Tucson was a great place for drive-in movies

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1977 Star photo

The De Anza drive-in at 22nd St. and Alvernon in 1977.

The archives have quite a bit on the history of Tucson drive-ins. Here are a few of the items.

There were two different theaters that the clips proclaimed were Tucson’s “first” drive-in. The earliest was from 1940. The new theater was called the Tucson Drive-In theater and was on South Sixth and the corner of 44th Street. Old city directories just called it Drive-In Theater and it disappeared from the listings in a couple of years. Anyone with recollections of this theater, please share them.

The other “first outdoor theater” was the Midway at 4500 East Speedway. Built at a cost of $500,000, it opened in March 1948. A capacity crowd of 600 automobiles showed up on the first night. The movie showing that night was a boxing flick called “Body and Soul” with John Garfield. Also playing was a war documentary with James Stewart called “Thunderbolt.”

Then came the Biltmore Motor Vu in March of 1949. It was behind the Tucson Biltmore Motor Hotel in the 2700 block of N. Oracle. On the screen for opening night at that venue was Randolph Scott in “Albuquerque” and “Easy Come, Easy Go” with Barry Fitzgerald.

A few months later, in August of 1949, work began on the Rodeo drive-in near Nogales Highway and Irvington Rd. It was to have a capacity of 700 automobiles and 200 pedestrian customers. (If one goes to the drive-in as a pedestrian, can they still wear their jammies?)

Over the years, other drive-ins that have come and gone are:

Apache – 1600 E. Benson Highway

Fiesta – 3230 S. Park Ave.

Prince – 2015 E. Prince Rd.

Tucson Four/Five – 1055 W. Grant Rd.

Twenty-Second Street – 1401 S. Belvedere Ave.

If you have a memory or photo of the old drive-in theaters, please share it with Tales from the Morgue.