years was the town’s only outdoor drive-in theater. Such theaters boomed after World War II, and thrived well into the 60’s. The 1961 ad shown to the right illustrates the typical fare of drive-in theaters in their heyday.
In later years, drive-in theaters became somewhat starved for business, and opted for more adult-oriented movies to remain profitable, as illustrated in the 1969 ad to the left. It is a surprising fact that these movies, featuring nudity and sexual scenes, were shown on the large outdoor screens, which in the case of Harvey’s, was visible from the McDonald’s across the road!
In the 1969 aerial view of Harvey’s to the right, one can see the vast expanse of valuable land occupied by a drive-in theater (Click on the image to see a larger version). For Harvey’s, the following year saw the big screen toppled, the concession and projection building razed, and the land re-graded for a Hill’s department store and shopping center.
 This July, 1950 photo of Harvey’s Drive-In Theatre in Lynchburg, Virginia, is in the National Archives. (courtesy Don Sanders) |
  The Harvey’s Drive-In screen tower looms in the background in these July, 1960 photos taken from the neighboring Putt Putt miniature golf course (also demolished soon after the drive-in). The boy in the hat is Kipp Teague, author of this web page, who was celebrating his fourth birthday with a Putt Putt party. The photo to the left also appears in the 1997 book The American Drive-In Movie Theatre. |
Harvey’s Drive-In Theatre is one of many
drive-ins memorialized in Don Sanders’ book,
The American Drive-In Movie Theatre.
(click on the book’s cover to visit Amazon.com’s At-A-Glance page)
The American Drive-In Movie Theatre
by Don Sanders
Also available is Don Sander’s followup book “Drive-In Movie Memories”
I remember Harvey’s drive inn and it brings back fond memories of the past