Grand Opening of Tower Drive-in – May 20, 1950

Drive-in movie theaters have been a favorite topic on this blog. 

I've written and posted photos of several that were located in Northern or Central Ohio: the Starview Drive-in on US 20 in Norwalk: the Carlisle Drive-in south of Elyria (on what used to be US 20); Sandusky Drive-in on US 6; Midway Auto Drive-in on US 42 near Mansfield; and the Madison Skyway Drive-in, on US 20 near Geneva.

(US 20 sure had a lot of drive-ins.)

Local drive-ins that I've written about include the Lorain Drive-in (the present location of Hold-It Self Storage, where I rent a small unit); the still-thriving Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-in Theatre in North Ridgeville; and the Tower Drive-in, on what used to be State Route 57.

And 75 years ago today, the Tower Drive-in opened. Here's the Grand Opening ad that appeared in the Lorain Journal back on May 20, 1950.

The ad makes it sound pretty modern and nice. It notes, "A new advancement in sound engineering and speaker construction will bring you for the first time a tone quality and fidelity never before achieved in an Auto Theatre.

"A newly designed speaker post provides you with your own parking light. A small lamp concealed in the plastic top of the post casts a soft mellow glow to aid in replacing the speaker and a small white spot light up the base of the post for greater ease in parking.

"All ramps are scientifically designed for perfect visibility in any part of the theater."

"For the first time anywhere in the world you will see a screen image, of this tremendous size, three times more brilliant than before."

Here's an ad for the theatre that ran a few days later.

May 26, 1950 Journal ad

By June, Tower Drive-in movie ads had adopted the flower logo that would adorn its ads for decades.

June 2, 1950 Journal ad

A summer 1974 ad