Fair Park Drive-In
Birmingham, Alabama1948-1985
Browse Fair Park Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. Within weeks of opening, a local radio evangelist wanted to hold a meeting there with his sermon carried through the in-car speakers, and the union assigned a projectionist to watch over the sound. Next door was the speedway, and one former customer recalls race cars drowning out the speakers. Pick a style below, then read the full Fair Park history further down. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
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Fair Park Drive-In History
The Fair Park Drive-In in Birmingham, Alabama, opened on October 2, 1948, on Lomb Avenue beside the state fairgrounds, with Maria Montez in Pirates of Monterey. Bad weather had pushed the opening back two days. It held about 650 cars. It was the third of four open-air theaters the Waters Theatre Company planned in Birmingham, after the Roebuck and Shades Mountain drive-ins, and by 1956 it belonged to the N.H. Waters circuit.
Boxoffice reported that the opening night went ahead despite a baseball game and a football game drawing crowds elsewhere. Company officials called it the finest of its kind in the region. H. M. Wages, who had managed Waters' Central Park Theatre for 12 years, took over as manager, with an assistant from the Roebuck.
Someone had another use for it within weeks. Boxoffice reported that a local radio evangelist wanted to hold a meeting there, with his sermon carried through the in-car speakers. The union assigned a projectionist to watch over the sound.
On May 6, 1967, a tornado came through near the fairgrounds and destroyed the screen. An aerial photo taken the next day shows the damage, and the Weather Service's record of the storm lists a drive-in among what it destroyed. The screen was rebuilt. Next door was the speedway, and one former customer recalls race cars drowning out the speakers.
Cobb Theatres ran it last. It closed on September 2, 1985. A post office and a police station stand on the site now.