Riviera Drive-In
8 SE 59th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73129
8 SE 59th Street,
Oklahoma City,
OK
73129
2 people
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To be fair the ramps still remain. And the entrance and exit roads still connect to 59th Street.
But more importantly someone is still mowing the field, so it is being cared for unlike many other long-gone drive-ins.
As of January 2022 the property is still empty. If the property is for sale, there are no signs present to indicate it as such.
There is nothing left of the old theatre to see any more. It was torn down and is now nothing but an empty lot.
Also opened with some Three Stooges and Pink Panther cartoons(not named).
No visible evidence of the drive in remains. It’s just an open field.
This opened on August 24th, 1967. Grand opening ad uploaded.
From the AIDA database:
Riviera Drive-in Theatre (article, ad)
Opened August 22, 1967
Located at 8 SE 59th
Location by GPS N 35º 24.368 W 97º 30.646
Newspaper showed a “Swap Shop” on May 3, 1968
Screen blew down during winter of 1999, theatre did not reopen.
Owned By George Caporal. (I should add that George Caporal had died at this point and ownership of the drive in went to his son, Sam Caporal. Sam was an attorney and did not want to have anything to do with running the drive in.
The reason the screen blew down, was that it was constructed of oilfield drilling pipe. The only problem was that in 1967, no one bothered to weld caps on the TOP of the pipe, and they basically stood with water in them for 32 years…time took its toll and with a good wind, down came the screen.
I did have the privilege of being the Union projectionist there in 1985 and part of 86. If you want to see the truly sad end for the drive in, there is a great set of pictures of its stripping and vandalism here:
http://www.abandonedok.com/riviera-drive-in/
Truly a sad end for a once great, but tawdry drive in. I am sure there are lots of people in Oklahoma City who remember seeing such wonderful films as, “Hell’s Angels unchained,” or “Glory Stompers” in the late 60s to “Candy stripe Nurses” in the late 70’s…
Wesley Horton AIDA
This theater looks like it’s worth fixing the screen tower & reopening. Call Selby Screens and get a quote for making a new screen tower.
This lind shows the ruins of the former Riviera Drive-In,
http://www.roadsideoklahoma.com/node/151
The Riviera, still open on the weekends in the winter of 1994:
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