Fletcher’s State Fair Drive-In — 1960-1963
by Paula Bosse
Food-on-a-stick, open all nite (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
The legendary Fletcher’s Corny Dog once had its own drive-in! You didn’t have to wait until the State Fair of Texas rolled around to get your favorite “food on a stick” fix — you just needed to head to 3610 Samuell Boulevard, across from the Tenison Golf Course.
Sadly, there was a lot of drive-in and tavern competition along Samuell back then (Keller’s was practically next door!), and the State Fair Drive-In seems to have lasted only a little over three years, from the spring of 1960 to the fall of 1963.
I’d love to see this around NOW! Come on, Fletcher’s family: bring this back!
*
Dallas Morning News, June 12, 1960
DMN, June 12, 1960 (click for larger image)
*
DMN, May 15, 1960
*
DMN, June 29, 1960
*
DMN, Oct. 24, 1963
***
Top photo from the Dallas Historical Society.
After the Fletcher’s Drive-In closed, it was replaced by a Red Coleman liquor store, and was most recently a club, El Palmeras. Google Street View shows the shabby neighborhood these days, here.
Google Maps
An entertaining interview with the late Neil Fletcher appeared in the Oct. 1982 issue of D Magazine, here.
A Travel Channel video focuses on the famed corny dog, here.
A previous Flashback Dallas post about that same stretch of Samuell Blvd. — “Red’s Turnpike Open-Air Dance: An East Pike/Samuell Blvd. Joint — 1946” — is here.
UPDATE: I’ve received many comments that Fletcher’s had several short-lived drive-thru restaurants which started popping up in the mid-’80s. More on the franchise plans can be read in this article by Donna Steph Hansard from the Aug. 5, 1984 Dallas Morning News:
Most images are larger when clicked.
*
Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
I remember a couple of Drive-thru Fletchers that opened. One in Mesquite and one at Greenville near Park Ln. They only lasted 2 or 3 years. It was in the 90’s. Corny dogs are perfect for eating while driving.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There was a small Fletcher’s Drive thru in Mesquite on Gus Thomasson near Town East….early 90s.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It struck me that while the wet side of White Rock Creek along Samuell in the 1940s was a area of genuine joints and dives, the wet/dry break on White Rock Creek along Garland Road a couple of miles (if that) to the north was a great deal less seedy. I can recall a Pig Stand and a similar drive-in in that area, and maybe even a package store or two, but nothing like Samuell Blvd. Is this indicative of relative land values or other basic socio-economic forces, or were the powers that be doing some jiggery-pokery behind the scenes?
LikeLike
[…] Desperate for a corny dog out of season? Luckily there was a place to get them. “Fletcher’s State Fair Drive-In — 1960-1963.” […]
LikeLike