Palms Drive-In
McAllen, Texas1949-1962
Browse Palms Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The McAllen, Texas, drive-in opened in 1949 with a pair of palm trees painted on a pale screen tower and PALMS running down the center column, a fitting name for the City of Palms. It closed on November 14, 1962, and a flea market now sits on the old lot. Pick a style below, then read the full Palms history further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
4 products
Palms Drive-In History
The Palms Drive-In in McAllen, Texas, opened in mid-September 1949 at North 10th Street and Nolana Avenue, with You Gotta Stay Happy and a short called Samba-Mania. A BoxOffice item that month said it would hold 400 cars and named Richard Bull, formerly of Big Spring, as owner. The item also called it the Palmer, which it was not. Later listings give 468 cars.
The screen tower faced the road with a pair of palm trees painted on a pale wall, one on each side of a center column with PALMS running down it. A 1950 to 1951 theatre catalog ran the picture among its new theaters. McAllen is known as the City of Palms, so the name took no great leap.
The Palms closed on November 14, 1962, with Two Weeks in Another Town and Murder She Said, according to a commenter who gives the bill. It came down afterward. A flea market now sits on the footprint of the old lot at that corner.