![]() You can bring your own food, drinks and other treats. Each screen has its own FM channel to tune in on your car's stereo. Unlike your grandparents' drive-in, there's no clunky wired speaker to hook on your car window. The theater is open every night in summer, rain or shine, and 3-5 nights a week the rest of the year. Start times change with the twilight, which is currently about 8:30 p.m. Stars & Stripes in New Braunfels keeps the double-feature tradition, but the opening films are first run, with an almost-new second feature. Watching his first drive-in movie under a big starry sky, Smith fell in love with the concept, thinking, "How could this have almost gone away? This has to be preserved and shared for my generation." A year later he opened his first Stars & Stripes in Lubbock, which has been ranked on TripAdvisor as one of the best drive-ins in the U.S.ĭrive-ins traditionally played double- or even triple- features, opening with a second run film that had already played indoor theaters, followed by something even older. It's still there, the pride of the town." "Hearing about my mom working at the snack bar, about the horses they kept at the corral down by the screen. "I grew up hearing about the Sky-Vue Drive-in in Lamesa (60 miles south of Lubbock), the first theater my granddad built, with his dad, in 1948," says Smith. You'd never guess that Smith, 36, didn't visit a drive-in until he was 24. ![]() "Nothing has been as important to an American family's life as the drive-in." "Back in the '50s and '60s, it was just what you did," says Stars & Stripes owner Ryan Smith, with unbridled enthusiasm. Town & Country, in Abilene: See More Collapse The Showboat, in Hockley (35 miles northwest of downtown Houston): Graham, in Graham (south of Wichita Falls): Besides Stars & Stripes' two locations, here's a selection of drive-ins around the Lone Star State:īlue Starlite Mini Urban, in Austin: Ĭoyote, in Fort Worth: In the last couple of years they have faced upgrading to expensive digital projection as Hollywood has rapidly abandoned film reels. And TV came along offering a viewing alternative even more convenient and comfortable than your car.īut some Texas drive-ins hung on, either full or part time. But as Houston expanded rapidly, many drive-in owners found their land was worth more than the business. More than a dozen surrounded Houston in the '50s and '60s. It's hardly surprising that Texas, with its wide-open spaces and a big car and truck culture was always a drive-in hot spot. at their peak in 1958, according to "The American Drive-In Movie Theater," by Don and Susan Sanders. just ask your grandparents.) There were more than 5,000 drive-ins in the U.S. In 1948, Time Magazine reported that "ozoners" - a popular nickname for the open air drive-in theaters - were opening "almost as fast as daffodils." (Another nickname was "passion pit". ![]() Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for ages 4-11. The Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre: 1178 Kroesche, in New Braunfels, 80 /nb. While watching, each may also be eating, talking, checking a smartphone, adjusting a car seat, changing a baby's diaper - or even ignoring "The Avengers" completely while getting to know his or her date better. Out in the audience, which is spread across a parking lot the size of several football fields, a few hundred people watch the action on screen while cocooned in their own islands of privacy: cars, station wagons, pick-ups and vans. High over all their heads, a galaxy of stars is putting on its own spectacle in the wide open Texas sky. NEW BRAUNFELS - Up on the giant screen, big ugly Ultron is battling pretty folks in colorful costumes while destroying a major metropolitan area in spectacular fashion. Parks Show More Show Less 9 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre owner Ryan Smith at the theater's 50's Cafe in New Braunfels Louis B. Parks Show More Show Less 8 of9 The 50's Cafe at Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Louis B. ![]() 1 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 2 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 3 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 4 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 5 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 6 of9 Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Jim Flynn Show More Show Less 7 of9 The 50's Cafe at Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre in New Braunfels, Texas Louis B. ![]()
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