The Admiral Twin drive-in, along the Route 66 alignment of Admiral Place in Tulsa, is having its best season, according to an article in the Tulsa World.
"We're having a great season," he said, noting that the drive-in opened its season in March. "People are getting out and having fun, and it looks like we're getting a lot of repeat customers."
Nostalgia may add to the appeal of the drive-in, Smith said.
"People who used to come here as kids now are here with their kids," he said. "It's been here since 1951, and everybody knows where it's at."
The Admiral won a $35,000 grant from Hampton Inns' Save-A-Landmark program last year, and it used those winnings to upgrade the original plumbing, and other improvements.
In addition to helping the Admiral Twin, the Save-a-Landmark program helped to restore the 80-foot-long Blue Whale in Catoosa several years ago. The Admiral Twin was the 23rd landmark selected for the program.
The Blue Whale and the drive-in represent historic Route 66 landmarks that are among a bevy of such attractions in the state, said Amanda DeCort, historical preservation planner with Tulsa.
"All throughout Oklahoma, a lot of cities and towns are capitalizing on Route 66," she said. "There's definitely an interest on the part of Route 66 enthusiasts to get the younger people interested in it."
The Admiral Twin Drive-In represents the history of Route 66 and is a part of Tulsa's identity, DeCort said.
"It's one of the last drive-ins around," she said. "It's a piece of Tulsa history, and it's living history."
The Admiral Twin also was the setting for Francis Ford Coppola's film, "The Outsiders," based on the original best-selling novel by Tulsa native S.E. Hinton. Tulsa TV Memories has a pretty good overview of the drive-in's history.
(Editor's note: There was a coding issue with the excerpt of the story. It's fixed now.)