The Palace Theatre in Fredericksburg was very ornate inside.  It was large and comfortable.  It was outfitted with good modern projection equipment.  I serviced the projection equipment on a few occasions, and was always impressed by the bright sharp picture, and great acoustics of the auditorium.  It has since closed, and has been converted to retail space.

The 87 Drive In still stands, although it has been closed for years.  A car lot is making use of the land in front of it to store new cars and trucks.  The screen is still in good shape.  The screen tower was made to resemble a TV set.

Fredericksburg’s only operating theatre is a small 5 plex, built a few years ago.  I am not impressed.

The Apache Drive In runs nothing but X rated movies, and although it is seated firmly in the Bible Belt city of Tyler, TX, it must do a pretty good business, as it has been in operation for nearly two decades!  It has an eye catching road sign and marquee, and a very nice boxoffice.  The screen is nestled in some pine trees that need to be trimmed away now and then.  I hear they do not run film anymore, but have a home unit digital projector out in the lot projecting on the big screen.  It’s not as bright as what came from the 35 mm booth, but people still come!

The Grand Theatre in Yoakum once lived up to it’s name.  By the early 1990s, it had fallen on hard times, and was looking pretty sad, especially in the auditorium.  The sign was still in good shape though, and even if it looks relatively small from the street, when one gets close up, it’s surprisingly big!  One neat feature the Grand had was an old penny scale with fortune messages!  I hadn’t seen one of those in years!  The Grand is now closed, and last I heard it has become a church.

This is the Lynn in Gonzales, TX.  It was built by, operated by and named for Lynn Smith.  This is absolutely the finest small town theatre I have ever seen.  It rivals, and surpasses many of the big city suburban theatres of it’s time.  It was very fancy, had a beautiful mezzanine, a cry room, and a large balcony.  The Lynn was bought by Commonwealth Theatres in the 70s, and closed in the late 80s.   I heard it has reopened, and the balcony has been converted into a separate auditorium.  I haven’t been to the Lynn since it’s remodeling.  I hope it’s grandeur was not ruined in the transformation.
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I have never been in this theatre.  It has been closed for a long time, but that has to be the biggest theatre sign I’ve ever seen!  An old boss of mine had to name a theatre the Ritz, because the sign was so small only four letters would fit.  There’s only four letters on this one, but it’s big enough to be called the “Metropolitan Hippodrome”, and still have room to spare!   I heard the city wants to reopen the Edna for use as a Civic Center/Playhouse, but it is in TERRIBLE repair with mold, standing water, and LOTS of exposed asbestos.