Sky-Vue Drive-In

On “The Speaker Post” on Facebook, I post a min video of them disassembling the screen.. July 30th 2024 I also took several photos of the area.. Playground equip still there but in sad shape.. Swings appears to be in decent condition tho.. They were dug up and moved away from the screen.. Randy A Carlisle (Facebook) [DJ-Real Oldies & Retro Oldies] RAC Photography

At the time of the fire, they were screening the peanuts movie

Looks like a time capsule and pretty intact. There wasn’t a No Trespassing sign so I ventured in a bit to get pics. All the kiddie park items are still there, just long grass and lots of neglect.

@dansdriveintheater the lot next door has the drive in shape also. If it was a drive-in theater it may have been a twin.

FDY and IMPA both list a Fiesta Drive-In, Lamesa, TX, from 1957 to 1970. Sky Vu Drive-In and Yucca Drive-In are also listed, so there appears to have been three drive-ins operating in Lamesa.

The Alco was North of town.

I checked the “Mike Rivest Ultimate List of Movie Theaters” site, and two other drive-in theaters were listed for Lamesa, Texas besides the Sky-Vue. The Yucca Drive-In on the Big Springs Highway had the year range ?1950-?1975 listed. The Fiesta Drive-In didn’t have an address listed, but the year range ?1961-?1975 was included. I searched old Topo Maps and found the Yucca Drive-In but not the Fiesta. Where is the Alco store located?

First of all, the snack bar was all that burned. While this was tragic, the screen, the projection booth, the digital projectors, all were untouched by the fire. Now rather the Kirklands rebuild it, time will tell. I think Sam wants to, but he is getting close to retirement age and has a big decision to make. I personally hope he reopens. I grew up going to the Skyview and so did my kids. It was a really fun place with great food.

This theatre reportedly was destroyed by fire on Friday, 11/27/2015. Whether it was just the concession stand that burned or also the screen, ticket booth, marquee, etc., the story linked below is not clear about.

http://bit.ly/lamesaskyvue

Here is another view of the screen and marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/l5sqly

That can’t be the screen it’s too low

Here’s a little Sky-Vue anecdote for all.

I asked my mother about her experience singing for the crowd at the Sky-Vue, and this is an excerpt from my mother’s reply:

“I talked to Patsie [my aunt] yesterday and she remembered a few things about our "debut” at the Sky-Vue.  She said we sang there in June of 1949. 

I remember I wore a pique green and white dress and she remembers she wore a red dress with white stitching that she had made.  She said her date had on a white fuzzy shirt that shed on her red dress.  Guess that means she was sitting close to him on the drive to Lamesa.  The only song we can remember singing was “Blue Skirt Waltz."  We stood on the roof of the snack bar or the ramp house as they called it. 

She thinks Skeet Noret knew about us from a Lion’s Club Convention, when we represented the Seagraves Lions Club.  They gave us a rhinestone necklace and earrings with “Lions Club Sweethearts” on it.    I still have them.  Funny they could only muster up one pair.  Patsie thinks Skeet must have been there and that’s why he asked us to sing.  I wondered how he got in touch with us, since we had no telephone.  Who knows?

She and I both think we might have sung “Truck Driver’s Blues”, but we can’t be sure.  Gosh, that was so long ago.  She said the new drive in being built in Lubbock is out on the Clovis highway."

My mother is Marjore Chronister, and my aunt is Patsie Ross Milosevich. At the time they sang, they were Patsie and Marjore Scales. They grew up on a farm in Wellman, and moved to Lubbock for college. My uncles went to LHS and Tech as well, although no record exists of them singing at the Sky-Vue. Knowing their personalities, though, I’m sure each of them spent some time at the drive in, in either the front or back seat…