Bill Alderman's Drive-In
4210 E. Hillsborough Avenue,
Tampa,
FL
33610
4210 E. Hillsborough Avenue,
Tampa,
FL
33610
2 people
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I Believe The Mickey Mouse Cartoon’s Title Was Supposed To Be “Brave Little Tailor” Because It Has The Same Plot.
Also opened with a Woody Woodpecker cartoon(Knock knock), a Mickey Mouse cartoon(Mickey and the giant) , a Gandy Goose cartoon(Gandy’s adventure), and a movie serial(Last of Mohicans chapter 1).
This opened on March 3rd, 1950. Grand opening ad in the photo section. Free Admission.
Here’s an aerial dated 1957. The small lot is located off Hillsborough Avenue across the road towards the upper center of image. Looks like it may have been a legitimate drive-in with parking ramps although it’s hard to tell from this distance. I don’t see a screen but then again it may have already been closed by 1957:
View link
And here’s the lot as it looks today…54 years later:
View link
Pcfous, That slipped by me too. It was called the Columbus D/I rather than 28th St. I guess since the location was between 28th & 29th it was referred to by street number rather than actual name.
After reading the above posts again, I guess what i was calling the 28th st. drive-in, is really the Columbus. The actual spot it was located at is 28 and 29th streets directly underneath I-4.
Nick,Thanxs for getting the theatre pictures on.
Thanks pcfous! Please send to me at
Nick send me a email link and i’ll send you an aerial of the 28th street and 40th street drive-in circa 1957
I totally agree with you it was from a Article written by a Jacksonville,Fla reporter and I guess sorta qualifies as a Drive-in,They Charged Admission, showed 16mm I am sure,sold Concessions.I found a Drive-in in St.Thomas,Virgin Islands that think was portable.Had ads in the paper there for one summer and nothing again.
@Mike: Yep, I spotted it. Nice story, but not my definition of what qualifies for a drive-in. For a little town out in the boonies, I’m sure it was a fun thing to do at the time. More of a lawn gathering.
In my book, if they didn’t have a permanently constructed projection booth and screen tower with a ramped parking area, it was not a real drive-in.
NYozoner,The Drive-in i was writing about was the Fort McCoy Drive-in Theare it is on CT,rather strange Drive-in,don’t know if you ever spotted the story I submitted.
Nyozoner,you are right about the plywood and such,but I came upon a Drive-in in a Flordia that had Sheets strung up and Showed movies in what seem to be a pasture,they collected admission,showed 16mm movies off Batteries,sold Concessions and stayed in business a few years.I put it on CT.I will try and find the name so you can read about,if you haven’t already spotted it.NDiMaggio a good friend, was also puzzled by the Bill Alderman Drive-in.
Earth Explorer has an aerial photo of this location from October 1, 1950. The resolution is not great, but if there were a permanently constructed drive-in there, it would be clearly visible. It isn’t, which leads me to conclude that this was at best a hack-job drive-in, or temporary set up with no ramps or permanent structures.
Another drive-in located on E Hillsborough Ave and N 22nd St is clearly visible on the same 1950 aerial photo.
If someone decides to take a few sheets of plywood, nail them to a tree, pipe the sound through a stage speaker, and run a projector out of the the kitchen window onto a screen, does that classify it a drive-in? My answer would be, no. Since they only ran ads in the Tampa paper for two weekends, it didn’t seem to be a successful venture.
Here is the 1950 aerial photo, with the arrow pointed toward the intersection of E Hillsborough Ave and N 43rd St, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS.
PLEASE CHANGE ADDRESS TO:
4210 EAST HILLSBOROUGH AVENUE.
Thank You
Thanks Nick. Go to the IMPERIAL site.THE FRIENDS OF THE MILLER are planning a tribute to AUGUSTA’S THEATRE EMPLOYEES. I plan to be there. DESERVE something after all those years at the IMPERIAL. I told Robin to tell Bill about it.
I was just about to sign-off when I noticed your reply. The entire area where the Sundown was located was a wooded area filled with tall trees and bushes that nearly obliterated the theatre lot and the still standing refreshment stand. As I recall there were no other buildings or developments in that area. I think it was sometime towards the mid-to-late 1970s when the land was cleared and construction began on the buildings and offices that now occupy the site.
The entrance to the 40th Street was a dual driveway with the marquee just off Broadway between the dual drives (which are still there.) The lot where the drive-in stood was used for years as some type of rock or stone manufacturing company. It sits inward from Broadway and is surrounded by bushes and trees. There’s also a building or two on the lot as well as a wall. So you were right in the area where the drive-in once was! I never did make it to this theater when it was open. I believe it was gone before I became aware of drive-in theatres.
I saw the flyer for the 28th Street on the website but like you I wasn’t able to zoom-in close enough.
That’s awesome, Nick. Looks like there’s absolutely no trace of the Sundown, even back in 1982, which really isn’t a surprise.
4201 puts this theater on the south side of Hillsborough, which has been developed for decades.
You’re not going to believe it, but I remember poking around the 7th Avenue/40th Street area about ten years ago looking for a drive-in. I didn’t know the name then and I almost forgot about it until I read your post. It looks like the 40th Street is totally gone, though there are a few suspicious remnants: the dual driveway off of 7th and an old wall along 10th. Maybe I’m just looking too far into things.
Drive-ins.com has a flyer allegedly from the Tampa 28th Street. I can’t zoom in far enough for the address to be legible.
Hey tisloews: Glad you enjoyed the info!
MajorMajor: Regarding Bill Alderman’s D/I: the trip to the library this evening was well worth it. I located the 1950 city directory and sure enough the theatre is listed (as Bill Alderman’s Restaurant.) The physical address is 4210 E. Hillsborough. Now at least we’ll know which side of the street and exact spot the theatre stood.
Thanks for the web link…very nice! Someone really took the time to provide not only theatre names but photos and bits of information on many theatres. My operator friend said the Columbus D/I was located off Columbus Drive on 29th Street. Interstate 4 runs over the property now. I know exactly where the Sundown was. It was right off Hillsborough Ave. heading towards Town n' County (where the airport service center road is now.) I remember seeing the rear of the screen years ago all tattered and rusted and falling apart. But I have no idea where the Sunset was. The 40th Street was located off Broadway (7th Avenue) heading east just beyond the 40th street intersection on the left side. I’ll also check on the 28th Street and Bonita in Tampa although these two are questionable but you never know. All these drive-ins should make for a very intersting if not eye-opening research session.
While I was at the library I was able to locate the opening/closing dates of Horizon Park 4 and Twin Bays 4 which I’ll post tomorrow. Also, the opening date for the Trans-Lux Theatre. This one has a bit of unique history to go along with it.
Mike: The Tower is the one I pointed towards when we were on the interstate heading downtown to take the Tampa Theatre tour. You could barely see the outline of the parking rows.
Great Work Nick and Major Major,so glad I got a tour of your great Theatres. Nick, I notced TOWER DRIVE-in is on CT.
I went downtown to look at the newspaper microfilms five or six years ago. I remember seeing the East Buffalo listed in the paper, with its address being given as Buffalo at 38th Street. I don’t have the exact date of the paper I read, but I’m almost positive that it was from 1958.
Almost ten years ago, I briefly spoke with the owner of the Ruskin Drive-in. I believe he used to work for Floyd Theaters or had some sort of inside knowledge. He mentioned a Tampa 28th Street drive-in that was restricted to black audiences. He had mentioned that the screen had “just come down,” but, knowing how some old-timers talk, that had to have been +/– ten years or so as there was no trace of that theater then or now.
This web document lists dozens of Tampa theaters, though not this particular drive-in. It mentions the 28th Street, 40th Street, Columbus, Sundown, and that Bonita Drive-in. They give the Bonita an operating year of 1925. This is either a typo as it predates the first drive-in by a number of years or this was actually an indoor theater.
Tampa had the following drive-ins that are currently not on CT: Buffalo (may be the same as East Buffalo but need to check how name appears in the newspaper ads) 40th Street, Columbus, and Sundown. And I think there may be at least one or two more.
Charlie, a retired operator, worked at the Buffalo, Columbus, and 40th Street and he’s told me some stories about them. Two of the three were black drive-ins located near Ybor City. He also helped to dismantle the Cypress D/I which is currently on CT. I’ll work on getting them up but need to research addresses and opening/closing dates.
Never heard of a 28th Street or 38th Street or Bonita D/I in Tampa. Do they appear in a directory that list Tampa as the location? If so this info is probably incorrect.
There are also several Tampa indoor theatres not yet on CT which I plan on getting up ASAP.
This is intriguing. I’ve been thinking about this theatre since I first saw it on CT and its been eating at me to find out what it was really like or at the very least the address. Of course the business license would certainly have an address but who knows how or where to even begin a search like that? There’s something I just remembered that might help identify the location. The 1950 city directory just might have a physical address for this business. I think the library carries the old directories but not sure how far back they go. Will check this out soon.
Thanks, Nick. This place certainly is very mysterious. Directionally speaking, I don’t know which corner the theater stood. There is a large empty lot on the northeast corner, but I had always assumed that that was an old trailer park.
Now thats a lot of info Nick,Thanks.