The Riverside Drive-In will soon be gone. Well, actually it's been gone for about 25 years, but the Marquee (adjusted for the Driving range that moved in), the fencing and ramps remained. Driving down NE28th Sunday I noticed where the site is being prepared for development. The fence and ramps (and target greens from the driving range) are all gone & the Marquee is all that's left. It'll no doubt be gone soon. Time marches on...
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#2
Saginaw
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Posted 20 June 2010 - 09:21 PM
QUOTE (801hme @ May 4 2010, 02:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The Riverside Drive-In will soon be gone. Well, actually it's been gone for about 25 years, but the Marquee (adjusted for the Driving range that moved in), the fencing and ramps remained. Driving down NE28th Sunday I noticed where the site is being prepared for development. The fence and ramps (and target greens from the driving range) are all gone & the Marquee is all that's left. It'll no doubt be gone soon. Time marches on...
I went there in February of last year, where I took pictures of what was left of the site with my cell phone camera. Unfortunately, I lost my cell phone not too long afterward - and now I'm kicking myself. I estimated that the horizontally-patterned corrugated metal fencing that remained was about seven feet high in some areas, which I believe was it's original height around the theatre when it was built. What was left of the marquee was in a deplorable state, with stark evidence of it being lived in by transients over the years. I haven't been by there in quite some time, but I plan to pass by it soon to see and reminisce.
To my knowledge, there are now only two sites that show evidence that there ever were drive-in theatres in Fort Worth. One is the old Meadowbrook, where the screen tower is still standing, and the shell of the box office/marquee is hidden under a growth of brush and trees. The other place is the old Southside Twin, which a flea market now stands or stood. When I went there with my Mom and sister eight years ago, the concession building was stiil in existence and also being used. Hopefully, it's still there.
--Saginaw
"If I only had a time machine..."
#4
801hme
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Posted 22 June 2010 - 05:08 AM
QUOTE (Doohickie @ Jun 21 2010, 09:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Was the Southside Twin where Treasure Island Flea Market is on Old Hemphill? I've often wondered why they had such a humongous parking lot.
Yes it was. The projection building/snack bar/restrooms are (or were fairly recently) still there with snack bar & restrooms still being used by the flea market. Historic Aerials has 2 or 3 pretty good images of the layout of the theatre available for viewing.
#5
Saginaw
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Posted 26 June 2010 - 05:04 PM
Gentlemen, I have some very interesting news for you all.
This afternoon, while filling up at a local gas station, I saw a beautifully restored classic car parked nearby. I saw the gentleman who owned it, so I had to ask him about it (which, I'm sure, many people have!
). Turns out that the owner, a pastor at an area church, was driving a 1963 Dodge Custom 880.
After we talked about his car, I immediately reminisced about how it probably saw a night or two at some drive-in theatre in it's past, and he in turn said he remembered going to several of them as a young man in the '50s and '60s, although not in his classic car. Anyway, one of the theatres he listed was the old Riverside, so I immediately asked him if he remembered anything about it, specifically the mural on its screen tower. He told me that the only thing he could remember was "a man (possibly a cowboy?) riding a bull". If this is true, which I'm betting it is, then it would definitely fit in with the Western-themed murals that adorned other early Fort Worth drive-in theatre screen towers!
I probed a bit further, and he seemed to also remember that, when facing the screen tower from the street, that the left side of the structure featured space for the name "RIVERSIDE", arranged vertically, instead of the more ubiquitous horizontal placement toward the top of the screen. A couple of photographs, from the time it was an X-rated theatre, bears witness to that possible fact. Little by little, the appearance of the first drive-ins of Fort Worth is becoming more clearer. Hopefully more can be gleaned in the near future!
--Saginaw
This afternoon, while filling up at a local gas station, I saw a beautifully restored classic car parked nearby. I saw the gentleman who owned it, so I had to ask him about it (which, I'm sure, many people have!
). Turns out that the owner, a pastor at an area church, was driving a 1963 Dodge Custom 880.After we talked about his car, I immediately reminisced about how it probably saw a night or two at some drive-in theatre in it's past, and he in turn said he remembered going to several of them as a young man in the '50s and '60s, although not in his classic car. Anyway, one of the theatres he listed was the old Riverside, so I immediately asked him if he remembered anything about it, specifically the mural on its screen tower. He told me that the only thing he could remember was "a man (possibly a cowboy?) riding a bull". If this is true, which I'm betting it is, then it would definitely fit in with the Western-themed murals that adorned other early Fort Worth drive-in theatre screen towers!
I probed a bit further, and he seemed to also remember that, when facing the screen tower from the street, that the left side of the structure featured space for the name "RIVERSIDE", arranged vertically, instead of the more ubiquitous horizontal placement toward the top of the screen. A couple of photographs, from the time it was an X-rated theatre, bears witness to that possible fact. Little by little, the appearance of the first drive-ins of Fort Worth is becoming more clearer. Hopefully more can be gleaned in the near future!
--Saginaw
"If I only had a time machine..."
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