The Bandera Road Drive In’s original screen was all aluminum and was silver in color. The Bandera had excellent light on the screen because of this. The screen acted as part a wall for the building used for storage. In 1973 or so, a fire erupted in the screen tower building, and was destroyed. The screen actually melted from the heat! What was left was quickly demolished and hauled away, and a flat, white painted steel screen with exposed beams in the back was erected. When the Bandera Road closed, the new screen was disassembled and stored behind the East screen at the San Pedro Outdoor where it laid until the San Pedro itself was demolished.
The South Loop 13 originally had 1000 speakers! It was the biggest single screen drive in in San Antonio. As time went on the lot was made smaller, and parcels of the property were sold off. The South Loop 13 ended it’s run as a theatre playing Spanish language films
The Mission opened as a single screen theatre in 1948. In the late 50s it was converted to a twin, and in 1978 two more screens were added. The original screen tower style was like many Texas drive ins built by the original owner. The San Antonio Alamo drive in’s screen tower was a mirror image of the Mission’s. The original mural on the Mission Drive in’s tower was a painting of Mission San Jose with the bells in San Jose animated with swaying neon.
The Lackland’s screen sat high on a berm. It’s screen was easily visible from many angles. Rather than build a fence to keep passers-by from seeing the X rated films being shown on it’s screen, 88 very bright halogen lights were mounted on poles around the theatre. The bright lights effectively hid the screen from everyone but people in the theatre itself.
The Lackland was built in 1953. It was one of the better built drive ins in San Antonio.
The Capitan was located at the corner of Old Highway 90 West and 36th Street. It was one of the few older drive ins that had a full CinemaScope width screen added on after the advent on the CS format. The Capitan was opened as the Bluebonnet in 1951, and was changed to the El Capitan a few years later, then the name just became the Capitan. The drive in did good business, and REALLY did well in the early 70s when Kung Fu/Karate movies started coming to this country. I worked at the Capitan during this time, and for one full year we ran nothing but Kung Fu movies. The Capitan was sold to a real estate developer in the late 70s and was closed. With the exception of a Valero corner store that stands where the driveway entrance once was, there’s nothing but weeds and trees where this wonderful old drive in once entertained people on San Antonio’s west side.
The Laurel seated 750 people, not 350. It was built in 1940 and was operated by Interstate Theatres, Tom Sumners, Cinema Arts Theatres, Theatre Corporations, and Braha Theatres. It was extremely well built. It was all concrete and steel. It was not an easy theatre to demolish!
The “New” Laurel was what Maurice Braha renamed the Laurel after he bought and renovated it in the mid 70s. The New Laurel had quite a few exclusive United Artist runs because of problems UA had at the time with some of the other chains. The renovation modernized the Laurel, but took away a lot of it’s charm. It was the first San Antonio theatre to install Dolby stereo!
The Laurel had a small balcony, and never had a curtain in front of it’s massive screen. It was always one of my favorite theatres when I was a kid, and I worked at the Laurel off and on throughout the 70s. When the UA problems with other chains were solved, the New Laurel became a 99 cent theatre.
The Bandera Road Drive In’s original screen was all aluminum and was silver in color. The Bandera had excellent light on the screen because of this. The screen acted as part a wall for the building used for storage. In 1973 or so, a fire erupted in the screen tower building, and was destroyed. The screen actually melted from the heat! What was left was quickly demolished and hauled away, and a flat, white painted steel screen with exposed beams in the back was erected. When the Bandera Road closed, the new screen was disassembled and stored behind the East screen at the San Pedro Outdoor where it laid until the San Pedro itself was demolished.
The South Loop 13 originally had 1000 speakers! It was the biggest single screen drive in in San Antonio. As time went on the lot was made smaller, and parcels of the property were sold off. The South Loop 13 ended it’s run as a theatre playing Spanish language films
The Mission opened as a single screen theatre in 1948. In the late 50s it was converted to a twin, and in 1978 two more screens were added. The original screen tower style was like many Texas drive ins built by the original owner. The San Antonio Alamo drive in’s screen tower was a mirror image of the Mission’s. The original mural on the Mission Drive in’s tower was a painting of Mission San Jose with the bells in San Jose animated with swaying neon.
The Lackland’s screen sat high on a berm. It’s screen was easily visible from many angles. Rather than build a fence to keep passers-by from seeing the X rated films being shown on it’s screen, 88 very bright halogen lights were mounted on poles around the theatre. The bright lights effectively hid the screen from everyone but people in the theatre itself.
The Lackland was built in 1953. It was one of the better built drive ins in San Antonio.
The Capitan was located at the corner of Old Highway 90 West and 36th Street. It was one of the few older drive ins that had a full CinemaScope width screen added on after the advent on the CS format. The Capitan was opened as the Bluebonnet in 1951, and was changed to the El Capitan a few years later, then the name just became the Capitan. The drive in did good business, and REALLY did well in the early 70s when Kung Fu/Karate movies started coming to this country. I worked at the Capitan during this time, and for one full year we ran nothing but Kung Fu movies. The Capitan was sold to a real estate developer in the late 70s and was closed. With the exception of a Valero corner store that stands where the driveway entrance once was, there’s nothing but weeds and trees where this wonderful old drive in once entertained people on San Antonio’s west side.
The Laurel seated 750 people, not 350. It was built in 1940 and was operated by Interstate Theatres, Tom Sumners, Cinema Arts Theatres, Theatre Corporations, and Braha Theatres. It was extremely well built. It was all concrete and steel. It was not an easy theatre to demolish!
The “New” Laurel was what Maurice Braha renamed the Laurel after he bought and renovated it in the mid 70s. The New Laurel had quite a few exclusive United Artist runs because of problems UA had at the time with some of the other chains. The renovation modernized the Laurel, but took away a lot of it’s charm. It was the first San Antonio theatre to install Dolby stereo!
The Laurel had a small balcony, and never had a curtain in front of it’s massive screen. It was always one of my favorite theatres when I was a kid, and I worked at the Laurel off and on throughout the 70s. When the UA problems with other chains were solved, the New Laurel became a 99 cent theatre.