Florence Drive-In
6809 Dixie Highway,
Florence,
KY
41042
6809 Dixie Highway,
Florence,
KY
41042
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Redstone Drive-In Theaters
Architects: George M. Peterson
Styles: Colonial Revival
Nearby Theaters
The Florence Drive-In was designed by George M. Peterson. It opened on May 22, 1947 with The Marx Brothers in “A Night in Casablanca”. It had a capacity for 800 cars. In August 1970 it was taken over by Redstone Drive-In Theaters. The Florence Drive-In closed in 1988 and has been demolished.
Contributed by
Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
I worked there and a few times at the Dixie Gardens Drive-In in 1970-1971. They were owned by the same company. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of either place.
opened as early as 1949.
Opened Thursday May 22,1947 with “A Night in Casablanca” starring the Marx Brothers. Capacity was 800 cars. Boone County Recorder news clipping in link below, and added to gallery, courtesy Boone County Local History Department.
https://nkyviews.com/boone/text/drive-in.html?fbclid=IwAR0suTeYpYlU0ZcOx2yrjBNcNJVOZb05jm8rBgDRfg1EwW79QWREXpT3e3s
Grand opening ad posed.
Boxoffice, Aug. 24, 1970: “Richard P. Ernst Realty Co., owner of the Dixie Drive-In and the Florence Drive-In, has announced that it will sell the two ozoners to Redstone Theatres of Boston. Both drive-ins were opened in 1946.”
Although the link I posted in 2022 has the May 22, 1947 date listed below the article and not on it, and “A Night in Casablanca” was released May 10, 1946, May 22, 1947 is confirmed as a Thursday as the article states. I tend to believe the Boone County Register. There was a preview that Wednesday night. We might have to search other local newspapers for those dates to confirm 1947 over 1946. But my guess is someone at Boxoffice at the time looked up what year that film was released, and went with it as the opening year.
Is there anything on this site now?
Appears to be housing, might be a retirement estate.
Sorry for any misunderstanding, everybody. When I post a quote, it’s just a quote. In this case, the main reason was to show the change of ownership.
When there’s no primary evidence of an opening date, a later quote can provide some indication. But when the opening date has already been nailed down pretty well (such as with the Florence), I sometimes leave it in to show the fallibility of memory, and why we should treat such decades-later statements with a grain of salt.
Thank you. Your updates help the Admins fix the Overviews with ownership changes. I just chimed in so that the opening date gets reviewed by them before making changes if needed. In this case I’d say it does not. Thank you for all your posts.