Comments from SteveWriter

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SteveWriter
SteveWriter commented about Downs Drive-In on Jun 19, 2022 at 3:32 am

I was in Ruidoso in 1973 and 1974. The Drive in was operating then. I remember the sign on the highway was for the Robert Blake Action movie Electraglide In Blue. We stayed (my family) in the Holiday House motel for a week and I played miniature golf next door in what I think was called The 19th Hole. It was a miniature golf course and arcade with pinball machines and a great Juke Box. I was there the week after Jim Croce was killed in the plane crash and remember playing his songs on that juke box with a beautiful teenage girl there as the staff. I was 14-15. There was not so much advertising in the paper but a handout flyer at the motel Lobby for the Drive in with the booked films that September into October. Hope that helps someone. I know I still have that flyer somewhere and pictures I took from the miniature golf course.

SteveWriter
SteveWriter commented about King Drive-In on Apr 3, 2013 at 3:04 pm

Hello. I’m Steve, a writer in DFW. My father’s side of the family lived in Aspermont and I visted often in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 1990s. Our last family member passed in 2004. I’d like to learn more about the theaters Pete and Lannie Blackshear owned including the ACE, Queen and King Drive In. HV Link opened a drive in but lasted only about a year before going under. Photos would be helpful and appreciated.

My father worked at the Queen in the early to mid 1940s and I have his and my grandfather’s oral history on tape. My field is Christian Fiction set in small towns and while the main characters are more fiction than reality the settings are or were very much real. Historical Romantic Fiction is an enjoying writing genre and I’d like to recreate Aspermont and surrounding towns as they were in the early 1900s to the 1960s.

The Blackshear’s in the Stonewall County Historical book of 1979 had a great section on their lives. They started in the early 20s owning a variety store, then purchased the Queen, already in existence running silent films. They built a second theater next door that became the Queen turning the original into the ACE theater. Then later opened the twin KING Drive-In. Pete passed in 1955 and Lannie in 1967 I believe. Kept the Drive-In’s open to the day she died. HV Link opened or may have taken over the KING renamed LINK’S but lasted less than a year I believe.

Any memories, links, photos or suggestions regarding history preservation would be grateful appreciated. Write here or in care of . Thanks!