Category Archives: Oklahoma

Feb. 27: Corral Drive-In, Guymon OK

Posted on by
Corral Drive-In logo projected on its screen at night

photo from the Corral Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 58 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. The drive from Las Vegas NM took a solid four hours to the heart of the Oklahoma panhandle and the Corral Drive-In in Guymon.

The weather’s pretty crazy now, grazing 70 degrees in February. I know you can’t count on drive-in weather this time of year, but I was still a little sad to see yet another closed for the season.

When the Corral opened around the late 1960s, it was the second drive-in in Guymon. The 54 had opened in 1949 and would continue operating into the 1970s. On the other hand, the Corral made it into the 1980s before closing, then was revived in 2009. I love drive-in revivals!

The Corral pizzeria and drive-in are closed for the season, but the RV Park is open year-round. Would it have made more sense for me to use an RV for this odyssey instead of staying at a different hotel every night? Would it have made it through the twisty, snowy mountain roads of a few days ago? I guess I’ll never know.

Miles Today / Total:  257 / 7683 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 37

Nearby Restaurant: One of the closest places specialized in chicken, always one of my favorites. (The chicken statue was a dead giveaway.) That’s why I stopped at Pollo El Ranchero close to downtown Guymon. Yummy grilled chicken at a reasonable price.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Well waddaya know! For the second straight night, I had a great stay at a great price at a Super 8. Friendly people, a clean room, lots of TV channels, and biscuits and gravy at breakfast.

Only in Guymon: I travelled on one of Guymon’s claims to fame on the way to the Corral. The east-west stretch of US Highway 412 between Boise City and Guymon includes a 47.7-mile straight shot. RoadsideAmerica calls it one of the longest straight roads in the US.

Next Stop: Tascosa Drive-in Theater, Amarillo TX.

Indiana, Oklahoma drive-ins survive storms

Posted on by

Winchester_FacebookWNDU, South Bend IN’s news leader, ran a story about the storm that took out one of the two screens at the Melody Drive-In (Knox). There’s a nice video of the damage and reaction, but I wasn’t able to embed it here. The good news is that the Melody re-opened last weekend, and the owners hope to rebuild the damaged screen by July 4.

And Oklahoma City’s last drive-in, the Winchester, was also hit hard by storms according to a story in The Oklahoman. Winds damaged the theater’s new digital projection system and half the marquee, although the screen and the “historic neon cowboy sign” survived. Owner Lindy Shanbour says that insurance should pay for most of the repairs, and the Winchester will bounce back. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but we will reopen,” he said. “You get this in your blood, and you can’t get it out. I can’t tell you the feeling it gives me.”

I’m always a little shaken when storms and drive-ins mix it up. One of my favorites growing up was the drive-in in Sedalia MO, apparently called the Highway 50 or just Sedalia. I’m fuzzy on that, but I remember that it was in the median where US 50 split into east- and west-bound lanes just west of town. I always thought that it was so cool to have a drive-in in a highway median. And I also remember when I saw the news reports and photos in 1980 that showed how a tornado had blown it to shreds. The drive-in closed after that, and now not only does the highway not split any more, but it looks like there’s an indoor theater where the drive-in used to be. So it’s great news that the Melody and the Winchester are coming back.

Admiral Twin closes 2012 season

Posted on by

The Admiral Twin (Tulsa OK) is concluding its season this weekend. One of the owners said that 2012 has been one of this drive-in’s best years.

On its site, KJRH describes the end of the season and includes the opening-day video embedded above. The Tulsa World also wrote about the end of the Admiral Twin’s season. The nice part about the story is that the Admiral Twin rose from the ashes of a fire that destroyed its screen in September 2010. The community raised over $30,000 to help rebuild, and it reopened this June. Sounds like it might be around for awhile.