Tropical Drive-In
Nokomis, Florida1954-1978
Browse Tropical Drive-In tees, long sleeve tees and hoodies. It was a small place on U.S. 41 with one screen and room for 250 cars, and its ads kept to two shows a night at 7 and 9. The ad logo slashed the name across a black wedge in fast script, with a palm frond at one end. The styles are below, and the full Tropical history is 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.
4 products
Tropical Drive-In History
The Tropical Drive-In in Nokomis, Florida, opened on May 8, 1954, with Gary Cooper in Dallas and Vittorio Gassman in Cry of the Hunted. It stood at 1091 North Tamiami Trail, on U.S. 41, with one screen and room for 250 cars. James W. Ponder and ABC Theatrical Enterprises ran it at the start.
It was small, and its ads kept things plain: two shows each night at 7 and 9. Trade papers and its own ads placed it at Venice, the larger town just south, and the Film Daily Year Books of 1958 and 1963 list it under Venice too. The ad logo was the fanciest thing about it, the name slashed across a black wedge in fast script, with a palm frond at one end.
In November 1963 a trade paper's Jacksonville column reported that the Gulf Theatre and the Tropical Drive-In, both at Venice, had gone to William Mitchum. Floyd Theatres ran it in the 1970s. It closed on April 27, 1978, with Semi-Tough and The Longest Run. It was later torn down, and shops now cover the site, including a Publix.