Tee Pee Drive-In is a historic

drive-in theater A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

located on an old alignment of

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

Sapulpa, Oklahoma Sapulpa is a city in and the county seat of Creek County, Oklahoma, Creek County, extending partly into Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Tulsa County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 21,929 at the time of the 2020 United States census, ...

. The drive-in theatre was first built in 1949 and opened on May 5, 1950. The theatre used a type of paving for its pathways, unlike other drive-ins at the time which used dirt pathways. The Tee Pee Drive-In ran smoothly through the 1950s, showing movies to thousands of people. On May 5, 1960, exactly 10 years after the drive-in theatre first opened, an F5 tornado struck the town of Sapulpa, nearly destroying the drive-in theatre. However, the theatre was back up and running a month later after repairs were made. The drive-in experienced two different break-ins a week apart later that year. In August 1966, a fire broke out at the theatre, destroying the concession stand. Drive-In theatres across the nation began to die out during the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the rise of indoor movie theatres. The Tee Pee Drive-In wasn't spared from these closures when its owner, Video Theatres, closed the drive-in theatre along with many others in 1982. The theatre remained closed for about 18 months before new owners bought the property from Video Theatres, reopening the drive-in theatre on March 18, 1983. The theatre was passed around to different owners through the 1980s and 1990s before being closed again in 1999. The drive-in sat abandoned for just over two decades, deteriorating further and further through time. In 2020, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

led to the practice of

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

, which in turn led to a resurgence in drive-in theatres that remained open across the nation. This led a local group to purchase the abandoned Tee Pee Drive-In property in 2021, which made renovations to the property over the next two years, including 12

Spartan trailers The Spartan Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturing company, headquartered on Sheridan Avenue near the Tulsa Municipal Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Previously known as Mid-Continent Aircraft Company, the company had been reorgan ...

that can be rented on

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

. The Tee Pee Drive-In reopened on April 15, 2023.

References

{{Reflist Drive-in theaters in the United States Cinemas and movie theaters in Oklahoma Sapulpa, Oklahoma U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma 1949 establishments in Oklahoma Tipis Theatres completed in 1949 Buildings and structures in Creek County, Oklahoma

See also

References