 30 years ago.

The original concrete block screen was just slightly wide but not real scope. A new curved screen installed in 1969 was wider and much closer to scope. Under the photos tab there’s an article about the closing of the Hillsboro along with a photo showing the wider screen. Standard flat films were shown with several feet of blank screen on each side. For scope films the image filled the screen with hardly any overthrow off the sides. Directly behind the screen stood the white indoor theatre building. If a large portion of the image had projected off the sides it certainly would’ve been very noticeable on the building. Occasionally on scope films a very small amount of light would sometimes be visible on the building off each side of the screen but very minimal. Of all the drive-ins in Tampa the 20th Century had the only true CinemaScope screen.

Just about every time we arrived at the drive-in I’d head for the children’s playground. My mother would usually be standing nearby or sitting on the benches. But once the movie began we always headed back to the car. I wonder if anyone remembers the rabbit cages behind the trees at the base of the screen. Kids would sometimes feed the rabbits through the wire grating. This was probably around the mid-to-late 1950s.

Darrenparlett: I love this page too!

Remembering the Hilsboro Drive-in. I was born in Tampa in 1940, moved to south of Lakeland in 1947. Around 1969 I worked for a company that remodeled the Hilsboro drive-in. I did enjoy working there. I remember the big concrete block screen. The reason I am posting is I have a big loudspeaker, it was sticking out of an old wooden screen that the block screen was built over. There were two speakers, one on the top corner of the screen. They were built into the screen with about ½ half sticking out. I had both speakers, but being young and dumb I broke the magnet in one of them. It went to the scrap pile. The one I have weighs 50 pounds, it is about 41 in tall and about 20 in across the output. It is the biggest loudspeaker I have ever seen. And it still works! I saw your post after I moved the speaker from one place to another, as I have for the last 40 something years. I googled the drive-in. I found a lots of old tickets and other some other stuff. All of that stuff has been long gone, sorry to say. We dug all the window speakers out of the ground and put the post and big concete anchors in holes dug in back of the drive-in. I remember that well because I drove the dump truck to take them there. The concrete peices were to big to come out of the tailgate of the 5 yard dump truck. I guess you can guess what happened next. It was like the old comedy movie when the truck stood straight up. I had to climb down and walk back to tell the boss. He thought it was funny. I know this will hurt some people, myself inclued, we took the speakers to the scrap yard on Hy 60, I don’t remember the name of the place, I think they are stil there. They sold for what we thought was a good deal. I think it was eleven dollars or a little more. I remember spending 2 days on my knees chipping the old tile off the concesion stand. I even enjoyed painting the block wall at the entrance with Olive Green paint. I remember when we finished the job the owner came down and we had hot dogs with Sauerkraut. I don’t remember his name.

It is kind of funny how when you get my age you remember all sorts of stuff. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Don.
                

falcon3147, Great hearing from a former employee. I had applied for a job at both the drive-in and the new indoor in 1969 but they never called me. The drive-in and the rocking chair theatre were Tampa’s best showplaces at the time. I wish they were both still here. Yes, the indoor theatre had its grand opening with “The Undefeated.” A beautiful theatre that lasted about 9 years before it was ruined by twinning.

hispeed54, Appreciate the nice comment…thanks!

I worked at the Hillsborough drive in theatre for many years it was very nice. also the first movie shown in the hillsborough walk in theatre was the undefeated john wayne and rock hudson.

Here’s a current aerial of the property as it looks today. The building at the top center is the former Hillsboro Eight Cinemas (now Century Buick Dealership.)
View link

Wonderful pictures! I note that Himes Ave. (to left of drive-in) wasn’t yet extended north of Hillsborough Ave.

Thanks nick.

When the Hillsboro Drive-In was opened, Dale Mabry Highway (single-lane each way) went no further north than Hillsborough Avenue. The landscape between Buffalo Ave. (now ML King Blvd.) and Hillsborough Ave. was a combination of forested areas and open swamp-like areas with ponds surrounded by rings of cypress trees.

When our family drove north on Dale Mabry to the drive-in, there was one place (about half-way between Buffalo and Hillsborough) where you could look across the swamp and see the distant lighted screen of the theatre. (Closer to Hillsborough Ave., the forest obscured the view.) When we saw that screen from Dale Mabry, we were excited because we knew the theatre was waiting for us!