Lawrence, Kansas, residents Suzann and Brian Godinez enjoy visiting famous movie filming locations, and their most recent trip to Oklahoma didn’t leave them disappointed.
The couple ventured across state lines over the weekend to attend a plaque dedication ceremony that commemorated Tulsa’s Admiral Twin drive-in as a filming site during the making of “The Outsiders.”
One of the highlights of their journey, however, came when they drove through downtown Sperry on Sunday to see the DX Station where part of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 coming-of-age crime drama was shot.
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The service station — located at 9254 N. Cincinnati Ave., about 10 miles north of The Outsiders House Museum — is among several filming spots that continue to draw fans of the flick together 40 years later.
“What brings us back to the house in Tulsa and these locations is the amazing sense of community,” Suzann said. “It means a lot.”
Brian added: “It’s such a neat thing to me that it (the movie) still is something that lives on — the people who are involved with it, from the extras who still live in the area, to just the fanfare that the story still has.”
The defunct gas station was recently refurbished by a nonprofit organization called UpWard Sperry, and serves as the site where characters like Ponyboy and Sodapop “Soda” Curtis, Steve Randle, Johnny Cade and other Greasers met in the film.
Additional scenes were filmed across the street at a former drug store, the Rexall Store, where Dallas “Dally” Winston “helped” kids play 52-card pick-up.
Suzann, who teaches language arts at Shawnee Heights Middle School in Tecumseh, Kansas, uses “The Outsiders,” and its theme about bridging the gap between social classes, namely between the rich and the poor, to further educate her students.
“‘The Outsiders’ is such a classic, timeless novel that sends one of the most important messages,” Suzann said. “My students can recognize that despite our apparent differences, we have similarities; we all have troubles; we all see the same sunset.
“For me to get to share that story and that message with my students every year is priceless.”
The Godinezes’ latest trip to Sperry marked their third time visiting the small town of about 1,200 people, but their first seeing the newly refurbished DX Station.
They are among several people who regularly visit the historic landmark every year. UpWard Sperry maintains the property and offers more information about the property on its Facebook page.
Suzann is also part of a Facebook group, “Friends of the DX Gas Station Sperry, Okla.,” which helps her connect with other fans of the film across Oklahoma and her home state of Kansas. The group currently has over 1,000 members.
“It’s just kind of fun having that community of fellow fans and people who truly appreciate the overwhelming power of this novel and movie,” Suzann said.
Jimmie Tramel with Tulsa World contributed to this story.
