Sierra Vista, AZ History: Geronimo Drive-In Theater

Looking north on Canyon Drive.
Courtesy Eric Wakatani

The Famous Green Top...

...a page from the book- FORT HUACHUCA The story of a frontier post, by Cornelius C. Smith Jr. :
"Notwithstanding the fact that post officials did everything possible to keep soldiers entertained and happy at Fort Huachuca, soldiers exercised the age-old perogative of looking for diversion and comfort off base. Adjoining Ft. Huachuca was a small clusters of buildings named Fry, described by the Post Commander, Col. Hardy, as a 'small rather sordid town.' As the post grew with the influx of soldiers from other army establishments, so did Fry."
"It became a boom town of tents and ramshackle buildings filled with prostitutes and sleazy bars. Some post officials compared Fry with Tombstone in the latter's heyday, but noted that Fry was probably tougher. The place was a 'natural' for trouble. Brawls were frequent and knifings were not uncommon."
"Post commander Col. Hardy then interested a black entrepreneurial group in Chicago in establishing an amusement center in the small town of Fry. The place was designed by the noted black architect, Paul Williams, of Los Angeles, and because of its domed oval roof (covered with green asphalt roofing) it was dubbed by the soldiers the "Green Top". It opened its doors in March 1943, costing the government about $100,000 for construction. A handsome mural entitled, 'New Peace With Victory' was painted by William E. Scott, a Chicago artist. The mural ran for some distance behind a bar 120 feet long, one of the longest in the country at that time. (After doing more research, this article is not entirely correct. There were 7 murals displayed through out the 6400 sq ft building.) Rumor has it, that World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Joe Louis Barrow was a silent partner at the GT. No hard liquor was served, but the place was generally filled with soldiers drinking beer. Consumption of beer at the 'Green Top' amounted to about two-and-half (train) carloads of draft beer monthly."
"Oddly, a portion of the Green Top was used as living quarters for some 25 black officers and their wives. The space had been designed for use by employees, but so critical was the housing situation that rooms were assigned to division personnel rather than Green Top workers."

Quoting Mr. Jack Sabin, who moved to Sierra Vista in 1954, from an Oral History interview in 2005 says about the Green Top, "Just prior to reopening the Fort in the '50s there, the Green Top Cafe was in there, the Green Top building burnt down. That was the building Joe Lewis supposedly had built for the troops. It was a big building, it was just 1x4s and tarpaper on the outside."

The domed Recreation Center building burnt down on January 7, 1955. Roy Brockbank acquired the property and built a shopping center on the same location.
In the up coming years, The Green Top Apartment building was rebuilt twice, the third time it burned, it was demolished. 1963 McLellan's was built on that same location. Today, that same building at 256 W. Fry Blvd. is vacant.

Check this out-

*Early 1900s Outside of the main gate, to the north and alongside what is now Garden Avenue and Highway 90, there was a row of small wooden shacks (cribs) connected by one roof overhead. The structures were all painted white, and became known what the military referred to as "White City." The homesteaders and "dry landers" referred to the cribs as "sporting houses" and they were off-limits to all newcomers.
* February 1955 Tony Giacoma, manager of Geronimo Theater submitted plans to build a drive-in theater which opened on July 29, 1955.
*1955 The Huachuca Herald printed their first newspaper edition on October 7.
*1956 Stanley Wenc started construction on Stanley's Apts. on Garden and Wilcox. Mr. Wenc was issued the first building permit from the newly incorporated city.
*1956 El Rancho Roller Rink held their Grand Opening in November. Built by Roy Brockbank Enterprise for $200,000.
*1957 Virginia and Joseph Hilb built and operated the Dairy Queen on Fry Blvd..
*1957 The El Coronado Lanes was built by Roy Brockbank Enterprise for $250,000. Grand Opening was held in April.
*1957 Sierra Family Drive-in Theater was built.
*1958 The Gateway Times printed their first edition newspaper on April 24.
*1961 Highway 92, the street which extended east from the
main gate of the fort, and later, as a result of a naming contest, was named Buena Highway was changed in 1961 when councilman Louis Broitman recommended to the city council that the main thoroughfare be re-named Fry Boulevard in honer of Erwin Fry. After a discussion concerning the matter, the council voted in favor of changing the name from Buena
Highway to Fry Boulevard.
*1962 Halloween party was held at the "El Rancho Roller Rink" for the first time.
*1965 The first traffic light was installed on Fry Blvd and North Ave. The cost of a traffic light that year was $12,452, installed. The city's share: $5,820. The state paid the balance.
*1967 The Huachuca Herald merged with (bought out) The Gateway Times.
*1968 As the city grew Sierra Vista had three traffic lights installed: Garden/Fry, North Ave/Fry and Carmichael/Fry.
*Dec. 25,1971 Geronimo Theater's auditorium was gutted by fire, destroying the indoor seating area. (Note: before the auditorium was built, they parked a school bus on the last row, where kids sat in the bus and watched the movie).
MORE TO COME

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Geronimo Drive-In Theater

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