Rare Piece of Dubious Texas Movie History Forever Lost in ’23 & No One Even Noticed

I don't know how many times I've driven past the rundown sign, just outside of Tyler, TX. I was convinced it'd been shutdown for years. I was totally wrong.

The irony that you still can't buy liquor in Tyler, but for over forty years you didn't have drive too far outside of the city limits to watch skin flicks in the bed of your truck with strangers, was never lost on me.

But if you never went, you're out of luck. What had been one of just two XXX drive-in theatres in the state of Texas, The Apache Drive-In Theatre, closed down just over a year ago.

Replacing the original Apache Drive-In (1957-1980) located at Highway 31 West (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures). This Apache Drive-In opened on November 7, 1980 screening adult movies. It had a capacity for 300 cars. It was closed as an adult movie theatre on March 9, 2023 due to the property being sold.

According to this post, as of '17, you could still enjoy XXX movies on the big screen on Friday and Saturday nights ($13 a showing) and the adult bookstore and toy shop were open during the day.

At that point they were still showing films inside the main building with 2-3 small viewing rooms. But they apparently stayed pretty tight lipped with the goings on, obviously discretion was the name of the game there.

As mentioned earlier, it had been one of just two listed XXX Drive-Ins in Texas. Well I've got a good news bad news situation for you, depending on where you live. The other located in El Paso (now the only XXX Drive-In) called Fiesta Drive-In, known for being able to hold 4-to-500 hundred cars per showing, is still open for business.