Category Archives: Video

Video: Admiral Twin fixes screen

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Tulsa OK’s Admiral Twin Drive-In has reopened for the season after fixing minor damage to its west screen. During the off-season, winds had blown out a few screen panels, so owner Blake Smith needed to make the first repair to the structure since it was rebuilt following a fire in September 2010.

All of this news and video came to us through KOTV, Tulsa’s News Leader, which ran a nice segment on the Admiral a couple of days before it reopened.

As I wrote in last year’s Drive-Ins of Route 66, Blake’s father, Richard D. Smith, bought the Admiral Twin around 1987 from General Cinema Corp., run at the time by Richard A. Smith. Blake officially took over in 2000.

I’ll admit that there’s not much news in the Admiral Twin’s new season, but it’s just great to get another video showing what the venerable drive-in looks like these days. Enjoy!

Video: Storm slams former Sky Vue

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Longtime readers know that I love any drive-in video that I can embed for you. In this case, the story is a windstorm that damaged the former main screen of the Sky Vue Drive-In in Winchester KY.

You can see by this not-that-old photo at CinemaTreasures that the Sky Vue’s big screen and sign were still in good shape when it closed in 2015, one of the few casualties of the conversion to digital movies. Reportedly, there were fans who were trying to find a way to reopen the drive-in. Sadly, any of those plans just got more complicated.

Thanks to WLEX, Lexington’s News Leader, for giving us all a glimpse of what’s left of the Sky Vue. I wonder whether any of those marquee letters are still laying there along US 60.

Video: TN’s Stateline is for sale

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Maybe it’s just that time of year, but I’ve been reading way too many stories lately about drive-ins closing or otherwise in trouble. Today’s entry comes via WJHL, Johnson City’s News Leader, which reports that the Stateline Drive-in in Elizabethton TN is for sale.

Stateline owner Andy Wetzel said, “Obviously I’m getting older. I’ve done this for 27 years, my wife and I realized our kids are grown. They’re in the military, they’re moving different places and we would like to have the opportunity to go visit. It’s just more freedom.”

The good news is the Wetzel would prefer to let the Stateline remain a drive-in, and that some of the prospective buyers sniffing around have been theater owners. And maybe the best news is that the Stateline should reopen as normal next month.

For a discussion of the Stateline’s history, check out the virtual visit I made there in 2017. And if you want to experience this 75-year-old drive-in in person, better make plans soon, just in case.