There were two drive-in operating in Alvin, although not simultaneously. The Alvin Drive-In opened in the 50s and closed in the late 60s or early 70s. The Cinema Park Drive-In opened in the early 70s and lasted into the 80s.
The Cinema Park was actually on TX-6, west of town near County Road 142. The address below will map to the location of the Cinema Park Drive-In:
Texas 6 & No 3 Rd, Alvin, TX 77511
The Cinema Park Drive-In is visible on Google Earth up until 2004, after which time someone dropped a building on top of it.
The address given previously is the location of the Alvin Drive-In which closed in the late 60s.
After reviewing aerial photos from 1967 for a five mile radius around Tahoka, my conclusion is that there were no other drive-ins built or operating after the T-Bar was destroyed in 1959. The T-Bar was not operational in the 1967 aerial photos.
The drive-in is located on TX-222 about 4 miles west of Munday, and is surrounded by farmland. As you are heading west out of town on 222, the drive-in would have been on your left, after the road bends to the south. It appears to be completely demolished in the present-day aerial photos.
Here is a 1966 aerial photo for the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
@Chuck: It is both strange and irritating. What mapping program are you using? 120 Tilden Rd will not work for me in either Google Earth or MapQuest, so I do not think it is just a Google thing.
There are a few reasons that newspaper ad address and internet mapping won’t match up. One reason is that newspaper ads used addresses from many years ago, which may have been valid at the time of printing, but the road number systems were changed over the years. Another reason is that the name of the town or municipality needs to match the location on the roadway address, as many drive-ins would be located just over a town line, but are thought to be located in the town. The road address might match up by using the name of the correct municipality.
When I have trouble mapping an exact road address, I try to use an intersection of the two roads which are closest to the drive-in. Intersections seem to map better for some reason than road numbers, in some instances, for whatever reason.
However you want to explain it, internet mapping can be tricky. I try to test out the address on the two mapping sites which I use, and then post the address which seems to work the best.
Oh, I can imagine. I was just pointing out that it should map with the correct spelling. That is why these comment boxes are here, to add information and point out mistakes.
I was just kidding around about the glasses, the eyes start to fail after too many hours in front of the computer. Whoever manages the updates is doing a fantastic job, a little mistake here and there is inevitable.
@Chuck: I am in New York, so I can see are the current and historical aerial imagery, and then match up the surrounding features such as roads, buildings, rivers, and lakes.
Historic aerial photos are a great way to document the precise location of any drive-in, along with topo maps. Especially for those drive-ins which were closed early in the 1950s or 1960s, that not many people even remember existed. It also does away with a lot of debate over exactly where the drive-in actually stood, in cases where people disagree.
I am working on a project to placemark and document every known drive-in location in the United States, using Google Earth. Open drive-ins are represented by green placemarrks, red for closed, cyan for drive-ins which were known to exist, but their location is undocumented, and yellow for documented locations which are unnamed.
I have some people helping me out by doing placemarking for states in the midwest and northwest. I have already completed New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and am about 60% of the way through Texas.
Geez, there are a lot of drive-ins in Texas, didn’t those people have anything better to do than go to the drive-ins?
When the project is completed, you will be able to use Google Earth to see the precise location of every known drive-in in the country, along with supporting documentation which is embedded in each individual placemark.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to placemark a state or two may contact me at The regions that have not been placemarked yet are New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. I hope to have all 50 states completed by the end of March, just in time for drive-in season!
2431 W Euless Blvd, Euless, TX 76040
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in, which is on Hwy 10 (also W. Euless Blvd) and is not on Hwy 183.
Below is a 1963 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Historic Aerials Dot Com:
View link
There were two drive-in operating in Alvin, although not simultaneously. The Alvin Drive-In opened in the 50s and closed in the late 60s or early 70s. The Cinema Park Drive-In opened in the early 70s and lasted into the 80s.
The Cinema Park was actually on TX-6, west of town near County Road 142. The address below will map to the location of the Cinema Park Drive-In:
Texas 6 & No 3 Rd, Alvin, TX 77511
The Cinema Park Drive-In is visible on Google Earth up until 2004, after which time someone dropped a building on top of it.
The address given previously is the location of the Alvin Drive-In which closed in the late 60s.
U.S. 83 Business & S Kumquat St, Pharr, TX 78577
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in.
Here is a 1961 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95k2Da
After a little digging, I found out that XIT was the name of an enormous ranch near the town.
N Elgin Ave & NE 14th St, Lamesa, TX 79331
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in.
The footprint of the drive-in is visible on Google Earth using imagery from 1991. Current imagery shows the site being used as a baseball field.
Here is a 1970 DRG map which references the location of the drive-in.
View link
Any ideas what XIT stands for? An acronym for Exit?
There is a “Winter Haven, Texas” about 5-6 mils north of Carrizo Springs, which is where this drive-in derives a part of its name from.
The Drive-in is located on the east side of US 83, about 5.25 miles north of Carrizo Springs.
Here is a 1971 aerial photo which shows the location of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95mYMQ
River Oaks Blvd & Sam Calloway Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76114
The address above will map to the location of the drive-in.
Here is a 1955 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Historic Aerials Dot Com:
View link
Here is a 1970 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95jjks
Southwest Pkwy & Spring Shadow Dr, Wichita Falls, TX 76310
The address above will map to the location of the drive-in.
Here is a 1970 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95g9Kg
W Dickinson Blvd & Lodal St, Fort Stockton, TX 79735
The drive-in will map to the address above. It is still visible on Google Earth.
The drive-in is located on the east side of US 81, north of town just past County Road 286.
TX-482 spur, Irving, TX 75062
The above address maps reasonably close to the stadium. The address currently being used maps about 5 miles west of the Stadium.
Here is a 1979 aerial photo of the drive-in with all three screens up, courtesy of Historic Aerials Dot Com:
View link
Here is a 1972 image with the screens and concession building apparently not installed yet:
View link
Here is a 1973 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Historic Aerials Dot Com.
View link
US-87 N, Tahoka, TX 79373
The drive-in is located ¼ mile north of town on the east side of US-87.
Here is a 1954 aerial photo which shows the location of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95e6GP
After reviewing aerial photos from 1967 for a five mile radius around Tahoka, my conclusion is that there were no other drive-ins built or operating after the T-Bar was destroyed in 1959. The T-Bar was not operational in the 1967 aerial photos.
The drive-in is located on TX-222 about 4 miles west of Munday, and is surrounded by farmland. As you are heading west out of town on 222, the drive-in would have been on your left, after the road bends to the south. It appears to be completely demolished in the present-day aerial photos.
Here is a 1966 aerial photo for the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95evcu
Here is a 1949 aerial photo for this drive-in:
http://flic.kr/p/95egXu
It was on the northeast section of the intersection.
Farm to Market 78 & Riedel, Schertz, TX 78154
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in, which was on the south side of FM 78 and north of Riedel.
Here is a 1973 aerial photo courtesy of Historic Aerial Dot Com.
Texas 114 & N Alamo Rd, Levelland, TX 79336
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in, which is located northeast of the intersection.
Here is a 1962 aerial photo of the drive-in, courtesy of Earth Explorer and USGS:
http://flic.kr/p/95a272
U.S. 14 & County Road 111, Lake Benton, MN 56149
The above address will map to the location of the drive-in, which was situated northeast of the intersection.
The drive-in was located on US 14 about 3 miles east of Tyler. The footprint of the drive-in is clearly visible using Google Earth.
@Chuck: It is both strange and irritating. What mapping program are you using? 120 Tilden Rd will not work for me in either Google Earth or MapQuest, so I do not think it is just a Google thing.
There are a few reasons that newspaper ad address and internet mapping won’t match up. One reason is that newspaper ads used addresses from many years ago, which may have been valid at the time of printing, but the road number systems were changed over the years. Another reason is that the name of the town or municipality needs to match the location on the roadway address, as many drive-ins would be located just over a town line, but are thought to be located in the town. The road address might match up by using the name of the correct municipality.
When I have trouble mapping an exact road address, I try to use an intersection of the two roads which are closest to the drive-in. Intersections seem to map better for some reason than road numbers, in some instances, for whatever reason.
However you want to explain it, internet mapping can be tricky. I try to test out the address on the two mapping sites which I use, and then post the address which seems to work the best.
Oh, I can imagine. I was just pointing out that it should map with the correct spelling. That is why these comment boxes are here, to add information and point out mistakes.
I was just kidding around about the glasses, the eyes start to fail after too many hours in front of the computer. Whoever manages the updates is doing a fantastic job, a little mistake here and there is inevitable.
I left out Pennsylvania, which is also completely placemarked with 209 documented drive-in locations.
@Chuck: I am in New York, so I can see are the current and historical aerial imagery, and then match up the surrounding features such as roads, buildings, rivers, and lakes.
Historic aerial photos are a great way to document the precise location of any drive-in, along with topo maps. Especially for those drive-ins which were closed early in the 1950s or 1960s, that not many people even remember existed. It also does away with a lot of debate over exactly where the drive-in actually stood, in cases where people disagree.
I am working on a project to placemark and document every known drive-in location in the United States, using Google Earth. Open drive-ins are represented by green placemarrks, red for closed, cyan for drive-ins which were known to exist, but their location is undocumented, and yellow for documented locations which are unnamed.
I have some people helping me out by doing placemarking for states in the midwest and northwest. I have already completed New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and am about 60% of the way through Texas.
Geez, there are a lot of drive-ins in Texas, didn’t those people have anything better to do than go to the drive-ins?
When the project is completed, you will be able to use Google Earth to see the precise location of every known drive-in in the country, along with supporting documentation which is embedded in each individual placemark.
Anyone who would like to volunteer to placemark a state or two may contact me at The regions that have not been placemarked yet are New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. I hope to have all 50 states completed by the end of March, just in time for drive-in season!
Rick
www.newyorkdriveins.com