As hard as it is to believe, the last drive-in movie theater in Corpus Christi turned out its lights for good more than 40 years ago. Even then, in the early 1980s, the heyday of the drive-in picture show had long since faded into the past. For those who still remember, there was nothing quite like the experience of a drive-in movie.
The idea of showing movies on a huge outdoor screen while viewers sat in their cars dates back to June 6, 1933, when a man named Richard Hollingshead opened the world’s first drive-in theater in Camden, New Jersey. It was an instant hit with the public who came to the place “Where the whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.” Soon, drive-in theaters began popping up all over the country. Texas came aboard quickly, opening the country’s third drive-in on July 5, 1934, in Galveston. Unfortunately, a hurricane destroyed the theater just 20 days after its opening, and it was not rebuilt.
Corpus Christi opened its first drive-in theater on November 12, 1939. Built by C.A. Richter, it was billed as “the first drive-in theater in Texas.” The “Texas Drive-in” was located on Highway 9 near what would later become the Greyhound Race Track. It opened with a Bing Crosby movie and attracted large crowds eager to try out this new form of entertainment. Its life was relatively short, however. It would close on November 5, 1948, just two weeks after a new, larger drive-in, also constructed by Charles A. Richter, opened a few blocks away. Located on Highway 9 at Baldwin, the new “Corpus Drive-in” opened on October 21, 1948. It had a capacity for 300 cars and a larger screen. The “Corpus” would operate until 1958, eventually falling to competition from many other, much larger, drive-ins in the city that opened during the 1950’s.
The drive-in experience would become an iconic cultural phenomenon as families flocked to the outdoor theaters. A whole family could go to the drive-in for as little as $1.00 for the entire carload. Unlike indoor theaters, movie-goers did not have to “dress up” for the drive-in. Many brought lawn chairs or blankets to spread out on the ground for seating outside of their cars. Each parking spot had its own individual speaker for sound. Drive-ins had elaborate concession stands, but one could bring in their own food, drinks, and popcorn if they wished. Most of the theaters provided a playground for the children to entertain themselves before the movie would start at sundown. The Drive-in offered a unique blend of privacy and social interaction. It was a place where families could watch a movie together, teenagers could go on inexpensive dates, and diverse members of a community could gather for a shared experience. Drive-ins were more than just places to watch films; they were social hubs where people connected. Nostalgic memories of the drive-in experience exist to this day. Who can forget the hot summer nights when the smell of burning mosquito coils permeated the air? How many of us accidentally drove away from our spot after the movie, forgetting to remove the speaker from the car window? And teens of the era certainly remember sneaking friends into the theater in the trunks of their cars.
In February 1942, Corpus Christi’s second drive-in theater, the “Boulevard” opened on the outskirts of town. It was located on the newly constructed Lexington Boulevard, built by the Navy to connect NAS with its auxiliary fields. This theater was owned by Charles A. Richter who had built the “Texas Drive-in”, Corpus Christi’s first drive-in, three years earlier. The Boulevard’s 2 story, fully air-conditioned concession building was constructed at a cost of $150,000. The building housed the projection booth, four theater offices, restrooms, and a cafeteria-style concession. The building was said to be the largest and finest of its kind in Texas. The Boulevard would close in 1961 when Charles A. Richter decided to construct a 100,000-square-foot discount trade market on the site. It was to be called the “Gulf Coast Consumers Mart”. It was later called the “Corpus Christi Trade Center”, which exists on the property to this day.
The shortest run of any drive-in theater in Corpus Christi belongs to the “Cuddihy Drive-in,” which opened at Cuddihy Field on August 30, 1947. The city had recently acquired the field from the Navy and was renting space to a number of businesses located there. The theater would close in November 1947 after only 3 months in operation.
The “Corpus Drive-in” would open on October 21, 1948, on Highway 9 at Baldwin. With a capacity for 300 cars, the popular drive-in would operate for 10 years before closing in 1958. It would remain vacant until 1967, when a man named Johnny Blocker bought the property, expanded the capacity to 600 cars and re-opened the theater with a new name…..the “Thunderbird Drive-in”. Attendance at drive-ins was already waning by the mid 1970’s, but Mike Bonitez and Robert Rodriquez would purchase the theater in 1979. They would show movies at night but would operate a huge flea market on Saturday and Sunday to supplement income. Eventually, the movies would end, and the old drive-in would become the site of one of the largest flea markets in the city. The massive theater screen, with its majestic depiction of a Thunderbird on the back side, would remain standing until May of 1997. It would be the last remaining Drive-in theater screen in the city to come down.
The heyday of drive-in theaters was during the 1950s. In Corpus Christi, six new drive-ins would open from 1949 to 1957. The “Gulf Drive-in,” with its distinctive seagull mural on the back of the screen, opened in January 1949 on Port Avenue at Horne Road, with a capacity for 750 cars. The theater would remain open until November 5, 1978. It screened Spanish language films in its last 10 years of existence.
Today, a Home Depot occupies the old site of the Gulf Drive-in. Next to open was one of the most unique drive-ins in the city.
The “Osage Drive-in”, owned by Chester Kyle and Lester Miller, opened in March 1951 on a 12 acre site at South Staples and Everhart. Like most drive-in theaters, the Osage had a large playground area for children. But, the Osage also had an enclosed “Kiddie Lounge” for toddlers and a large patio area with outdoor chairs for those who did not want to sit in their cars to see the movie. The biggest attraction at the Osage was a two-mile-long track for a miniature train that surrounded the perimeter of the property. The locomotive, an exact replica of Missouri Pacific’s “Texas Eagle,” pulled five coaches full of excited kids. The Osage, however, had a relatively short life. It would close in August 1960 to make way for the construction of Parkdale State Bank and the “Autotown” complex.
Two new drive-ins would open in 1952. The “Buccaneer Drive-in” at S. Port Avenue and Tarlton and the Twin Palms, located at 4717 Agnes. The Buccaneer would survive until 1983, becoming one of the last drive-ins to close in Corpus Christi. Today, a large HEB food store occupies the site. The Twin Palms, the city’s first two-screen drive-in, would become notorious in its later years for showing adult, x-rated films. The owners were frequently in trouble with police for violating the city’s obscenity laws. It closed in 1981.
The “Surf Drive-in” joined the growing list of outdoor theaters in February 1953. Located on Ayers at Gollihar, the Surf was less than a mile and a half away from the Gulf and Buccaneer Drive-ins. It became the 8th drive-in theater operating in the small city of Corpus Christi, but the building of new drive-ins continued. On December 15, 1954, the “Bel-Aire Drive-in” opened with a free movie at 6202 Lexington Boulevard (where Auto Nation Ford stands today). When the Bel-Aire was sold to new owners in 1956, the name was changed to the “Lexington Drive-in”. It operated at this site until 1968, when the land became too valuable for use as a drive-in theater location.
The last, and most grand of Corpus Christi drive-in theaters to be constructed was the “Viking Twin Drive-in”. It opened on Ayers at Lexington on August 11, 1957. Built by owner John Blocker, the theater covered 30 acres and was billed as the largest drive-in theater in the South. Its massive twin screens measured 120 by 50 feet. The concession building, the largest in the city, could serve over 300 people, and huge patios on either side of the building could seat up to 500. A fenced playground, called “Candy Cane City”, was said to be the largest and best equipped theater playground in the South. The Viking had the capacity to handle 2,000 cars. At the time of its construction in 1957, the popularity of drive-in theaters had reached its peak. There were over 4,600 drive-ins in the United States and over 500 in Texas alone. But a slow decline was about to begin.
In the 1960s, the drive-in, long considered to be a place for families, began to be seen more as “passion pits” for teenagers. The rise of home video rentals and HBO made viewing a movie in the comfort of one’s own home an attractive alternative to sitting in a car and fighting off mosquitoes. Plush, air-conditioned, multi-screen indoor theaters also began to attract more moviegoers away from the drive-ins. One by one, Corpus Christi’s outdoor theaters began to disappear. All are now gone without a single trace…..with two exceptions. The old concession/projection building of the Boulevard Drive-in still stands at the rear of the Corpus Christi Trade Center. Today, it is occupied by an auto glass company. And, from the air, one can still clearly see the outline of the Viking Twin Drive-in, bisected today by the Crosstown Freeway extension south of SPID. Today there are only about 20 operating drive-ins in Texas, a nostalgic reminder of a 20th century cultural phenomenon that once swept the country and Corpus Christi. (In the summer of 2023, I took my three teenage granddaughters to the Showboat Drive-in in Hockley, Texas. They all agreed that it was the thrill of a lifetime! The Showboat closed on September 15, 2024, and is to be demolished)
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
