Showboat Drive-In

Houston once had nearly two dozen drive-ins, according to film historian David Welling, beginning with the Drive-in Theatre, later the South Main Drive-In, which opened on June 7, 1940. The last one built, Gordon McLendon's I-45 Drive-in, opened on July 2, 1982, and closed on February 29, 1992, and with it, Welling writes, the era of the drive-in in Houston came to a close, sort of. In 2005 the owners of the Crossroads Drive-In in Shiner built the Starlite near Kingwood, and the following year the Showboat opened on FM 2920 near Tomball.

The Showboat was a family project. In a history posted by the owners, Johnny and Chris Rumfolo say Johnny built it from the ground up with his father, J.W. Rumfolo, and their sons Joseph and Michael. Joseph ran the projectors, his wife Dinah handled the concession stand and paperwork, and Michael sold tickets. The name came from the Showboat Drive In, a 1950s Houston drive-in restaurant owned by Johnny's grandfather, Walter Rumfolo.

The drive-in opened with one 40-by-80-foot screen on March 31, 2006, with a double feature of Ice Age: The Meltdown and Aquamarine, and had to turn cars away on opening night. A second screen followed in May 2007. Each screen held about 400 cars, with sound sent over FM radio, and the Showboat showed double features and welcomed dogs and children in pajamas. The property was listed for sale in December 2022 while the theater stayed open. After the land sold, the Showboat closed on September 15, 2024, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Cinema Treasures reports that it was demolished on September 28, 2024.