hispeed, don’t give up! STICK AROUND! LOL! Truthfully, there may be no pix of the HiWay extant except, possibly, in some collection physically at or near Kingsville (I’m thinking Kingsville Record archives, or possibly some collection based at Texas A&M Kingsville). There was a commercial photographer in Kingsville named Jimmie Dodd whom my family knew well and who donated his collection of large-format B&W plates, negatives, and prints to the University of Texas at Austin (the Jimmy Dodd Collection – here is the URL: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/dodd/biography.html). He has some good images of Kingsville’s two major walk-ins, the Texas and the Rialto, so he may also have taken pix of tHe drive-ins. Haven’t had time to visit the collection physically.
As Yakima1 stated, the HiWay opened in 1948 and closed in 1952, so Sam’s intro data stating it opened in the late 50’s and closed in the early 60’s needs to be corrected.
Also, the photo is an aerial of the Rancho, NOT the HiWay.
It’s too bad that very nice old marquee ca’t be used because of the tree blocking any view of it; I’m just betting that, in Austin, you’d have a hard time getting a permit to cut the tree.
The last ad I can find for the Capitan in the Dallas Morning News archives is for Saturday, January 1, 1955; a double feature, “Betrayed” with Clark Gable and Lana Turner, and “Rancho Notorious” with Marlene Dietrich. No article announces the closing. The ads simply disappear after this date.
BTW, Interstate did NOT open the Capitol, as it says in the introductory remarks, above; although, IIRC, the company did acquire it and the adjacent Rialto (Old Mill) at some time in the lives of these respective theatres.
$50,000 doesn’t sound like a whole lot, esp.compared to the $2,000,000 price tags for the Majestic and Palace, both built the previous year – even considering they were each about 2-3 times the seating capacity.
After carefully studying the Historical Aerials overhead shots from 1957 and 1958, noticing particularly the configuration of the screen tower and its positioning on the property, its “wings” (adjacent fences meant to shield patrons' eyes from ambient light) and the location of the boxoffice, I have concluded that the photo I posted of this theatre…ain’t it.
What theatre the one in the photo might be, I have no idea.
“Chuck 1231 confirms Bob’s statement that this was originally the East Pike (see Casa View Drive-In page), so there needs to be an AKA added above the title, don’t you think?” – I have now found evidence that refutes this claim, namely an announcement in a 1950 Dallas newspaper (link posted below). Samuell Blvd. itself was at one time referred to as the East Pike because it was the old route of US Hwy 67 into Dallas from the east. It’s possible Chuck’s source confuses the theatre with the road. Here’s the link. Scroll about a third of the way down the page until you see an article headlined “New Drive-In To Open Tuesday.”
I just updated the street view (hope it sticks) to the building at 1608 Elm that once housed the Crystal Theatre – directly west of H.L. Greene’s Drug Store in the old Wilson Bldg. at the corner of Elm and Ervay (also former site of the original Titche’s store, before they moved east on Elm to a location across from the Tower Petroleum Bldg.), and directly across Elm from the present-day Thanksgiving Tower monstrosity at 1623-25 Elm, formerly the site of the Palace Theatre.
I just updated the street view to reflect the actual street adress; the view now shows the old Hodge building and you can see how the entrance with the marquee looked. My question is: since the changeover to the new format, who in blazes is responsible for the original settings on some of these theatres? This one was off by many blocks and streets – Front St (old US 80) and C – nowhere near the Hodge. What gives?
@ jamestv: I benefitted from your superb projection of “The Wind and the Lion” and you have my compliments! Great picture on the big screen, great projection, great house! Also saw “Where Eagles Dare” here in 1968, but can’t recall whether it was/was not in 70mm. As far as you know, is the original length “Camelot” on DVD, or is it lost?
I was gone from Dallas by the time “Beyond The Poseidon Adventure” premiered and I have never caught the film (I am a fan of bad movies, the REALLY bad ones) but I have heard of this particular event from a friend who was present and his story jibes with yours, egcarter. Wish I’d been there. Shades of “Meteor” and “Rollercoaster!”
Looks like they’ve used some of the original “HEIGHTS” lettering to spell out “IGLESIA.” Seems like it’s been a church more than twice as long as it was a theatre.
Chuck – consult the magic book and tell us when the Peak opened/closed! In all the years I spent growing up in Dallas, I never once heard of this theatre – I am intrigued!
The Medallion was supposed to be the first in a new generation of prestige first-run venues for Interstate Theatres that would replace the old downtown theatres, all of which were on their last legs due to shifting demographics and lack of parking space; ironically, it was the last such venue Interstate built due to the company’s failure to read the coming trend toward multiplex venues. It opened in 1969 with the Dallas exclusive run of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
“Loews first foray into the Dallas-Fort Worth metoplex…” – sorry, not so; Loew’s opened the Downtown theatre at 1100 Elm in 1969; Loew’s took over the ownership of the Hope Theatre, built in 1921, the following year and renamed it the Melba. The company had had a long, if spotty, association with the Dallas area by the time this theatre was built.
“There’s a link at the bottom of this and every page that says “If you find a mistake, please contact us At Cinema Treasures” to click on.”
Did that link disappear in the site make-over? I’d like to correct that map view to the correct site on Conway (SH 107) just north of Business 83 (9th Street) but I don’t know how to do that. Present map view takes you to Pelican Street, south of Expressway 83, in a new subdivision.
The story on the street down here in the Mission-McAllen area was that the Cinemark Tinseltown multiplex, just down the street from the Border, successfully pressured the movie companies to stop renting first-run releases to the Border because patrons were being pulled away from the Cinemark; sounds plausible, because at almost 400 seats, the Border accounted for Cinemark’s biggest auditorium. Patrons HAD to have preferred the Border experience for first-run flicks, esp. at the generally lower admission prices compared to Cinemark.
The address (Jupiter Road & Garland Road) is all wrong; that is the closest major intersection that bounded the outlying parking areas of the original Lochwood Shopping Center (no longer there, as the entire property has been totally re-developed). Actual location of the theater was where the Home Depot is located at 11287 Lochwood Blvd., near the intersection with Marchant Circle.
Here’s a link to a discussion thread on the dallasmetropolis forum in which forum member Dismuke has posted scans of his program from opening night at the Palace, June 11, 1921. The Artwork depicting the theatre’s interior and architectural features will probably prove to be the first time since your last visit to the theatre that you have seen these views.
hispeed, don’t give up! STICK AROUND! LOL! Truthfully, there may be no pix of the HiWay extant except, possibly, in some collection physically at or near Kingsville (I’m thinking Kingsville Record archives, or possibly some collection based at Texas A&M Kingsville). There was a commercial photographer in Kingsville named Jimmie Dodd whom my family knew well and who donated his collection of large-format B&W plates, negatives, and prints to the University of Texas at Austin (the Jimmy Dodd Collection – here is the URL: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/dodd/biography.html). He has some good images of Kingsville’s two major walk-ins, the Texas and the Rialto, so he may also have taken pix of tHe drive-ins. Haven’t had time to visit the collection physically.
hispeed, the new pic is the King’s!
As Yakima1 stated, the HiWay opened in 1948 and closed in 1952, so Sam’s intro data stating it opened in the late 50’s and closed in the early 60’s needs to be corrected. Also, the photo is an aerial of the Rancho, NOT the HiWay.
It’s too bad that very nice old marquee ca’t be used because of the tree blocking any view of it; I’m just betting that, in Austin, you’d have a hard time getting a permit to cut the tree.
The last ad I can find for the Capitan in the Dallas Morning News archives is for Saturday, January 1, 1955; a double feature, “Betrayed” with Clark Gable and Lana Turner, and “Rancho Notorious” with Marlene Dietrich. No article announces the closing. The ads simply disappear after this date.
BTW, Interstate did NOT open the Capitol, as it says in the introductory remarks, above; although, IIRC, the company did acquire it and the adjacent Rialto (Old Mill) at some time in the lives of these respective theatres.
$50,000 doesn’t sound like a whole lot, esp.compared to the $2,000,000 price tags for the Majestic and Palace, both built the previous year – even considering they were each about 2-3 times the seating capacity.
After carefully studying the Historical Aerials overhead shots from 1957 and 1958, noticing particularly the configuration of the screen tower and its positioning on the property, its “wings” (adjacent fences meant to shield patrons' eyes from ambient light) and the location of the boxoffice, I have concluded that the photo I posted of this theatre…ain’t it.
What theatre the one in the photo might be, I have no idea.
Hampton Road was never a two-screen drive-in.
“Chuck 1231 confirms Bob’s statement that this was originally the East Pike (see Casa View Drive-In page), so there needs to be an AKA added above the title, don’t you think?” – I have now found evidence that refutes this claim, namely an announcement in a 1950 Dallas newspaper (link posted below). Samuell Blvd. itself was at one time referred to as the East Pike because it was the old route of US Hwy 67 into Dallas from the east. It’s possible Chuck’s source confuses the theatre with the road. Here’s the link. Scroll about a third of the way down the page until you see an article headlined “New Drive-In To Open Tuesday.”
http://bacougars66.com/index.php/dallas-at-the-drive-in
Even in its last days this was a beautiful theatre – saw “The Right Stuff” here, first run. Memorable.
Status is demolished but screen tower frame is still up.
I just updated the street view (hope it sticks) to the building at 1608 Elm that once housed the Crystal Theatre – directly west of H.L. Greene’s Drug Store in the old Wilson Bldg. at the corner of Elm and Ervay (also former site of the original Titche’s store, before they moved east on Elm to a location across from the Tower Petroleum Bldg.), and directly across Elm from the present-day Thanksgiving Tower monstrosity at 1623-25 Elm, formerly the site of the Palace Theatre.
I just updated the street view to reflect the actual street adress; the view now shows the old Hodge building and you can see how the entrance with the marquee looked. My question is: since the changeover to the new format, who in blazes is responsible for the original settings on some of these theatres? This one was off by many blocks and streets – Front St (old US 80) and C – nowhere near the Hodge. What gives?
@ jamestv: I benefitted from your superb projection of “The Wind and the Lion” and you have my compliments! Great picture on the big screen, great projection, great house! Also saw “Where Eagles Dare” here in 1968, but can’t recall whether it was/was not in 70mm. As far as you know, is the original length “Camelot” on DVD, or is it lost?
I was gone from Dallas by the time “Beyond The Poseidon Adventure” premiered and I have never caught the film (I am a fan of bad movies, the REALLY bad ones) but I have heard of this particular event from a friend who was present and his story jibes with yours, egcarter. Wish I’d been there. Shades of “Meteor” and “Rollercoaster!”
Looks like they’ve used some of the original “HEIGHTS” lettering to spell out “IGLESIA.” Seems like it’s been a church more than twice as long as it was a theatre.
@ Chuck1231: Wow! Lifespan of only a decade!
Chuck – consult the magic book and tell us when the Peak opened/closed! In all the years I spent growing up in Dallas, I never once heard of this theatre – I am intrigued!
The Medallion was supposed to be the first in a new generation of prestige first-run venues for Interstate Theatres that would replace the old downtown theatres, all of which were on their last legs due to shifting demographics and lack of parking space; ironically, it was the last such venue Interstate built due to the company’s failure to read the coming trend toward multiplex venues. It opened in 1969 with the Dallas exclusive run of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
“Loews first foray into the Dallas-Fort Worth metoplex…” – sorry, not so; Loew’s opened the Downtown theatre at 1100 Elm in 1969; Loew’s took over the ownership of the Hope Theatre, built in 1921, the following year and renamed it the Melba. The company had had a long, if spotty, association with the Dallas area by the time this theatre was built.
“There’s a link at the bottom of this and every page that says “If you find a mistake, please contact us At Cinema Treasures” to click on.”
Did that link disappear in the site make-over? I’d like to correct that map view to the correct site on Conway (SH 107) just north of Business 83 (9th Street) but I don’t know how to do that. Present map view takes you to Pelican Street, south of Expressway 83, in a new subdivision.
The story on the street down here in the Mission-McAllen area was that the Cinemark Tinseltown multiplex, just down the street from the Border, successfully pressured the movie companies to stop renting first-run releases to the Border because patrons were being pulled away from the Cinemark; sounds plausible, because at almost 400 seats, the Border accounted for Cinemark’s biggest auditorium. Patrons HAD to have preferred the Border experience for first-run flicks, esp. at the generally lower admission prices compared to Cinemark.
The address (Jupiter Road & Garland Road) is all wrong; that is the closest major intersection that bounded the outlying parking areas of the original Lochwood Shopping Center (no longer there, as the entire property has been totally re-developed). Actual location of the theater was where the Home Depot is located at 11287 Lochwood Blvd., near the intersection with Marchant Circle.
Here’s a link to a discussion thread on the dallasmetropolis forum in which forum member Dismuke has posted scans of his program from opening night at the Palace, June 11, 1921. The Artwork depicting the theatre’s interior and architectural features will probably prove to be the first time since your last visit to the theatre that you have seen these views.
http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php/634-Palace-Theatre-(Old-Dallas-Theatres)