Sad Day for Tulsa...

This may be off topic, but the last remaining drive in movie theatre in Tulsa burned this afternoon. The Admiral Twin was consumed in flames and appears to have been uninsured. Man, there was a lot of history there and some pretty good memories for me too.

 

Uninsured.....Quite the coincidence.....Must not let nostalgia stand in the way of progress....

 

Man I went there a few times back in the day, that sucks

 

sorry to hear that. our local drive in closed a good 15 years ago as the story goes the guy never paid his taxes. was always packed too. the lot is mostly a target, lowes, bed bath and beyond and empty corn fields waiting to be more cookie cutter houses or shopping outlets. quite a shame that most of todays youth will only now about drive ins from old movies.

 

That sucks.......I gotta alot of ass at a drive-in....

 

Oh man that sucks. There are not nearly enough of those still around.

 

I grew up going to the Admiral Twin.

I think it's "coincidence" that it burned and was uninsured too! I mean, how does a "screen" catch fire and burn up?

If you've ever seen the movie The Outsiders, which was filmed in and around Tulsa, the drive-in theater in the movie was the Admiral Twin

 

Just heard about this on the radio driving home. Another landmark gone.

 

The drive-in is going the way of the Mom & Pop store/ Independent gas station, last article I read about them there were less than 200 of em left! It sucks out loud...

 

Yeah, I have to question that myself. I suspect, that in spite of all the nostalgic sentiment flowing in T-Town right now, it will never be rebuilt and will be deveoped into an apartment complex or something else along those lines. Really a downer. About the only locations from my (maybe not so) mispent youth that remain are the drag strip and the Cains Ballroom.

 

Wal-Mart strikes again,probably check with the city and property is already zoned out.

 

man , that really sucks . You are right , the strip & the ballroom.

 

I think we have one in oregon, in grants pass area we had one in town one cave juction 30 miles away and one in medford. damn shame all my kids grew up with one now my grand kids will say that must have been cool. sad

 

Damn that sucks. I spent the first 12 years of my life in Tulsa, remember it well.

 

DAMN i had been there a lot back in 68 -69 used to work at nelsons auto parts on admiral, i sure do miss that town

 

I E-mailed a link to this post to my neighbor you lived in the Tulsa area back in the 50's/60's. He said his folks took him to this drive in & he remembers seeing "Giant" there. He says it had back to back screens & was quite a landmark. Another survivor down.

 

Definately a bummer....I spent a few nights at that place in my rowdier days....Dragstrip and Cains....and a few things from the original Expo Square still around...Ol the times they are a changing! Wasn't that a song long long ago?

 

My wife and I tripped around the country 69 thru the mid 70's in my 35' Chevy coupe pulling a pop-up camping trailer and we stopped at that drive-in several times to watch the movies. Wish I had taken more pictures of the drive-ins we stopped at during those days.

 

Damn!!! Since I'm in OKC, I don't get to Tulsa a whole lot, but several years ago, a bunch of us from the City drove up to see a movie at the Twin. What a cool night that was! It was a nostalgia night and they had "American Graffiti" and a couple of other flicks that night.

Watch some stinkin' big box store swoops in immediately and build yet another cookie-cutter store with cookie-cutter big name stores on that spot. This sucks.

Yup. Didn't you know that old movie screens spontaneously combust at the temperature of "progress"???

Article from the Tulsa World: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=478&articleid=20100903_11_0_Police608960

 

I can't believe that I am hearing local news first now on the HAMB! Yeah, that's really sad.

The area surrounding this drive in has little development value. It's surrounded by residential that isn't doing well with our slumlord problem. If it was arson, I would more likely suspect problem kids than anyone wanting the property.

 

The owners said they are going to rebuild. They have no insurance but a fund has been started for them.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-the-Admiral-Twin-Drive-in/152452301439952

 

right where i was going with my comment, until i read this.

i've seen this type of thing happen with my own eyes, not necessarily a drive in , but other property have strange things happen and the surrounding community fight and fight to keep WM out and they just keep pushing and eventually get their way.

i hope the owners can make their rebuild happen , so it wont be something it shouldnt be

 

Thanks for the local angle. Sometimes shit just happens to happen, not because of developers or zoning or politics. Perhaps something good will come from this, sad day none the less....

 

I'm having a hard time trying to understand the comments that say "it's a 'coincidence' that it burned with no insurance"...........makes it sound like you suspect foul play......but how would THAT work? Certainly the owner would no have an incentive to burn his own uninsured property.

So, that leaves a second party possibility that is trying to put the owner in a bind?

Could be either a 'natural causes' event or vandalism/arson..........but neither is related to insurance status. What am I missing??

Ray

 

I went to the dragstrip in Tulsa every weekend when it was open (I think February thru November back then) and to the Cain's a lot, too. I still have a T-shirt from the Cain's in the 70s.

Ray, in Bartlesville, OK in 1996, a famous landmark burned down. It was determined to be arson, and it was also uninsured, even though it just happened to be a house designed by the famous architect Bruce Goff, and it was a called Shin 'enKan (you might google it). The owner of the property, after the investigation was completed, just happened to divide the property into lots and build some very expensive luxury homes, worth far more than Shin 'enKan was worth.

It was a coincidence too.

The land where the Admiral Twin sat, right on the interstate not far from the Tulsa airport, is worth a pile of money.

 

theres a newer walmart super center a mile away ,its in a older rougher area,wouldnt be all that great for retail.between the highway and the airport it gets pretty loud...
i had some great times there over the years..we got together and watched CARS when it came out.















i did have some great times there....we got together and watched CARS there.

 

ha. yeah. you're not missing anything.

 

I was actually driving by & called the fire department. I live about 2 miles from there

 

OK, so the best that I can make of that is, the owner saves some money on demolition costs and is less likely to be investigated/pursued for arson if their is no insurance fraud...........hmmm.....might be something to that.

We have had buildings locally that were undergoing demolition that "coincidentally" caught fire..........some in the daytime, some at night....I get it.

Ray

 

yep saw it on hwy244 man Im glad I got to go one last time this year.....Man I really wanted to take my kids there when there are old enough....They have one still standing in sapulpa wish someone would get it up and going