The historic Admiral Twin Drive-In theater in Tulsa broke ground Saturday morning to build a new pair of screens, reported the Tulsa World.
The iconic double-screen structure, which was seen in the 1983 film version of “The Outsiders,” was destroyed by a fire last September.
Here’s a clip from “The Outsiders”:
About 100 people attended the ceremony Saturday. Owner Blake Smith said he hoped to reopen the drive-in theater in mid-August.
About $33,000 in donations were given to the Admiral Twin’s rebuilding, before Smith secured a loan a few months ago to rebuild the double screen and renovate other facilities.
The drive-in initially opened in 1951, and the second screen was built a year later. Even as the number of drive-ins in the United States dropped over the decades, the Admiral Twin continued to show first-run movies. The Admiral Twin sits very close to the Admiral Place alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa.
UPDATE: Here’s a report about the ceremony from KOTV. What’s cool is that many people who attended brought their own shovels for the groundbreaking.