The History of the Boulevard Drive-In

The Good Years

During the 1950s and early 1960's, in warm weather on Friday and Saturday nights, the Drive-In would be filled to capacity, in fact, on one particular Saturday night, the box office registered 1100 cars. Money was rolling in by the pockets full. The initial investment was recovered in just 2 years.

Drive-in owners of the early years were getting rich while inside theatres were going dark, almost to the point of extinction in some urban localities.

When the Boulevard opened in 1950 there were already six Drive-In Theatres operating in the Kansas City area. On the Boulevard's opening night in 1950, the Shawnee Drive-In was showing, "Blondie Hits the Jackpot." The Crest Drive In was showing "Tall in the Saddle". Hi Way 40 was showing "Three Came some", Riverside was showing "Tanks a Million", the Kansas Drive In was showing "Mother Didn't Tell Me", the Spa was showing "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and the Boulevard was showing "The Lady takes a Sailor."

The Bad Years

During the late 1970's and all through the 1980's Drive ins were going dark almost faster than you could keep track of them. This was because a large percentage of households had acquired televisions and VCRs. Another reason for the decline was that property values were appreciating at such a rapid rate that Drive In sites were worth more for development than as a Drive In Theatre, even if they were doing well, especially in urban locales. Also around 1970 exhibitors were starting to build more walk-in theatres and they began to flourish. By the 1990's they were a booming business.

In the hey day of the Drive Ins there were about 6000 screens in the country. Now in 2001 there arc only about 500. There is no doubt in my mind that in the not too distant future, there will be but very few Drive Ins, if any, operating as such. Some may still exist as flea markets. But, that too is open for debate.