A Florida-based company is set to reopen the long-closed Tee Pee Drive-In theater along the Ozark Trail alignment of Route 66 in Sapulpa, Okla., reported the Sapulpa Daily Herald.
The newspaper said:
“I hope the town embraces it,” said Russell Glenn of Stars, LLC, the Florida company that restores historic American theaters. “It’s a good thing to give back to the community.”
Glenn asked that the community support the project with volunteer hours in cleaning, painting and other in-kind donations.
He said there are plans to recognize all the donations the community puts into the restoration.
Plans for the screen include silver stripping for 3-D capabilities. […]
Once re-opened, the theater will offer first-run movies with the occasional retro movie showing. There plans to charge by the car load, just like in the theater’s heyday.
The company has set up a website, teepeedrive-in.com, that has this message:
IN TWO WEEKS we will BEGIN clean up and restoration of The Teepee Drive-In! We need as many people as we can so we can get the show back on the SILVER screen. We want to re-open mid summer. see our facebook page and our information page.
The website contains a link where you can make donations. The Tee Pee also has set up a Facebook page.
According to AbandonedOK.com, the Tee Pee was built in 1950. It closed in 1999.
Its location is 1705 W. Highway 66, on the old Ozark Trail alignment of Route 66. That semi-rural stretch served as the Mother Road from 1926 to 1952, and also includes the 1925 Rock Creek Bridge as a landmark.
5/15/2012 UPDATE: KOKI-TV in nearby Tulsa provided some updates to the story:
KJRH-TV Tulsa also filed this report: