photo: Wesley Horton
- Chickasha (Grady County) Oklahoma
Chief Drive-in: 405-224-1515
located on Rural Route 2 (south of town)
Open weekends only Fri-Sat-Sun screening double features.
Admission: $5 adults; ages 12 and under admitted in free;
Sunday nite is carload nite ($12/carload).
photo: Wesley Horton
- Guthrie (Logan County) Oklahoma
Beacon Drive-in: 405-282-4512
located at 2404 South Division Street
The Beacon opened-up in 1950 and has been operated
continuously in central Oklahoma by the Powell family ..
for half a century; handed down through three generations.
Open 7 nites during peak season (Memorial Day - LaborDay);
and on the weekends only September and October. Screening
single features each nite; with traditional Drive-in speakers and
a local vicinity FM radio broadcast for soundtracks. Admission:
$4 for each adult; free admission for children age 11 & under.
You'll find them 15 minutes north of Edmond (exit 153 on I-35).
- McAlester (Pittsburg County) Oklahoma
Cinema 69 Drive-in Theatre: 918-423-6969
located on the Highway 69 bypass
During the heyday of the American Drive-in, there were
several Drive-ins in McAlester and general vicinity. This
was the last of them to be built (1973), and it was erected
in conjunction with an indoor cinema on premises. Over
the years since, the expansion of the indoor cinema to
a quad, has encroached on the parking lot, cutting the
capacity to where McAlester now qualifies as smallest
of Oklahoma's remaining Drive-ins. Also, owing to the
existence of a local curfew, double features are not as
common as they once were, and most screenings here
are now single features, while audio is FM (89.3) radio.
ITEM:
Cinema69 is the the only instance in America of
an indoor and an outdoor cinema sharing the same
projection room (they also share the same snackbar).
Admission: $4 for adults; children under 12 who are
with an adult will be admitted here at no charge.
- Oklahoma City (Oklahoma County) Oklahoma
Riviera Drive-in: 405-631-1600
CLOSED
located at 8 S.E. 59th Street
The Riviera had been open for the last season of the
20th Century, but its screen blew down during the first
winter of the new Millenium .. making it the first Drive-in
fatality of the 21st Century. The Riviera did not reopen for
Season 2K; there are no plans for its reopening at this time.
photo: Wesley Horton
- Oklahoma City (Oklahoma County) Oklahoma
Winchester Drive-in: 405-631-8851
located at 6930 S. Western Avenue
This is the only Oklahoma Drive-in screening triple features
on a regular basis. Their season runs from April - October;
weekends only during spring and fall, and lit-up all 7 nites
during peak summer season. Their gates open up at 7:30PM,
a good thing, since it's advisable to get here early on wknds.
Admission: $5 for each adult; $2 for kids aged 4 - 10 years.
You'll find them within a ten minute drive of either the
fastlane (I-40) .. or Memory Lane (Route 66); though we
recomend Rte.66, which just works so well with that ol'
neon cowboy presiding over the Winchester's entrance.
photo: Larry Naymik
- Ponca City (Kay County) Oklahoma
Airline Drive-in: 580-765-4000
located at 1800 West Highland Avenue (@ Waverly)
Situated in north-central Oklahoma a short spell from
the Oklahoma/Kansas state line, the Airline Drive-in
was named for its close proximity to the Ponca City
Municipal Airport. Revived - after having been used
for 12 years as a cattle feed lot, the Airline Drive-in
has a capacity for up to 500 cars and screens double
features every nite of the week during peak summer
season, and on weekends during the spring and fall.
Movie audio is provided via FM radio broadcasting.
Admission: $4.50 for adults; $3 for children.
- Poteau (Le Flore County) Oklahoma
Tower Drive-in: 918-647-3606
located on Highway 271 North
The same owners have a 3screen indoor cinema
in addition to the single-screen Tower, which is lit
with a single feature movie each of seven nites
during their peak summer season; weekends only
during spring and fall; audio provided by FM radio.
Admission: $4 for adults (age12&up); $2 for kids 3-11.
- Sapulpa (Tulsa County) Oklahoma
Teepee Drive-in Theatre:
CLOSED
located at 1705 West Highway 66 - near Tulsa
The Teepee was pitched on the outskirts of Tulsa in 1950
and had a series of different owners over the course of
the last 50 years. It's current owners purchased it in
'97 and did a nice job of restoring it, although after
trying to make a go of it in '98 and '99, a lukewarm
response to their revival had discouraged them from
reopening it for Season 2K. Still, the possibility exists
that they will reopen the Teepee however; and they've
remained optimistic that a subsequent attempt to do so
{given the current resurgence of interest in Drive-ins},
might be better-supported by the community next time.
- Tahlequah (Cherokee County) Oklahoma
Tahlequah Drive-in: 918-456-4015
located on Highway 82 (North of the city)
Oklahoma's oldest remaining Drive-in has been in operation
seasonally since 1949, can accomodate just over 200 cars and
alternates between screening single and double features of
current releases. Admission: $4 per adult; $2 for children.
photo: Wesley Horton
- Tulsa (Tulsa County) Oklahoma
Admiral Twin Drive-in: 918-835-5181
two screens; located at 7355 E. Easton (north of I-244)
Oklahoma's largest Drive-in is a twin screen venue with a capacity
for more than a thousand cars, which opened originally as a single
screen in 1951 called The Modernaire. A second picture show and
additional parking was added by new owners who had renamed it
The Admiral. Their West screen has traditional speakers as well as
a local vicinity radio broadcast for the movies' soundtrack, while
their East screen has radio sound only; and they are screening
double features East and West. Admission: $5.50 adults;
free admission for kids under 11 years of age.
- Weatherford (Custer County) Oklahoma
66 Twin Drive-in: 580-774-2428
located on Route 66
Revived by the same owners who have Weatherford's
Showest-3 indoor cinema, the 66 Twin Drive-in is one
of Oklahoma's two recent revivals, and the only one
of the two that remains in operation for Season 2K
(the other, Sapulpa's Teepee closed again after '99).
Lit-up 7 nites in peak season, they're screening double
features on each of their twin "East" and "West" screens.
Admission: $4.75 for each adult; $3 for students & seniors;
and free admission for for children 5 years of age & under.
