Drive-Ins Sprout in Texas’ Wide Open Spaces

Martin Murray wanted to build something straight out of the 1950s.

So he cleared 30 acres of pasture off Interstate 45 about 20 miles south of Dallas and built his Galaxy Drive-In like a museum to a mostly extinct industry. Cars squeeze between poles tethered with speaker boxes and campy, vintage commercials taken from Hitchcock-era reels roll before the main feature.

“I wanted to take people back to a simpler time,” Murray said. “You hit 1958 once you enter our driveway.”

Probably a fair amount of traffic too: Texas drive-ins are seeing the biggest surge in decades. Galaxy is among at least five outdoor theaters to open since 2003. The latest debuted in Killeen, near Ft. Hood, on July 1. A new two-screen in the West Texas town of Midland is expected to open in August.

Several more are planned. Steve Rodman, owner of the Crossroads Drive-In in Shiner, between Houston and San Antonio, hopes to open a Houston theater with a more contemporary design by February.

And business has been so good at the three-screen Galaxy that co-owner Marsha Murray, Martin’s wife, points to a flat tract where the gravel and sod have already been groomed for a fourth screen. She hints that Galaxy may ultimately house as many as 12 screens. She also wants to franchise more drive-ins around the state.

“You’d probably have to go back to the 1960s to see them building this many in a couple years’ time,” said Gene Palmer, who has owned the Last Drive-In Picture Show in Gatesville for 50 years.

Palmer would know. He opened his single-screen theater about 40 miles west of Waco in 1955, back when watching films on a big screen under the stars was a popular choice for moviegoers. Texas’ drive-ins peaked at 388 in 1955; the state now has 18.

According to Drive-Ins.com, there were as many as 4,063 drive-ins across the nation in 1958. Only about 420 drive-ins remain nationwide, but of those, about 40 are new theaters built since 1990. In Texas, at least seven have either opened, reopened or added additional screens within the last two years.

The concept of drive-ins may be retro, but the films aren’t. Galaxy changes its kitschy, giant roadside marquee -- complete with scrolling lights and intentionally crooked lettering -- every two weeks to promote its latest batch of new releases.

At Galaxy’s recent premiere of “War of the Worlds,” lines snaked around the concession stand while families reclined in folding chairs propped in the bed of pickups. Most played the film’s audio through car stereos instead of using the antique speakers, which Martin Murray understands -- even though he’s driven upward of 1,500 miles to buy the hard-to-find relics from abandoned and failed drive-ins.

Charles Kellis, 38, a security firm owner, said “War of the Worlds” was about the 20th trip his family has made to Galaxy since the theater opened in December.

Like most parked around him, Kellis said he preferred drive-ins because of the atmosphere, nostalgia and concession prices. Hot dogs cost $1.25 and soft drinks less than $1. Kellis said the last time he took his family of five to a multiplex, he spent $80. Galaxy costs him less than half that.

“You get more family time out here,” said Kellis’ wife, Carolyn. “Plus you get more space to relax and no one is telling you to be quiet.”

Some drive-in theaters also offer beer, hamburgers, cotton candy and funnel cakes at their concession stands. Such choices, along with first-run movies at affordable prices, keep the customers coming back, the owners said.

Novelty helps lure a younger crowd, said Everett Bryant, co-owner of the new Central Texas Drive-In Theater in Killeen.

“People are attracted because it’s something new,” Bryant said. “There’s a whole generation of people who have never been to a drive-in.”

Bryant helps run the single-screen theater at night, but during the day he cuts hair at a barber shop with the drive-in’s five other owners. The six each put $20 a day into a pot for one year after deciding to become partners in an investment. When the stash grew to about $150,000, they chose to take a gamble on a seasonal, fun business like a drive-in.

“It was just a risk we had to take,” Bryant said.

Palmer said being one of the few drive-ins in the state has helped his theater survive since the 1950s. His rule of thumb is there’s only room for one drive-in within a 100-mile radius -- a comfort zone the Central Texas Drive-In has invaded.

“I would hate to see it saturated to the point where it’s hurting each other,” Palmer said. “If we get overpopulated again, someone’s going to have to close.”

But Murray isn’t worried. He and his wife have been in the business since 1992, when an expensive trip to see “Home Alone” inspired the couple to build drive-ins in North and South Carolina.

Texas, they say, is their most promising location yet.

“I just like walking through the lots, looking at everything,” Martin Murray said. “To be honest, I built this for me more than anything else.”