San Antonio is a city where history is commonplace. You don’t need to look far to find it, and that’s apparent on the Southside, where a circa 1948 drive-in movie screen is a stone’s throw from an 18th-century Spanish mission and a roadside vendor selling T-shirts where Victor Wembanyama is shown in his true form (half alien, half basketball player). 

Keep your eyes peeled for that as you pull up to the Mission Marquee Plaza, whose neon sign still blazes brightly against an Alamo City sunset after 78 years. It’s seen some changes in the nearly eight decades since, going from a drive-in theater to an arts and culture facility — and Colleen Swain, director of the City of San Antonio World Heritage Office, has fond memories. Swain told MySA she remembers going there with her parents while growing up and sleeping during the movies, noting the playground and the screen being huge.

Her office also oversees the Spanish Governor’s Palace and the Missions UNESCO World Heritage Site. Being that Mission Marquee Plaza is just steps away from the 306-year-old Mission San José, it falls under the World Heritage Office too, and it’s not without its own history. Opened in March 1948 as the Mission Drive-In Theater, the first movie to grace the screen was Pirates of Monterey, a 77-minute Western flick. Decades later, in 2000, it shut down, but was revived for a few years before finally going under in 2003.

“It was the last drive-in theater in San Antonio to go dark,” Swain said. “It closed, and then it reopened, and then it closed … So the city purchased it in 2007, and we did a master framework, and the Mission Branch library was the first facility to go in. Then we activated Mission Marquee Plaza, did that restoration, and it opened in 2014.”

These days, there’s a YMCA, the World Heritage Center, a bi-weekly farmer’s market and soon a pool. According to Swain, “the idea is to make that campus … a community.” And it still plays movies — through November, family-friendly classics like The Princess Bride, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and more will run, including a showing of Hamilton in celebration of America’s 250th birthday. The showings are free, and the only thing you need is a picnic blanket, chairs and snacks (which you can also grab from numerous vendors there if you forget.) Expect to hear a local singer-songwriter strum a guitar on-stage before the show and anticipate a packed parking lot surrounding the lawn.

Movies begin at dusk, but Swain recommends arriving early to beat the crowd and grab a good spot on the lawn (and yes, it’s pet-friendly). Here’s what the schedule looks like through the end of June:

Find it: 3100 Roosevelt Ave., San Antonio, TX 78214