Varsity Drive-In
2202 Culebra Road,
San Antonio,
TX
78228
2202 Culebra Road,
San Antonio,
TX
78228
2 people
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Located at Culebra Road and Bandera Road, the Varsity Drive-In opened on July 14, 1949. It had a capacity for 638 cars.
The drive-in is long gone. A popular supermarket chain now has a store where the drive in was once located.
Contributed by
Chuck Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
Back in the Day, the Varsity had a screen mural of a majorette in the front that said “Varsity” across the top in Neon. I believe she may have been tossing either a baton or a cheerleading horn (forgot the name of it) in the air with the neon flashing. That would have been a great sight to see.
The cheerleader tossed a megaphone.
The Varsity was built by the same people that built the Josephine indoor theatre. They were projectionists in the local union, and it showed, because the Josephine and the Varsity were outfitted with the very best projection equipment of their time! The Varsity’s screen was enlarged to full CinemaScope width with the advent of wide screen projection, and was one of the largest drive in screens in San Antonio. The Varsity always did brisk business, and I find it to be one of the drive ins that have some of the most fond memories from people I talk to.
outafocus,
How can I get photos of this drive in- (Varsity, San Antonio)?
Also I’m looking for a link to a website that described san antonio movie theaters both old and new. Can you help?
Marcus
The Varsity was torn down in 1980. Here is a photo. The poor quality is due to the original photo, not to me:
http://tinyurl.com/ysdhmq
Here is a December 1972 ad from the San Antonio Express:
http://tinyurl.com/lubfwt
Here is a 1973 aerial photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yd44ja9
In 1956 it was owned by Lone Star Theatres.
I saw my first movie at the Varsity Drive-In when I was a few years old between 1977 and 1980 before they tore it down. That movie was Star Wars. Star Wars at the Drive-In is amazing.
When they erected the first HEB in its place, the screen was still there for a number of years. I think the posts are still back there somewhere.
Trongo, the screen tower was demolished months before HEB started construction of the store and there are no speaker posts at all in the rear of the property. The old fence that separated the last row of speakers and the old baseball field behind the drive-in, that is still there.