Mini Drive-In
4515 E. 7th Street,
Joplin,
MO
64801
4515 E. 7th Street,
Joplin,
MO
64801
1 person
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A “Cine-360” theater, built by the Mini-Art Operating Company in 1971 on E. 7th Street, Joplin, MO. A circular drive-in with 118 small individual screens arranged around a central concession/projection building. Ideal for the showing of adult films that could not be seen by passersby if surrounded by 3 to 5 foot fencing. Its single-reel automated projection equipment made for low-cost operation. It closed in 1985 and the remnants of the Mini-Art were still standing, hidden in a weedy field, as late as 2016.
Contributed by
John Story
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
A closer address (at least for Google) is 4485 E 7th St. Joplin, MO.
This places it right on the property and you can still see the remnants of the drive-in which include the center platform, the ring, and what may be the remains of the ticket booth.
https://tinyurl.com/yafwvcwj
Was it small in size too?
The picture above looks like look the autoscope(?) Drive-in(Arizona?)?
Same concept!!
Correction, i meant the Circle Autoscope Drive-in in New Mexico.
Sort of looks like a crop circle with a round building at the center. would love to explore this D-I.
A closer address is 4515 E 7th St, Joplin, MO.
Google Maps has revised their addresses and this puts it right on the entrance road.
The property is almost entirely overgrown save for the track and a little of the entrance road itself.
https://tinyurl.com/4mn4ctjr
Another reason this drive-in survived (beyond the obvious) for so long? Perhaps as a working showcase. Boxoffice magazine’s Modern Theatre Buyers' Directory for Aug. 28, 1972, included a page about the Joplin-based Mini-Art Operating Company, which apparently held the rights to the old autoscope blueprints. The company’s ad in that issue offered:
“The Mini-Art Operating Company invites all theatre people interested to visit the MINI Drive-In Theatre, Joplin, Mo., on East 7th St. Nitely screenings of adult films. (Sorry, no one under 18 admitted at night.) Please present theatre identification to our Manager, Mr. Ed Kelly, at the boxoffice.”