Lakemont Drive-In

4104 Airport Highway,
Louisville, TN 37777

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Lakemont Drive-In

The Lakemont Drive-In was located on Highway 129 (Alcoa Highway) just a few miles north of McGee Tyson Airport. It was on the right if you were driving from Alcoa towards Knoxville. It was not actually inside the city of Alcoa, but the mailing address was Alcoa. I believe it was actually in a little community known as Lakemont.

It was opened on June 18, 1948 with Tom Drake in “Courage of Lassie”. I went there often in the 1970’s. The most interesting feature of the Lakemont Drive-In was that it was built on a fairly steep hill, with the screen at the bottom of the hill, so that if you were in the back, you were actually looking down at the screen. Above the screen, you had a panoramic view of Fort Loudon Lake across the highway in the distance.

The Lakemont Drive-In in the early-1970’s showed a lot of movies from exploitation distributor Cinemation Industries, and it was there that I saw the famous (then X-rated, though pretty tame by today’s standards) cartoon “Fritz the Cat”. Other exploitation classics I saw there included “I Eat Your Skin, I Drink Your Blood”, and “Hunchback of the Morgue”.

It was closed on November 25, 1984 with Ralph Macchio in “The Karate Kid”. I assume the Lakemont Drive-In is now long gone, as the area around it was starting to become suburban in the 1970’s, and probably swallowed it up.

Contributed by Bob Brown

Recent comments (view all 11 comments)

bbrown1
bbrown1 on June 12, 2009 at 2:15 am

You can see an aerial view of the remains of the Lakemont Drive In at the link below. Apparently, it closed in the late 80’s

http://www.drive-ins.com/pictures/tntlake001.jpg

I had a friend who lived in a small trailer located just behind the screen (at the bottom of the photo where the car lot is now) in the early 70’s. This photo brings back a lot of memories.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 14, 2010 at 10:28 pm

Now Showing Sept.11 1967 was the 007 spoof “CASINO ROYLE” with no second feature,which was rare for Drive-ins located near large cities such as Knoxville.

Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers on March 14, 2010 at 10:34 pm

Sept 24 1967 sees the LAKEMONT showing “FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE” in keeping with their showings no sceond feature. That coming Wed. and Thursday was one feature “DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE”. However, over the weekend they did play two features and for Friday and Saturday being “DIVORCE AMERICAN STYLE” and “THE FORTUNE COOKIE”

Silicon Sam
Silicon Sam on March 15, 2010 at 12:50 am

Looks like it’s right here…… at 4160 block of Alcoa Hwy.

View link

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on March 15, 2010 at 10:15 pm

Thanks for the info Mike.

jwmovies
jwmovies on October 18, 2012 at 12:30 pm

Approx. address for this drive-in was 4116 Airport Highway, Louisville, Tennessee 37777.

rivest266
rivest266 on September 3, 2018 at 9:33 pm

Listings started in the Knoxville newspaper from January 1949.

tntim
tntim on October 17, 2022 at 2:25 am

The Lakemont opened on June 18, 1948. It was the first drive-in built in the Metro Knoxville area. I have posted the opening ad in the photo section.

tntim
tntim on June 5, 2024 at 6:32 pm

The Lakemont closed on November 25, 1984. The final ad is posted in the photo section.

Kenmore
Kenmore on June 5, 2024 at 8:55 pm

A closer address is 4104 Airport Hwy, Louisville, TN.

Google Maps has updated their addresses and this puts it right in the middle of the property.

Today, it is overgrown with trees, but you can still see the outline, ramps, and foundation for the screen.

https://tinyurl.com/2wyc3vys

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