Throwback Thursday: Southern Kentucky’s lost drive-in theaters

Before streaming, multiplexes, and even before air conditioning became common in homes, one of the biggest nights out in southern Kentucky was simply loading up the family car and heading to the drive-in movie theatre.

Bowling Green’s very first outdoor movie theater was the Sunset Drive-In, located at 2810 Russellville Rd. It officially opened on May 11, 1948, welcoming movie lovers with The Jolson Story starring Larry Parks. Operated by A.E. Campbell circuit, the Sunset was a pioneer for outdoor movies in our community. While it only operated until 1952, it introduced an entirely new way for local families to experience Hollywood under the stars.

Just two years later, Bowling Green’s drive-in scene really took off with the opening of both the Lost River Drive-In and the Riverside Drive-In in 1950. Located at 350 Nashville Road, where Hillvue Heights Church now stands, the Lost River Drive-In could accommodate an impressive 600 automobiles. Families packed lawn chairs, children played before the movie started, and everyone listened to the latest Hollywood hits with a speaker hanging from the car’s window. One famous fan of the Lost River was legendary horror filmmaker John Carpenter, who has recalled spending his childhood in Bowling Green. It’s fun to imagine that some of the inspiration behind Halloween may have begun beneath the stars at a Bowling Green drive-in.

Another favorite was the Riverside Drive-In, located along the 31-W Bypass near the Barren River. For years, it served as another gathering place for moviegoers before changing times and new development transformed the property into what many recognize today as the Bypass Kroger.

Just north of Bowling Green, between Horse Cave and Cave City on the Dixie Highway, stood the Twin City Drive-In. Opening on September 22, 1950, with the western Red Canyon, it could accommodate 400 cars and became a favorite stop during the height of Mammoth Cave tourism season. Located near the famous footlong hot dog stand, it welcomed families for more than three decades. Its final regular double feature was Ruthless People and Down and Out in Beverly Hills in October 1986. During its last six weeks, the theater briefly switched to adult films before permanently closing on November 16, 1986. Within a few years, the theater had been demolished, and today the site is home to a Dart Container manufacturing facility.

While Bowling Green’s drive-ins had disappeared decades earlier, southern Kentucky held onto one final piece of drive-in history. The Franklin Drive-In, located on Nashville Road in Simpson County, opened in 1969 and entertained generations of families for more than half a century. Originally known as the 31W Drive-In, it sat just off Interstate 65 and became a summertime tradition for movie lovers across Kentucky and Tennessee. Families watched first-run films from lawn chairs, pickup truck beds, and station wagons until the theater closed in 2023 after 53 years in business. The owners cited increasing traffic, surrounding development, and changing movie-viewing habits as reasons for closing, bringing an end to one of Kentucky’s last remaining drive-ins. Even after the theater closed, part of its legacy lived on when its iconic screen and projector found a new home at a new Tennessee drive-in.

Today, the giant movie screens have disappeared, but the memories remain. For generations of southern Kentuckians, the drive-in wasn’t just a place to watch a movie—it was where first dates happened, children watched cartoons in the back seat wearing pajamas, and families created traditions that are still remembered decades later. Sometimes, the best seat in the house wasn’t in a theater at all. It was behind the steering wheel.