The 1958 topo map previously uploaded here showed the projection-concession building that matched a building in a 1983 aerial photo. Long story short, I think that it’s still there, now alone in a vacant lot, and Google Maps gives it the address of 2524 W 7th St, Clovis, NM 88101.
Following up that weird mention of the Comet screen in February 1957, in December 1957 the Clovis News-Journal ran a classified ad for residential lots “North of Comet Drive-In.” I’d love to know the reason for the delay between the screen’s erection and the August 1958 grand opening.
The Comet’s last ad in the News-Journal was on May 15, 1960. The next day, there was no Comet ad, and the ad for the co-owned Yucca included the note, “Watch for opening of La Fonda”. On May 19, as workers were dismantling the Comet’s screen, it toppled over, leaving it “in bad shape” and delaying the reopening of the La Fonda for several weeks until “a new screen will be constructed” there, co-owner Loyd Franklin said at the time. Later local histories said that the Comet screen moved to the La Fonda, so it’s unclear whether that was accurate.
Clovis News-Journal, July 24, 1960: “Loyd Franklin, operator of La Fonda Drive-In, reported to police Friday (22) that vandals broke and entered the defunct Comet Drive-In on W. 7th. Police said there was no damage.”
Notes from a morning rummaging around in the (Carrizozo) Lincoln County News:
The Nike opened on June 22, 1956 (quoted 20 years later - no movie info), built by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Skelton. Fred Miller leased the drive-in in September 1961, then Doug and Betty Willias leased it for the 1962 season. Robert (Bob) Means ran the Nike in 1963, and Bill Baker opened it for its final season in 1964. It closed on Sunday, Sept. 27, with a showing of “Captain Newman, M. D.” starring Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis.
The Nike’s sign was still there in July 1967, because that’s when a 15-year-old ran his car into it. Means bought the site from Skelton in 1969, planning to develop it as a trailer park; he said he’d keep the concession/projection building to use as a utility room. Means sold the screen for scrap in 1975, and it came down on Feb. 10 that year. At the time, Means said the Nike had closed in 1961, illustrating the unreliable nature of memory, even of a business one had operated just 12 years earlier. But I digress.
The Albuquerque Journal wrote in 1996 that a 75-year-old former cowboy was living in the Nike’s old projection room. And today, armed with NMDOT’s aerial and Google Maps, I see that the building is still there, surrounded by old cars and trucks. Maps' address for that building is 6465 US-380.
Unlike that odd Lazy H thing, the full-sized Corral was on the north highway, about where a Lowe’s is today. A good address would be 2519 W Pierce St, Carlsbad, NM 88220.
Something called the “Lazy H Corral Drive-In Pitcher Show / Just this side of White’s City” ran ads in the Carlsbad Current-Angus on August 1-16, 1946. I can’t find anything else about it, so I assume it was a makeshift event.
Theater Enterprise started construction on the real Corral in January 1952 and held its grand opening on April 13, 1952. The first movie was “Peggy.”
The Corral’s final ad in the Current-Angus said that it would close for the season on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1957. The final show was “The Searchers.” It apparently never reopened, and a 1960 article about a nearby small grass fire referred to it as “the old Corral Drive-In Theatre”.
Carlsbad Current-Argus, Wed., Sept. 26, 1979: “The Cavern Theater will close its doors Tuesday (Oct. 2nd) as a full-time theater, but will re-open on special occasions, holidays or when a suitable film product is available. Theater manager Abby Parrish … said that the theater will still house the (local Commonwealth Theaters) office. It will also be available for clubs and presentations … The last performance on Tuesday will be a showing of "Alien.” "
That “Now Open” ad coincided closely with the closing of Roswell’s Ballojak Drive-In, so the Cactus folks might have been trying to capture some of that business.
A Roswell Daily Record columnist wrote in 2018 that way back when, for a treat he would sometimes go to “the Cactus Drive-in to see the shows in Spanish, which was usually one of the more famous stars like Cantinflas, Antonio Aguilar and others.”
The first ad I could find for the Yucca in the Lovington Leader said it was “Now Open” on Sept. 21, 1951. Its program that night and the next was the 1947 John Wayne classic “Angel and the Badman,” plus cartoon and comedy (short?).
Unfortunately, the Leader, soon to be the Daily Leader, appears to have taken a few years off from running theater ads. Spot checks in the summers of 1955-57 turned up nothing for any movie house. In the summer of 1958, the Daily Leader ran ads for the indoor Lea and the Wildcat Drive-In, but nothing about the Yucca.
The Yucca’s last appearance in Frontier Theatres' list of holdings was in the 1960 Motion Picture Almanac; it was gone in the 1961 MPA.
Based on the aerial photos, the Skyline was about where the American’s St. Louis Ground Operations Center building is today. Its sign says its address is 10900 Lambert International Boulevard, and sure enough, Google Maps likes 10900 Lambert International Blvd, Bridgeton, MO 63044.
Chuck and Marianne James sold the Mesa to Marcella Snyder and her husband Jon Parkin, who also own the Tibbs Drive-In in Indianapolis. According to a nice, long article in today’s Pueblo Chieftain, they’re upgrading the plumbing and other stuff and hope to reopen on Memorial Day weekend this year.
This photo appeared in the May 8, 1966 issue of the Las Cruces Sun-News. The original caption:
Aggie Drive-In Theater, located at the intersection of the Truck Bypass and West Hadley, is shown in its last stages of completion. The opening is scheduled for Thursday (12) with “Charade,” starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and “I’d Rather Be Rich,” with Sandra Dee and Andy Williams. The drive-in is equipped with a 90 x 60-foot giant screen and double-cone speakers for better listening. Lamar Gwaltney, the owner and operate of Los Cruces' newest outdoor theater, said there will be room for 600 cars. It will be open seven days a week. (Priestley)
The Las Cruces Sun-News announced on Aug. 19, 1948, the the Organ would open that night, but they were still working on the grill. The same grand opening ad ran again on Aug. 20, and the newspaper said that night would be the Organ’s premiere, so that was probably right.
When it opened the Organ had “modern central sound equipment, the same which is now used in Radio City Music Hall.” The type of loudspeaker was somehow “a recent development for the benefit of drive-in theaters, allows patrons to hear just as well with the car windows rolled up as when they are down.” (Huh?)
Predictably, it took less than a year for owner Homer Foster Bowington to announce he was installing RCA in-car speakers. After a couple of months of “coming soon” notes, the speakers were first advertised on Aug. 7, 1949.
The Organ closed for remodeling after the Nov. 3, 1954 shows, then reopened as the Fiesta on Jan. 16, 1955. Its second screen was added between July 1962 and September 1965, a Sun-News coverage gap at Newspapers.com. Video Independent Theaters bought the Aggie and the Fiesta in early 1967.
The local college student newspaper, the Round-Up, reported in February 1981 that Video’s local manager said that unlike in the big cities, “more people are going to the movies here than ever before.” The Fiesta (along with the Aggie) was still going strong at that point, and that’s the last I know about it.
The last ad I could find for the Mesa in the Farmington Daily Times was on Aug. 21, 1955, for shows through Monday, Aug. 22. Apparently, the Mesa’s final program was the Jack Palance film “Sign of the Pagan” and Maureen O'Sullivan in “Bonzo Goes to College”.
Did the Yucca last only two seasons? Its grand opening was definitely May 1, 1958, and the last movie ad I could find in the Farmington Daily Times was on Sept. 25, 1959, for shows through Saturday the 26th. Sunday’s Times had no Yucca ad, and the Oct. 4 issue’s ad said “Closed for the season / See you next spring!” Maybe it continued under the radar with Spanish-language movies, or maybe Allen Theatres saw it had built one drive-in too many.
Evidence of that last theory comes from the Oasis Drive-In, which was apparently never opened, so it doesn’t get a separate entry here on CT. Boxoffice said in January 1958 that the Allen group was starting the 986-car Oasis. An Academy Awards-themed ad on March 27, 1958 in the Times said that San Juan County patrons could watch the Oscar winners that summer at the Yucca, Rincon, Apache and Valley drive-ins, plus the Oasis Drive-In “soon”. Oasis Drive-In, Inc., incorporated in late April 1958. And that was the last Oasis Drive-In mention I could find until July 1978, when Oasis Drive-In passed along a warranty deed to Valley Drive-In Inc., which passed it to Larry Allen et al, which passed it to the City of Farmington.
Boxoffice, Oct. 19, 1957: “Porter Smith, owner of a drive-in at Aztec, N. M., and his manager, Paul Campbell, are building another drive-in. This one is between Aztec and Farmington, N. M., and will open in the spring”
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Paul Campbell and Porter Smith have opened their new 350-car (with room for expansion) drive-in at Aztec, N. M. Campbell will manage”
The last ad I could find in the Farmington Daily Times for the Apache Twin was on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2001. The next day, the Apache was no longer included with the other theaters.
On March 15, 2002, a real estate ad appeared for 24 acres “known as the Apache Drive-In & adjacent properties.”
The Rincon opened on June 1, 1954, according to a story and ad (below) in the Farmington Daily News. It had a snack bar, room for “more than 200 cars”, and was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Porter Smith, Mr. and Mrs. John Pettus and Mr. and Mrs. Ury Ealum.
Film Daily, Sept. 24, 1941: “E. C. Treib, 55, owner of the Capitan Theater, Roswell, and the Apache Theater at Ruidoso, N. M., was drowned in a flood while en route between these towns. Two employes, Pete Espinosa and Manual Chavez, in car with Treib are missing.”
With the following ad, the Mt. Vue added the “Sho-Dyn” to its weekly Ruidoso News ad.
1) With the chef image, the drive-in was probably trying to position its concession stand as a standalone, or at least featured, dining establishment. The Sho-Dyn stayed in its ads through 1960.
2) I’ve looked through dozens of this drive-in’s ads in the News, but I’ve never seen “Mountain” or “View” in any of them. Although industry publications stated its name in full English, I’m included to call this drive-in the “Mt. Vue” as it apparently wanted to be known.
Ruidoso News, May 22, 1953: “The new owners of the Pueblo theatre in Ruidoso took over the reins of management early this week, relieving Bern Wilson, manager for Theatre Enterprise, Inc., Dallas, Tex., from whom the pair, R. B. Briggs of Breckenridge and J. C. Capps, Denver City, bought the entertainment spot early this month. Briggs … said the new owners plan considerable remodeling of the Pueblo.”
Boxoffice, April 28, 1969: “Commonwealth Theatres has sold the Onate Theatre and Zia Drive-In, Belen, N. M., to Gilbert Tabet.”
Boxoffice, June 16, 1969: “Gilbert Tabet, new owner of the Onate Theatre at Belen, N.M., has reopened the house following renovations. The lobby has been recarpeted and paneled, the 559 seats have been reupholstered and the exterior (including marquee) has been redecorated”
Boxoffice, Oct. 21, 1974: “The newly remodeled Onate Theatre in Belen reopened Friday (11) … The theatre, which had been dark several months, was purchased earlier this year by Fred Chapman, who spent approximately $30,000 to renovate the house. Belen’s only movie theatre, the Onate now has 470 seats, including 120 new ones. The other 350 were rebuilt. Other improvements include: new black acoustic auditorium ceiling, overhead lighting system, enlarged lobby, new restrooms, new projection equipment, improved sound system, new snack bar and new boxoffice.”
The Santa Fe New Mexican wrote that the Trans-Lux theater folks bought the Starlighter in 1989, but it wasn’t as successful as Santa Fe’s Yucca, which Trans-Lux also owned at the time. Nevertheless, the Starlighter stayed open until at least Sept. 9, 1994, when it showed “Wagons East” with “Clear and Present Danger”.
Trans-Lux sold the Starlighter to a housing developer in early 1995, and the screen was taken down in April that year.
That’s the grand opening ad that appeared in the Clovis News-Journal on May 11, 1950. It’s probably in the public domain.
The former 4-Lane site, later a Stuckey’s, is now “Stickey’s,” a cannabis retailer. Google Maps has its address as 420 US-60 70 84, Clovis, NM 88101.
The 1958 topo map previously uploaded here showed the projection-concession building that matched a building in a 1983 aerial photo. Long story short, I think that it’s still there, now alone in a vacant lot, and Google Maps gives it the address of 2524 W 7th St, Clovis, NM 88101.
Following up that weird mention of the Comet screen in February 1957, in December 1957 the Clovis News-Journal ran a classified ad for residential lots “North of Comet Drive-In.” I’d love to know the reason for the delay between the screen’s erection and the August 1958 grand opening.
The Comet’s last ad in the News-Journal was on May 15, 1960. The next day, there was no Comet ad, and the ad for the co-owned Yucca included the note, “Watch for opening of La Fonda”. On May 19, as workers were dismantling the Comet’s screen, it toppled over, leaving it “in bad shape” and delaying the reopening of the La Fonda for several weeks until “a new screen will be constructed” there, co-owner Loyd Franklin said at the time. Later local histories said that the Comet screen moved to the La Fonda, so it’s unclear whether that was accurate.
Clovis News-Journal, July 24, 1960: “Loyd Franklin, operator of La Fonda Drive-In, reported to police Friday (22) that vandals broke and entered the defunct Comet Drive-In on W. 7th. Police said there was no damage.”
Notes from a morning rummaging around in the (Carrizozo) Lincoln County News:
The Nike opened on June 22, 1956 (quoted 20 years later - no movie info), built by Mr. and Mrs. Bill Skelton. Fred Miller leased the drive-in in September 1961, then Doug and Betty Willias leased it for the 1962 season. Robert (Bob) Means ran the Nike in 1963, and Bill Baker opened it for its final season in 1964. It closed on Sunday, Sept. 27, with a showing of “Captain Newman, M. D.” starring Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis.
The Nike’s sign was still there in July 1967, because that’s when a 15-year-old ran his car into it. Means bought the site from Skelton in 1969, planning to develop it as a trailer park; he said he’d keep the concession/projection building to use as a utility room. Means sold the screen for scrap in 1975, and it came down on Feb. 10 that year. At the time, Means said the Nike had closed in 1961, illustrating the unreliable nature of memory, even of a business one had operated just 12 years earlier. But I digress.
The Albuquerque Journal wrote in 1996 that a 75-year-old former cowboy was living in the Nike’s old projection room. And today, armed with NMDOT’s aerial and Google Maps, I see that the building is still there, surrounded by old cars and trucks. Maps' address for that building is 6465 US-380.
Unlike that odd Lazy H thing, the full-sized Corral was on the north highway, about where a Lowe’s is today. A good address would be 2519 W Pierce St, Carlsbad, NM 88220.
Something called the “Lazy H Corral Drive-In Pitcher Show / Just this side of White’s City” ran ads in the Carlsbad Current-Angus on August 1-16, 1946. I can’t find anything else about it, so I assume it was a makeshift event.
Theater Enterprise started construction on the real Corral in January 1952 and held its grand opening on April 13, 1952. The first movie was “Peggy.”
The Corral’s final ad in the Current-Angus said that it would close for the season on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1957. The final show was “The Searchers.” It apparently never reopened, and a 1960 article about a nearby small grass fire referred to it as “the old Corral Drive-In Theatre”.
Carlsbad Current-Argus, Wed., Sept. 26, 1979: “The Cavern Theater will close its doors Tuesday (Oct. 2nd) as a full-time theater, but will re-open on special occasions, holidays or when a suitable film product is available. Theater manager Abby Parrish … said that the theater will still house the (local Commonwealth Theaters) office. It will also be available for clubs and presentations … The last performance on Tuesday will be a showing of "Alien.” "
That “Now Open” ad coincided closely with the closing of Roswell’s Ballojak Drive-In, so the Cactus folks might have been trying to capture some of that business.
A Roswell Daily Record columnist wrote in 2018 that way back when, for a treat he would sometimes go to “the Cactus Drive-in to see the shows in Spanish, which was usually one of the more famous stars like Cantinflas, Antonio Aguilar and others.”
The first ad I could find for the Yucca in the Lovington Leader said it was “Now Open” on Sept. 21, 1951. Its program that night and the next was the 1947 John Wayne classic “Angel and the Badman,” plus cartoon and comedy (short?).
Unfortunately, the Leader, soon to be the Daily Leader, appears to have taken a few years off from running theater ads. Spot checks in the summers of 1955-57 turned up nothing for any movie house. In the summer of 1958, the Daily Leader ran ads for the indoor Lea and the Wildcat Drive-In, but nothing about the Yucca.
The Yucca’s last appearance in Frontier Theatres' list of holdings was in the 1960 Motion Picture Almanac; it was gone in the 1961 MPA.
Based on the aerial photos, the Skyline was about where the American’s St. Louis Ground Operations Center building is today. Its sign says its address is 10900 Lambert International Boulevard, and sure enough, Google Maps likes 10900 Lambert International Blvd, Bridgeton, MO 63044.
Chuck and Marianne James sold the Mesa to Marcella Snyder and her husband Jon Parkin, who also own the Tibbs Drive-In in Indianapolis. According to a nice, long article in today’s Pueblo Chieftain, they’re upgrading the plumbing and other stuff and hope to reopen on Memorial Day weekend this year.
This photo appeared in the May 8, 1966 issue of the Las Cruces Sun-News. The original caption:
Aggie Drive-In Theater, located at the intersection of the Truck Bypass and West Hadley, is shown in its last stages of completion. The opening is scheduled for Thursday (12) with “Charade,” starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, and “I’d Rather Be Rich,” with Sandra Dee and Andy Williams. The drive-in is equipped with a 90 x 60-foot giant screen and double-cone speakers for better listening. Lamar Gwaltney, the owner and operate of Los Cruces' newest outdoor theater, said there will be room for 600 cars. It will be open seven days a week. (Priestley)
The Las Cruces Sun-News announced on Aug. 19, 1948, the the Organ would open that night, but they were still working on the grill. The same grand opening ad ran again on Aug. 20, and the newspaper said that night would be the Organ’s premiere, so that was probably right.
When it opened the Organ had “modern central sound equipment, the same which is now used in Radio City Music Hall.” The type of loudspeaker was somehow “a recent development for the benefit of drive-in theaters, allows patrons to hear just as well with the car windows rolled up as when they are down.” (Huh?)
Predictably, it took less than a year for owner Homer Foster Bowington to announce he was installing RCA in-car speakers. After a couple of months of “coming soon” notes, the speakers were first advertised on Aug. 7, 1949.
The Organ closed for remodeling after the Nov. 3, 1954 shows, then reopened as the Fiesta on Jan. 16, 1955. Its second screen was added between July 1962 and September 1965, a Sun-News coverage gap at Newspapers.com. Video Independent Theaters bought the Aggie and the Fiesta in early 1967.
The local college student newspaper, the Round-Up, reported in February 1981 that Video’s local manager said that unlike in the big cities, “more people are going to the movies here than ever before.” The Fiesta (along with the Aggie) was still going strong at that point, and that’s the last I know about it.
The last ad I could find for the Mesa in the Farmington Daily Times was on Aug. 21, 1955, for shows through Monday, Aug. 22. Apparently, the Mesa’s final program was the Jack Palance film “Sign of the Pagan” and Maureen O'Sullivan in “Bonzo Goes to College”.
Did the Yucca last only two seasons? Its grand opening was definitely May 1, 1958, and the last movie ad I could find in the Farmington Daily Times was on Sept. 25, 1959, for shows through Saturday the 26th. Sunday’s Times had no Yucca ad, and the Oct. 4 issue’s ad said “Closed for the season / See you next spring!” Maybe it continued under the radar with Spanish-language movies, or maybe Allen Theatres saw it had built one drive-in too many.
Evidence of that last theory comes from the Oasis Drive-In, which was apparently never opened, so it doesn’t get a separate entry here on CT. Boxoffice said in January 1958 that the Allen group was starting the 986-car Oasis. An Academy Awards-themed ad on March 27, 1958 in the Times said that San Juan County patrons could watch the Oscar winners that summer at the Yucca, Rincon, Apache and Valley drive-ins, plus the Oasis Drive-In “soon”. Oasis Drive-In, Inc., incorporated in late April 1958. And that was the last Oasis Drive-In mention I could find until July 1978, when Oasis Drive-In passed along a warranty deed to Valley Drive-In Inc., which passed it to Larry Allen et al, which passed it to the City of Farmington.
I believe this belongs here.
Boxoffice, Oct. 19, 1957: “Porter Smith, owner of a drive-in at Aztec, N. M., and his manager, Paul Campbell, are building another drive-in. This one is between Aztec and Farmington, N. M., and will open in the spring”
Boxoffice, May 12, 1958: “Paul Campbell and Porter Smith have opened their new 350-car (with room for expansion) drive-in at Aztec, N. M. Campbell will manage”
The last ad I could find in the Farmington Daily Times for the Apache Twin was on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2001. The next day, the Apache was no longer included with the other theaters.
On March 15, 2002, a real estate ad appeared for 24 acres “known as the Apache Drive-In & adjacent properties.”
The Apache opened on May 29, 1952, with a free show featuring the 1950 film “My Friend Irma Goes West” with Tom & Jerry and Popeye cartoons.
The Rincon opened on June 1, 1954, according to a story and ad (below) in the Farmington Daily News. It had a snack bar, room for “more than 200 cars”, and was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Porter Smith, Mr. and Mrs. John Pettus and Mr. and Mrs. Ury Ealum.
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
The opening double feature was the 1951 Dane Clark film “Fort Defiance” followed by Angela Lansbury in the 1952 movie “Mutiny,” both in color.
Film Daily, Sept. 24, 1941: “E. C. Treib, 55, owner of the Capitan Theater, Roswell, and the Apache Theater at Ruidoso, N. M., was drowned in a flood while en route between these towns. Two employes, Pete Espinosa and Manual Chavez, in car with Treib are missing.”
With the following ad, the Mt. Vue added the “Sho-Dyn” to its weekly Ruidoso News ad.
1) With the chef image, the drive-in was probably trying to position its concession stand as a standalone, or at least featured, dining establishment. The Sho-Dyn stayed in its ads through 1960.
2) I’ve looked through dozens of this drive-in’s ads in the News, but I’ve never seen “Mountain” or “View” in any of them. Although industry publications stated its name in full English, I’m included to call this drive-in the “Mt. Vue” as it apparently wanted to be known.
Found on Newspaperarchive.com
Ruidoso News, May 22, 1953: “The new owners of the Pueblo theatre in Ruidoso took over the reins of management early this week, relieving Bern Wilson, manager for Theatre Enterprise, Inc., Dallas, Tex., from whom the pair, R. B. Briggs of Breckenridge and J. C. Capps, Denver City, bought the entertainment spot early this month. Briggs … said the new owners plan considerable remodeling of the Pueblo.”
Boxoffice, April 28, 1969: “Commonwealth Theatres has sold the Onate Theatre and Zia Drive-In, Belen, N. M., to Gilbert Tabet.”
Boxoffice, June 16, 1969: “Gilbert Tabet, new owner of the Onate Theatre at Belen, N.M., has reopened the house following renovations. The lobby has been recarpeted and paneled, the 559 seats have been reupholstered and the exterior (including marquee) has been redecorated”
Boxoffice, Oct. 21, 1974: “The newly remodeled Onate Theatre in Belen reopened Friday (11) … The theatre, which had been dark several months, was purchased earlier this year by Fred Chapman, who spent approximately $30,000 to renovate the house. Belen’s only movie theatre, the Onate now has 470 seats, including 120 new ones. The other 350 were rebuilt. Other improvements include: new black acoustic auditorium ceiling, overhead lighting system, enlarged lobby, new restrooms, new projection equipment, improved sound system, new snack bar and new boxoffice.”
The Santa Fe New Mexican wrote that the Trans-Lux theater folks bought the Starlighter in 1989, but it wasn’t as successful as Santa Fe’s Yucca, which Trans-Lux also owned at the time. Nevertheless, the Starlighter stayed open until at least Sept. 9, 1994, when it showed “Wagons East” with “Clear and Present Danger”.
Trans-Lux sold the Starlighter to a housing developer in early 1995, and the screen was taken down in April that year.