Josh Frank always knew that Austin needed a drive-in theater. A visionary thought, maybe, but even he never saw 2020 coming.
A little more than a decade ago, Frank took over a vacant building on East Cesar Chavez Street. He says that the area, increasingly gentrified, looked much different at the time. The building’s neighbors were piñata stores, a church and taco landmark Juan in a Million. Frank’s six-year anniversary with then-girlfriend Jess was coming up. He painted a screen on an outside wall, put a projector on top of the car, brought some speakers from eBay and drove her into the alleyway for a movie night.