Dixie Drive-In
185 Phillips Road 241,
West Helena,
AR
72390
185 Phillips Road 241,
West Helena,
AR
72390
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The Dixie Drive-In was located west of West Helena and sat on the NW corner of US Highway 49 and Phillips Road.
Run by G. Boggs, the drive-in opened on May 13, 1966 with Glenn Ford in “The Rounders” & Robert Mitchum in “Mister Moses”. It was closed in 1981 and was demolished.
Today, there is a building located on the south end of the property, but the drive-in itself is overgrown with only a faint outline of the ramps remaining.
Contributed by
Ken McElhaney
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The 1949-50 and 1950-51 Theatre Catalogs each had only one drive-in in West Helena, the 4th Street, Exec: Ed Blair, capacity 300. I’m not sure whether that’s the same drive-in.
The 1952 Theatre Catalog had only one drive-in in West Helena, the Airvue, Exec: J. L. Anderson, capacity 200.
The Exhibitor, March 5, 1952: “S. W. Anderson, West Helena, Ark., … announced the opening of his Airview Drive-In.”
The Exhibitor, March 26, 1952: “The Airview Drive-In, West Helena, Ark., and the Starlight, Kosciusko, Miss., opened for the season.”
The Motion Picture Almanac listed the Airvue through its 1976 edition. When it rebooted its drive-in list in 1977, West Helena’s drive-in became the Dixie.
The Dixie Drive-In opened its gates on May 13, 1966 with “The Rounders” and “Mr. Moses”. The Dixie Drive-In is a replacement of the nearby 200-car Airvue Drive-In on U.S. 49 (then-known as Highway 20) which closed three days later.
What’s also unique about both theaters is that just like the Dixie Drive-In, the old Airvue Drive-In which operated from May 15, 1951 until May 16, 1966 also replaced another drive-in called the 4th Street Drive-In (or Drive-In Theatre as advertised) which operated from August 11, 1949 until April 23, 1951 (both the Airvue and the 4th Street will have their own Cinema Treasures pages soon).
The Dixie Drive-In closed in late-1981.