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!
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May , 1960
June, 1960
Oct., 1963
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Sources & Notes
Top photo from the Dallas Historical Society.
An article on Neil Fletcher’s new restaurant and a photo of the interior can be found in the archives of The Dallas Morning News: “State Fair Drive’In Fixtures Designed, Installed by Bab’s” (DMN, June 12, 1960).
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 the article “Fletcher and Firm Very Much Alive” by Donna Steph Hansard (DMN, Aug. 5, 1984).
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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.
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There was a small Fletcher’s Drive thru in Mesquite on Gus Thomasson near Town East….early 90s.
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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?
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[…] Desperate for a corny dog out of season? Luckily there was a place to get them. “Fletcher’s State Fair Drive-In — 1960-1963.” […]
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How do we access the article Fletcher and Firm Very Much Alive by Donna Steph Hansard?
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[…] Read the full story here. […]
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“Keller’s was practically next door!”
Aren’t the Fletcher’s structure and the Keller’s structure one in the same?
Sure looks like it from Goggle Street View.
The old sign post is still there.
https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7929862,-96.733258,3a,16.5y,142.99h,88.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snupXKLZN-RbcOwyB-rWUjg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
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