San Antonio’s First Drive-in Served Monticello Park

Monticello Park was well served by San Antonio’s first drive-in theater

San Antonio’s first drive-in theatre opened on October 23, 1940, just north of our neighborhood, at a time when there were only around 400 drive-ins nationwide.  Since it was such a new phenomenon, its owners must have felt a descriptive name was enough to help differentiate the theatre and named it simply Drive-In Theatre. 

The Drive-In was located just outside the city limits at 3602 Fredericksburg Road, immediately north of the American Legion Hall, which by the way, was originally a night club called the Kit Kat Club.  This area must have been quite an entertainment hub.

The Drive-In was very popular with the residents of our neighborhood, and both families and high school kids on dates drove the short distance north where they often filled the 482-car theater to capacity.

On opening night, the Drive-In featured The Life of the Party starring Joe Penner and Gene Raymond, along with an extra feature titled Gateways to Panama.  This double feature was advertised as a way to “laugh” and “forget the war.”  I would imagine this message was well-received because, while the U.S. would not officially enter the war for another 14 months, by 1940 we were supplying our European Allies with arms, and the population must have understood that our entry into the war was inevitable.  Prices were 30¢ for adults and 10¢ for children, quite a bargain given today’s exorbitant ticket prices!  Interestingly, there were no small speakers for inside the cars.  Each car parked over a large grate which housed speakers, and the sound resonated up through the floorboards. 

By 1946, the speakers were upgraded to the new in-car technology, and the Drive-In was renamed the Fredericksburg Drive-In Theatre, when two additional drive-ins opened in the city.

This location prospered throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and the capacity was increased to 544 cars. The somewhat creepy looking actress on the mural painted behind the screen in 1940 was replaced by a picture of a laughing clown, and then by some geometric shapes, as the theater continued to reinvent itself for succeeding generations.

However, beginning in the 1970s, and as neighborhood residents continued to move to the newer suburbs, old drive-ins such as this one saw fewer and fewer customers. By 1982, the old Fredericksburg Drive-In Theater closed.  The structures were razed in 1986, and the site is now occupied by an apartment complex and a small shopping center. The only artifact remaining of the old drive-in is the original roadside marquee, which now lists the tenants of the strip center instead of those glorious old movies. 

How many of you might remember the Fredericksburg Road Drive-In?