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Obituary: Joe Weisberg - Former Basketball Star In Toledo - Joseph Weisberg, 2118 Wyndhurst Rd., star forward on Woodward's city championship basketball teams in 1928 and 1929, suffered a heart attack yesterday while in the office of Dr. Myron Fink, 218 Michigan St., and died while being taken in an ambulance to St. Vincent's Hospital. He was 37. Mr.Weisberg, a lifelong resident of Toledo, was co-owner of the Dixie Drive-In Theater on the Dixie Highway, and also held an interest in the Bowl-O-Drome, 2521 Collingwood Blvd. He formerly was a clothing salesman at the B.R. Baker Co. 10 years. The basketball careers of the Weisberg brothers at Woodward Tech and it's successor, the present Woodward High School, covered a span of several years. In recent years Joseph Weisberg was a high-scoring bowler with the B'nai B'rith league. He is survived by his wife Eleanor; son, Phillip; brothers, Fred, Ben, Manuel and Julius Weisberg, all of Toledo, William Weisberg, Los Angeles, and Hyman Weisberg, Mesa, Ariz.; mother, Mrs. Anna Vinaker, Los Angeles, and grandmother, Mrs. Tony Rothenstein, Toledo. Rabbis Nehemiah Katz and Dr. Norton Goldberg will conduct services at the Zimmerman Mortuary tomorrow ar 1:30 p.m. Burial will be in North Oregon Cemetery. (Toledo Blade 6/25/49)
Newspaper Ad: Dixie Family Drive-In Theater - Preferred in Monroe - Three Miles North - Route 25 (Michigandriveins.com 7/3/62)
Update: The Dixie Drive-In Theater remains an unsolved mystery. It's existence has been proven with the 1962 newspaper ad
(below), but the actual location is still unknown. The directions in the ad would put it right in the vicinity of the Denniston, and
Custer drive-ins on M-25 (Monroe Rd), possibly on the east side of the road. The Terra-Server image gives no clues to it's
location, nor did a recent search along Monroe Rd. The odds of three drive-in theaters operating head-to-head, within a few
hundred feet of each other is unlikely, but that does seem to be the case here. It most likely closed in the late 1960's, and all
remnants of it's existence have long since been wiped away. Any longtime Monroe residents remember the location of this one?
(Michigandriveins.com 9/7/03)
Update: The Dixie was located on the east side of the road across from the other two. It was smaller than the others. From the
advertising and logo design that appeared in "The Monroe Evening News" at the time, I would have to believe that it was
owned by the same company that operated the Telegraph, Starlite, Jesse James, Parkside and East Side drive-ins in the
Toledo area. I attended high school at Bedford near Temperance at the time and we received both the Evening News and
the Toledo Blade. As I recall the ads that ran in The Blade then for the Toledo area theatres also had a brief few lines and
the flag logo at the bottom for the Dixie. After returning from college in 1968, I don't recall seeing any advertising for the
Dixie. I do remember driving by the drive-in during the early 60's. My dad bought his Rambler station wagons at Geiman's,
just south of where the drive-ins were located. (Dave Snouffer Toledo, OH 2/14/04)
Update: Research continues to attempt to find the exact location of the Dixie Drive-In on Monroe's "Drive-In Alley", Monroe Street,
also known as M-125. We've determined the Custer/Bel-Aire Drive-In was at 6231 N. Monroe St., and the Denniston Drive-In was
1/8 mile north at 6501 N. Monroe St. They were both on the west side of Monroe St. The Dixie's 6720 N. Monroe St. address would
place it on the east side on Monroe St., and a little further north from the other two drive-ins. The Dixie most likely stood where the
Old Town Golf & Sportland golf course is now located. The golf course's address is 6724 N. Monroe. A Yahoo map search turned up
the image below. We've also put together a photoshop rendering of what this "Drive-In Alley" might have looked like when all three
ran head-to-head in the 1950's and 60's. (Michigandriveins.com 4/4/04)
Update: The Dixie DIT in Monroe has a name change as well. The Dixie opened on June 4, 1948 and operated until June 16, 1965.
On June 17, 1965 the Dixie became the Star-Lite DIT and specialized in showing films for "Adults Only." The format change must
not have worked because the Star-Lite closed on September 28, 1966 and apparently never re-opened. The last ad appears in the
September 26th Monroe newspaper. (Andrew Wilson 4/22/04)
Update: We had the Bel-Aire Drive-In at 6231 N.Monroe St. and the Denniston Drive-In located 1/8 mile down the road at 6501. When you
parked over at screen 2 of the Bel-Aire, in the far corner, you could actually see the one screen at the Denniston through the trees. Denniston
closed in 1985, and the Bel-Aire in 1987. (Excerpt from the now-defunct Drive-In Theatre Fan Club Update Volume 5 May/June)
Update: New aerial images of the three drive-in theatre's that were in Monroe's "drive-in alley" have finally been uncovered and posted, including
this 1961 Hi-Res Image. More
aerial shots from 1949, 1957, 1961, and 1981 are posted on the Custer (Bel-Aire Twin),
Denniston and Dixie Drive-In pages. (Michigandriveins.com 5/22/05)
Update: The parking lot of the Dixie Drive-In in Monroe, MI is now the driving range of the Old Town Golf & Sportland facility. On the TerraServer
aerial image (year 2000), you can see a "parch pattern" shaped like the parking lot of the Dixie in the 1957 aerial photo. There is also a group of trees
at the northeast corner of the lot in the 1957 photo, and the 2000 photo shows that same group. (Thomas LaPrise 7/15/05)
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