This afternoon, the Admiral Twin Drive-In movie screen caught on fire and burned completely. This comes on the heels of that theater being picked as one of the best and receiving a $20,000 grant to make improvements to the screens. Fan voting pushed the Admiral Twin over the top in the Hampton Inn's "Save A Landmark" contest.
The history of the drive in theater is actually pretty interesting. I would have thought they had risen to prominence in the 50's when cars were king, but they really started in the 30's.
The Admiral Twin was opened in 1950 with just a single screen (so probably not called the "twin" at that time) and they added the second screen the next year. It's been in business for over 60 years. It IS a landmark in Tulsa.
I didn't realize that that huge double screen was built of wood. And apparently, because it was built of wood, it was not commercially insurable. This begs the question, "will the drive in be rebuilt?" I guess the Admiral Twin could go the path of so many other drive ins and be shut down. But I sure hope it's not.
--Sandee Wagner
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4 comments:
I watched it burn on Friday from my office window. I couldn't help but wonder how many people were conceived at the Admiral Twin.
We saw the wreckage on the way out of town today... They have a sign posting that says "Accepting Donations", very sad.
Lynn,
That cracks me up!! I always went to the drive in with my very large family... never on a date. I guess some teens got up to 'no good', but I was never one of them. spw
Emm,
Here's hoping that people kick in and help them rebuild. No insurance on the structure since it was all wood. It is sad, isn't it? spw
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