Silver Dollar Drive-In
Phoenix, Arizona1950-1983
Order Silver Dollar Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. The Phoenix drive-in took its name literally, with silver dollars set into the snack bar floor and admission of one dollar per car. The family made its own ice cream, sold hot dogs for 25 cents and cold drinks for a dime, and neighbors watched free from their yards. Browse the styles below, and the full Silver Dollar history is 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
Silver Dollar Drive-In History
The Silver Dollar Drive-In in Phoenix, Arizona, opened in 1950 at 7201 South Central Avenue, with John Wayne in Red River. Woodrow Wickersham built it, and his family ran it. It had one screen and room for 750 cars.
The name was meant literally. Silver dollars were set into the floor of the snack bar, and admission was one dollar per car. The family made its own ice cream, sold hot dogs for 25 cents and cold drinks for a dime, and counted on the snack bar for most of its income. Wickersham's daughter worked the counter on weekends. Neighbors watched free from their yards, and people came in through the fence or in trunks. The owners knew.
A newspaper photo from about 1955 shows a big sign with a round coin at one end, Silver Dollar in script over DRIVE-IN THEATRE, and a jeep lettered for the theater parked below. The Wickershams sold in 1956. The Foreman-Nace circuit had it in the 1960s, and Plitt Theatres ran it later on.
Arizona Contractor and Community gives the closing year as 1983; Cinema Treasures says the mid-1980s. It has since been leveled. A Food City supermarket stands on the back of the lot, and the front is crossed by South Jesse Owens Parkway.