The historic Admiral Twin Drive-In theater in Tulsa, which saw its screens destroyed by a fire in September 2010, will almost certainly reopen later this year, reported KTUL-TV in Tulsa.
The station reported:
The owner told me that he is 99.9% sure the drive-in will be open this season.
“We are pushing forward and I still believe that we are going to make this year,” says co-owner Blake Smith. […]
“We are doing it ourselves, we are not seeking any other investors or any donations,” says Smith. […]
They are hoping to get the rebuilding started in April, as it would only take 60-70 days to build the tower.
Hopefully by July Fourth the Admiral Twin will be reopened.
To date, about $30,000 has been donated for the rebuilding, which helped cover the costs of architects, planners and engineers. To cover the rest of the estimated $250,000 to $300,000 cost, Smith says he’ll take out a loan.
KTUL says the new screen will be made of steel instead of wood, and will be eight stories tall instead of nine, along with a few modern features.
Blueprints of the proposed twin screen can be seen at SavetheAdmiralTwin.com. Donations also can still be made there. Save the Admiral Twin also has a Facebook page.
The drive-in opened in 1951, and the second screen was built a year later. Even as the number of drive-ins in the United States fell over the decades, the Admiral Twin continued to show first-run movies. In addition to its association with Route 66, the Admiral Twin served as a location during a scene in the film adaptation of Tulsa native S.E. Hinton’s famous novel, “The Outsiders.”
In the blueprint drawings it looks like the parking lot is paved. Wonder if they are going to do that?