Capital Drive-In
3527 S. Monroe Street,
Tallahassee,
FL
32301
3527 S. Monroe Street,
Tallahassee,
FL
32301
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Kent Theatres Inc., Talgar Theatre Company
Architects: Prentiss Huddleston
Firms: Prentiss Huddleston & Associates
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Drive-In
Nearby Theaters
The Capital Drive-In opened May 25, 1948 with June Haver in “Three Little Girls in Blue”. It reopened as the Drive-In on July 15, 1949 with Guy Madison in “Massacre River”. It was operated by Talgar Theatres Co. and had a capacity for 400 cars. It had a policy to cater for ‘white patrons only’. In 1953 it was again renamed Capital Drive-In. By 1968 it was operated by Kent Theatres Inc. It was closed on January 9, 1983. The screen was destroyed by fire in 1988.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
Grand opening ad in the photo section and
Found on Newspapers.com
This theatre also opened earlier on May 25th, 1948 as the Capital Drive-In, owned by Frank Lewis and Bill Bailey.
A closer address (at least for Google) is 3501 Woodville HWY, Tallahassee, FL. The retention pond where the drive-in once stood is just to the south of the address.
https://tinyurl.com/y9bx6so9
Here is the ad that Tony refers to:
Found on Newspapers.com
It had a reopening as simply “Drive-In” on September 16th, 1949 and started to use the Capital Drive-In name again in 1953.
Closed in 1975. Screen burned down in 1988. Site is now a retention pond.
Image added confirms Kent Theaters of Tallahassee.
Correction: This theater was located at 3527 S Monroe St, Tallahassee, FL 32301. This points to the car wash next door. No trace of the drive in unfortunately…
Please update.
Please note that all the advertisements that we see for this drive-in used the correct spelling: Capital, with a second A.
Rule of thumb: the -ol only refers to the building. In every other case, from Piketty’s book to the capital city, use -al.
Actually, the Capital Drive-In closed for the final time on January 9, 1983 because of dwindling business. The theater then went up for sale along with its property for $334,000, and according to Kent Theatres Tallahassee manager Tom Bragdon, said that it was “too valuable for the amount of money that was turned over to the box office.”
Did this drive-in theatre ever get rid of the whites only policy?