Hull's Drive-In

2367 N. Lee Highway,
Lexington, VA 24450

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Showing 11 comments

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on April 2, 2019 at 11:52 pm

Why the original name Lee?

dansdriveintheater
dansdriveintheater on January 15, 2019 at 7:03 pm

some time between 2012 and 2016 the screen was torn down and replaced with a new one!

davidcoppock
davidcoppock on November 6, 2017 at 7:42 pm

Why was it renamed Hull?

MichaelKilgore
MichaelKilgore on November 6, 2017 at 11:48 am

Hull’s is such a wonderful story of a saved drive-in, and that might be one reason why its origins get such a cursory mention. The excellent history page at Hull’s includes: “The theatre was built by W.C. Atkins in 1950, and operated as the Lee Drive-In on land leased from the Hostetter family. Sebert W. Hull purchased the business and lease in 1957.”

Drive-Ins.org said that “local residents Waddy and Virginia Atkins, who earlier had founded what became Hull’s Drive-In in Lexington” owned the Riverside Drive-In in Roanoke from 1958 until its closing.

A detailed if sometimes contradictory history on the Hull’s page on Weebly said “a couple from Roanoke owned the business, a Mr. and Mrs. Atkins, and they’d drive back and forth from Roanoke every night.” Which would explain why they eventually swapped the Lee for the Riverside in their backyard. Also, Mr. Mason Hostetter was a farmer who owned the land behind the Lee.

In the 1952-56 Theatre Catalogs, R. Perdue was listed as the owner of the Lee, capacity 220. Who was this Perdue?

For some reason, the 1952-54 Motion Picture Almanacs didn’t include the Lee. The 1955-59 editions listed W. C. Adkins (sic) as the owner, capacity 250.

Chris1982
Chris1982 on October 12, 2014 at 1:35 am

Note from their website: Thanks to the wonderful and generous support of our community, business sponsors, and guests, Hull’s Drive-In can now show all our movies on a state-of-the-art digital projector with a picture sharpness and clarity you must see to believe! From your friends at Hull’s Drive-In Theatre – THANK YOU one and all!

ElCartero
ElCartero on June 17, 2009 at 3:27 pm

Here are a bunch of great photos, taken right before and right after the 2000 reopening:
http://www.driveins.org/va-lexington-hulls.htm
http://www.driveins.org/va-lexington-hulls-2.htm

ghamilton
ghamilton on March 16, 2005 at 5:44 pm

Before my twin sons were jerked out of college at Southern Virginia University nearby and sent to beautiful Baghdad for a year’s paid vacation in body armour,they enjoyed this rare place.A bunch of those care-free kids would make a real party of it.Nice people run it with a great attitude.A body shop next door is a customer of mine,so I see it regularly.