Ocean City Drive-In

624 Eglin Parkway NE,
Fort Walton Beach, FL 32547

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Gulf States Theatres

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The Ocean City Drive-In was opened on March 22, 1952 when it was operated by L.E. Craig & Cecil Howard.

The drive-in closed in 1965 and was demolished to make way for Gibson’s Department Store which opened the following year (on July 13, 1966). The store ended up closing for a while in 1967 due to severe tornado damage. A parking lot now occupies the former drive-in and department store.

Contributed by 50sSNIPES

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on May 13, 2024 at 7:17 pm

Just sayin', the Ocean City site was in Ocean City FL, a census-designated place across Cinco Bayou from most of Fort Walton Beach. It gets its mail service from a FWB post office, but it’s not within the city limits.

Exhibitor, March 26, 1952: “Louis Craig, manager. Park Drive-In, Crestview, Fla., will also manage the Ocean City Drive-In.”

Motion Picture Herald, April 5, 1952: “L. E. Craig opened his new Ocean City drive-in, Ocean City, Fla., on March 22, completely equipped with RCA equipment.”

Exhibitor, April 9, 1952: “Raymond Gremillion, Southeastern’s sales and service representative, checked in after installing RCA equipment in L. E. Craig’s new Ocean City Drive-In, Ocean City, Fla. It has accommodations for 250 cars.”

Motion Picture Exhibitor, Dec. 18, 1957: “Mr. and Mrs. Tom Barrow, western Florida circuit operators, acquired ownership of the Ocean City Drive-In, Ocean City, Fla., from L. E. Craig.”

Motion Picture Exhibitor, Jan. 7, 1959: “Lewis Craig, owner, reassumed management of the Ocean City Drive-In, Ft. Walton, Fla., previously operated by Tom Barrow.”

On Feb. 3, 1964, Boxoffice said that Gulf States Theatres had acquired the Ocean City from Craig.

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