The Corral Drive-In Theater
By Martin E. Nass
Pioneer Corporation built the Corral Drive-In Theater at 1710 West Second Street
in 1949. Art Downard managed the drive-in until he purchased it from Pioneer Corporation
in 1964 at the same time that he bought the Webster Theater. He owned and operated
them both until 1980.
He was joined in the 1979 by his son, Tom, who then purchased the theaters from Art.
Tom owned and managed the Corral Drive-In Theater until until it was closed in 1987
and was later torn down. Today the site is occupied by the Beam Industry building.
The nation's love affair with the drive-in movie passed from the scene partly due
to the advent of the VCR and the video tapes. At the height of their popularity they
were visited regularly by the teenagers. One night a week the theater would offer
"Buck Night" where they would admit a whole car-full of people for one
dollar. At the regular times when the admission price was charged for each passenger
youngsters would cram into the trunk until after the car was inside the theater grounds.
I suspect that most times the management knew that this was going on but they just
had to put up with it.
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