Boxoffice, April 7, 1969: “Woodie and Mattie Sylvester hosted a grand opening of their beautiful Vesta Theatre Wednesday and Thursday, March 26 and 27 … "The Wrecking Crew” was the screen attraction at both affairs … The building, at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway and just across the street west from the Tech Theatre, is owned by Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Kelley. The Sylvesters also own and operate the Tech and the forty-WEST Drive-In."
The July 17, 1967 issue of Boxoffice reported, “W. B. Sylvester, who owns and operates the downtown Tech Theatre and the forty-WEST Drive-In at Weatherford is taking over operation of the Bulldog Theatre, also in Weatherford, as of August 1. For several years the Bulldog has been operated by Dennis Collier, who also operated the 89er in Kingfisher.”
The following week, Boxoffice noted that one of the Oklahoma City Filmrow visitors was Woodie Sylvester “who is taking over the Bulldog … August 1 and will close it”.
The Sept. 18 issue said that Sylvester was “remodeling the Bulldog Theatre which he recently took over from Dennis Collier”, but the Sept. 25 issue clarified that the Bulldog was “being remodeled for another type of business than a theatre.”
In the Oklahoma City notes from the March 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice: “Frank Henry, Caddo Drive-In in Anadarko, who was here to meet with Athel Boyter on the buying and booking. The drive-in is expected to reopen in the next few weeks”
The Kigalia (note the single L) was at 200 North Grayson Parkway according to an excellent summary at UtahTheatres.info. That site says that the drive-in was built by Floyd Nielson and Sons, who opened it on June 18, 1955, and that it closed in 1964.
The Daily Oklahoman, in a drive-in roundup published Aug. 21, 2005, wrote, “You can spend some time weeping because you missed seeing a movie at the Tahlequah Drive-In, opened in 1949 and closed by a tornado two years ago”
Lately I’ve been digging into the newspaper records for the Sundown. Jack and Jimmie Hull opened it on July 3, 1951. By September 1952, M. A. Harris was running the drive-in.
On Aug. 28, 1955, the screen suffered “extensive storm damage” and workers were hurriedly making repairs. Just a few weeks later, on Sept. 29, “hurricane-force winds” finished the job, destroying the screen and the concession stand.
And that’s it. I can’t find any evidence of the Sundown ever reopening except for the Motion Picture Almanac, which has been known to overlook closed drive-ins, and a similar item in a Film Daily Year Book list. Does anyone else here have a solid reference proving that the Sundown rebuilt?
The Olympic was remodeled in spring 1950, adding a playground, enlarging the rest rooms, and swapping in better in-car speakers. Maybe that was when its screen tower switched from the plain one shown in its grand opening ad to its famous Pacific mural? The surfers were definitely there by August 1951, when they appeared in a (Venice CA) Evening Vanguard newspaper ad.
There were a lot of conflicting references to the Olympic’s capacity. A month before it opened, the Citizen News said the drive-in would be able to hold 800 cars. In September 1945, the Evening Vanguard ran a press-release type of article that said 1200 cars. Then in March 1950, in a story about upcoming Easter services there, the Evening Vanguard mentioned “the 820 cars which can be accommodated on the large parking lot”.
I visited the Sky View last Saturday and noticed a couple of things.
First, the drive-in is for sale. Despite the Pastrovich families' five-year-old quote (see above) that they “plan to run it as a drive-in indefinitely,” they are now looking to sell it to “new caretakers”. If you’ve got a spare $420,000, that could be you. Route66News noted the listing on May 2. The families' press release is on the Illinois Route 66 site. Note that the press release calls it the “Skyview” as one word, though the historic marker in front is unchanged.
Second, I drove the post-1940 alignment of Route 66 and missed the Sky View. It turns out that this drive-in was never on the Mother Road when it was active; it’s on a road that was Route 66 only until 1940. For all of the Sky View’s life, it has been one block east of 66.
Thanks to a visit to the Miami Public Library’s microfilm collection of the Miami Daily News-Record, I now know that the original Sooner opened on July 2, 1953.
I’m not sure which was the first movie it showed, because its ad that day promised the 1951 flick “Two Tickets to Broadway” … “starring Virginia Mayo, Gloria DeHaven, Dennis Morgan, Gene Nelson”. Except that none of those performers were in that movie; they were all in the 1951 film “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine”.
According to an Abilene KS Tourism site, Tom Knight bought a C. W. Parker carousel in 1959 and installed it at the drive-in. A 1975 AP wire story about Abilene’s fund-raising drive to buy it said that it had been used at the drive-in “until about three years ago”, so I guess Commonwealth put the carousel in storage soon after it bought the drive-in.
Joplin (MO) News Herald, Aug. 1, 1968: “Extensive damage was done to the concession stand and projection equipment at the Parsons drive-in theater by fire about 8 o'clock Wednesday night. The blaze apparently started in the vicinity of the popcorn machine. The Parsons fire department went to the scene and was there nearly an hour and a half. The theater was closed after the fire due to damage to the equipment. There were no injuries.”
Joplin News Herald, Aug. 31, 1964: “A brief thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy winds, whipped through Arnold (MO) Sunday afternoon, injuring five persons and damaging property … Most of a 1,000-foot-long fence was blown down at the 61 South Drive-In Theater north of Herculaneum and the Marquee was damaged.”
Here’s a fun AP wire story, dateline Ontario, Calif., so it probably refers to the Valley. (It ran in the Dec. 17, 1963 Joplin (MO) News Herald.)
“A drive-in theater is short two essential items today - cash and popcorn. Detectives said burglars covered floors and concrete walks with popcorn kernels to make things easier when they wheeled out a 350-poiunts safe containing $6,000 from the theater office. The kernels acted like ball bearings.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included Centerville’s Town and Country Drive-In, capacity 400 cars, owners “Wayne McCalment and Bob Martin, and A. A. Renfro, Omaha, Neb.”
A UPI wire service story, carried on the following day’s front page of the Joplin (MO) News Herald, said that a severe windstorm on Aug. 8, 1956, leveled Centerville’s drive-in theater about midnight.
No, davidcoppock, that’s not accurate. The undated season-opening ad that’s in this drive-in’s photo section here couldn’t have before 1955, because that’s when that movie, The Americano, was released.
The 1951 grand (or season-) opening ad I referenced above unfortunately included no details about the movies that night.
Looks like this was always the Edgewood. An ad/column in the July 2, 1950 issue of the Neosho Daily Democrat by Hugh Gardner mentioned that his 30th anniversary of his presence in town while “we are in the midst of contract letting for the new EDGEWOOD DRIVE-IN, that we hope to be able to open sometime in September for at least a few weeks operation before cold weather.”
Although the indoor Band Box and Orpheum theaters advertised regularly in the Daily Democrat, the Edgewood didn’t do so very often. One ad, on May 18, 1951, was for the Edgewood’s “grand opening”, though it’s possible that it was just a seasonal opening.
According to the March 26, 1952 issue of Variety, that’s about when Sol Frank bought the Starview, probably fro Alspach and Anderson of McPherson, who sold him the Hillcrest Drive-In of Beatrice NE.
According to the March 26, 1952 issue of Variety, that’s about when Sol Frank sold the Chief as part of a deal to buy the Hillcrest Drive-In in Beatrice NE.
The Exhibitor, Aug. 9, 1950: “Cannon Theatres, Live Oak, Fla., opened the Nova Drive-In, with room for 200 cars. This makes six theatres and drive-ins for this company.”
Boxoffice, May 6, 1963: “A new building containing projection booth, cafeteria, restrooms and concessionaire’s offices was constructed at the Quincy Drive-In, West Quincy, prior to the spring opening of the Kerasotes airer. The building, with completely new equipment in every area, replaces one destroyed by fire last December.”
Boxoffice, April 29, 1963: “Joe Serugo of Key West, former owner of the Islander Drive-In, the southernmost airer in the continental U.S., died April 11 … The Islander is managed by Ed Chumley, former Paramount manager of this city.”
Boxoffice, April 7, 1969: “Woodie and Mattie Sylvester hosted a grand opening of their beautiful Vesta Theatre Wednesday and Thursday, March 26 and 27 … "The Wrecking Crew” was the screen attraction at both affairs … The building, at the southwest corner of Main and Broadway and just across the street west from the Tech Theatre, is owned by Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Kelley. The Sylvesters also own and operate the Tech and the forty-WEST Drive-In."
The July 17, 1967 issue of Boxoffice reported, “W. B. Sylvester, who owns and operates the downtown Tech Theatre and the forty-WEST Drive-In at Weatherford is taking over operation of the Bulldog Theatre, also in Weatherford, as of August 1. For several years the Bulldog has been operated by Dennis Collier, who also operated the 89er in Kingfisher.”
The following week, Boxoffice noted that one of the Oklahoma City Filmrow visitors was Woodie Sylvester “who is taking over the Bulldog … August 1 and will close it”.
The Sept. 18 issue said that Sylvester was “remodeling the Bulldog Theatre which he recently took over from Dennis Collier”, but the Sept. 25 issue clarified that the Bulldog was “being remodeled for another type of business than a theatre.”
In the Oklahoma City notes from the March 7, 1966 issue of Boxoffice: “Frank Henry, Caddo Drive-In in Anadarko, who was here to meet with Athel Boyter on the buying and booking. The drive-in is expected to reopen in the next few weeks”
The Kigalia (note the single L) was at 200 North Grayson Parkway according to an excellent summary at UtahTheatres.info. That site says that the drive-in was built by Floyd Nielson and Sons, who opened it on June 18, 1955, and that it closed in 1964.
This ad gives us a couple of opening dates. For the Westland, it was May 18, 1950. And now we know that the 66 Drive-In opened on April 5, 1949.
The Daily Oklahoman, in a drive-in roundup published Aug. 21, 2005, wrote, “You can spend some time weeping because you missed seeing a movie at the Tahlequah Drive-In, opened in 1949 and closed by a tornado two years ago”
Lately I’ve been digging into the newspaper records for the Sundown. Jack and Jimmie Hull opened it on July 3, 1951. By September 1952, M. A. Harris was running the drive-in.
On Aug. 28, 1955, the screen suffered “extensive storm damage” and workers were hurriedly making repairs. Just a few weeks later, on Sept. 29, “hurricane-force winds” finished the job, destroying the screen and the concession stand.
And that’s it. I can’t find any evidence of the Sundown ever reopening except for the Motion Picture Almanac, which has been known to overlook closed drive-ins, and a similar item in a Film Daily Year Book list. Does anyone else here have a solid reference proving that the Sundown rebuilt?
Here’s a pre-opening drawing of the drive-in. It looks a lot like one of Hollinghead’s patent drawings, but the ramp height is more pronounced.
The Olympic was remodeled in spring 1950, adding a playground, enlarging the rest rooms, and swapping in better in-car speakers. Maybe that was when its screen tower switched from the plain one shown in its grand opening ad to its famous Pacific mural? The surfers were definitely there by August 1951, when they appeared in a (Venice CA) Evening Vanguard newspaper ad.
There were a lot of conflicting references to the Olympic’s capacity. A month before it opened, the Citizen News said the drive-in would be able to hold 800 cars. In September 1945, the Evening Vanguard ran a press-release type of article that said 1200 cars. Then in March 1950, in a story about upcoming Easter services there, the Evening Vanguard mentioned “the 820 cars which can be accommodated on the large parking lot”.
I visited the Sky View last Saturday and noticed a couple of things.
First, the drive-in is for sale. Despite the Pastrovich families' five-year-old quote (see above) that they “plan to run it as a drive-in indefinitely,” they are now looking to sell it to “new caretakers”. If you’ve got a spare $420,000, that could be you. Route66News noted the listing on May 2. The families' press release is on the Illinois Route 66 site. Note that the press release calls it the “Skyview” as one word, though the historic marker in front is unchanged.
Second, I drove the post-1940 alignment of Route 66 and missed the Sky View. It turns out that this drive-in was never on the Mother Road when it was active; it’s on a road that was Route 66 only until 1940. For all of the Sky View’s life, it has been one block east of 66.
Thanks to a visit to the Miami Public Library’s microfilm collection of the Miami Daily News-Record, I now know that the original Sooner opened on July 2, 1953.
I’m not sure which was the first movie it showed, because its ad that day promised the 1951 flick “Two Tickets to Broadway” … “starring Virginia Mayo, Gloria DeHaven, Dennis Morgan, Gene Nelson”. Except that none of those performers were in that movie; they were all in the 1951 film “Painting the Clouds with Sunshine”.
According to an Abilene KS Tourism site, Tom Knight bought a C. W. Parker carousel in 1959 and installed it at the drive-in. A 1975 AP wire story about Abilene’s fund-raising drive to buy it said that it had been used at the drive-in “until about three years ago”, so I guess Commonwealth put the carousel in storage soon after it bought the drive-in.
Joplin (MO) News Herald, Aug. 1, 1968: “Extensive damage was done to the concession stand and projection equipment at the Parsons drive-in theater by fire about 8 o'clock Wednesday night. The blaze apparently started in the vicinity of the popcorn machine. The Parsons fire department went to the scene and was there nearly an hour and a half. The theater was closed after the fire due to damage to the equipment. There were no injuries.”
Joplin News Herald, Aug. 31, 1964: “A brief thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy winds, whipped through Arnold (MO) Sunday afternoon, injuring five persons and damaging property … Most of a 1,000-foot-long fence was blown down at the 61 South Drive-In Theater north of Herculaneum and the Marquee was damaged.”
Here’s a fun AP wire story, dateline Ontario, Calif., so it probably refers to the Valley. (It ran in the Dec. 17, 1963 Joplin (MO) News Herald.)
“A drive-in theater is short two essential items today - cash and popcorn. Detectives said burglars covered floors and concrete walks with popcorn kernels to make things easier when they wheeled out a 350-poiunts safe containing $6,000 from the theater office. The kernels acted like ball bearings.”
The 1955-56 Theatre Catalog included Centerville’s Town and Country Drive-In, capacity 400 cars, owners “Wayne McCalment and Bob Martin, and A. A. Renfro, Omaha, Neb.”
A UPI wire service story, carried on the following day’s front page of the Joplin (MO) News Herald, said that a severe windstorm on Aug. 8, 1956, leveled Centerville’s drive-in theater about midnight.
High-resolution versions of this photo are available from the Library of Congress’s John Margolies Roadside America photograph archive, which is effectively in the public domain.
No, davidcoppock, that’s not accurate. The undated season-opening ad that’s in this drive-in’s photo section here couldn’t have before 1955, because that’s when that movie, The Americano, was released.
The 1951 grand (or season-) opening ad I referenced above unfortunately included no details about the movies that night.
Looks like this was always the Edgewood. An ad/column in the July 2, 1950 issue of the Neosho Daily Democrat by Hugh Gardner mentioned that his 30th anniversary of his presence in town while “we are in the midst of contract letting for the new EDGEWOOD DRIVE-IN, that we hope to be able to open sometime in September for at least a few weeks operation before cold weather.”
Although the indoor Band Box and Orpheum theaters advertised regularly in the Daily Democrat, the Edgewood didn’t do so very often. One ad, on May 18, 1951, was for the Edgewood’s “grand opening”, though it’s possible that it was just a seasonal opening.
According to the March 26, 1952 issue of Variety, that’s about when Sol Frank bought the Starview, probably fro Alspach and Anderson of McPherson, who sold him the Hillcrest Drive-In of Beatrice NE.
According to the March 26, 1952 issue of Variety, that’s about when Sol Frank sold the Chief as part of a deal to buy the Hillcrest Drive-In in Beatrice NE.
The Exhibitor, Aug. 9, 1950: “Cannon Theatres, Live Oak, Fla., opened the Nova Drive-In, with room for 200 cars. This makes six theatres and drive-ins for this company.”
Boxoffice, May 6, 1963: “A new building containing projection booth, cafeteria, restrooms and concessionaire’s offices was constructed at the Quincy Drive-In, West Quincy, prior to the spring opening of the Kerasotes airer. The building, with completely new equipment in every area, replaces one destroyed by fire last December.”
Boxoffice, April 29, 1963: “Bob Baum has taken over management of the local Negro-patronage Skyview Drive-In.”
Boxoffice, April 29, 1963: “Joe Serugo of Key West, former owner of the Islander Drive-In, the southernmost airer in the continental U.S., died April 11 … The Islander is managed by Ed Chumley, former Paramount manager of this city.”