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Joy-Lan shows you can’t be too old to go digital

Posted on May 21, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

photo by Earl Leatherberry, used by permission

The Tampa (FL) Tribune gave us a piece of good news this week. The Joy-Lan Drive-In of Dade City has made the conversion to digital projection thanks to its owner, 83-year-old Harold Spears.

You really should read the article for its full collection of quotes and wisdom from Spears, who’s been in the drive-in industry for almost 60 years. For example, he recognizes that the appeal of the drive-in is its general relaxed atmosphere. He also notes that the Joy-Lan used to attract more teenagers than it does now.

Spears, who also owns the Silver Moon Drive-In (Lakeland), recognized that his only choices were converting to digital or closing. “The business that we do really didn’t justify the investment, but I like this business,” he said. “I enjoy this business. I would certainly hate to have to close it up.” Let’s offer our thanks to Spears for keeping his drive-ins alive and to the Tribune for writing about it.

Two of three California drive-ins doing well

Posted on May 20, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

KSBY, San Luis Obispo’s news leader, aired a fairly lengthy report about the state of several of its nearby drive-in theaters. I would have loved to embed it here, but the pre-roll commercial auto-starts and then the player never loads the actual video, so it’s in turn annoying and useless. I had to dig around to find one page where the news report actually plays. At least once, while I was there. But I digress.

Oddly, the story leads with the former Lompoc Valley Drive-In, now the Drive-In Recycling Center, though the faded screen/sign is still there. On the other hand, the HiWay in Santa Maria and the Sunset in San Luis Obispo are still going strong. “Both will convert to digital before the year is out,” the report says.

Although the video never loaded for me on the report’s text page, you can read more about it there. For a local station, it’s a pretty comprehensive look at regional drive-ins. Just don’t click the video links there, unless you’re luckier than me.

Mahoning manager calls Shenanigans

Posted on May 18, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

WNEP, Scranton PA’s news leader, ran a story last week about the Mahoning Drive-In in nearby Mahoning Township. There’s a dispute there between the Mahoning’s projectionist / manager and a Florida guy who said he wanted to lease-purchase the place. It turns out that a similar scene played out last year at the Tee Pee Drive-In of Sapulpa OK, where things didn’t work out so well.

According to WNEP, Mahoning manager Mike Danchak was contacted by Glen Brannon, who said he wanted to lease and eventually buy the drive-in so it would continue to operate. So this spring a bunch of volunteers helped spruce up the Mahoning. Then Brannan sold 250 season passes for $59 a carload, but Danchak said the drive-in “would go bankrupt” if they accepted those, so he had to buy them back, using up the money he was saving toward buying a digital projector.

The remarkable thing about this story is how closely it matches what happen to the Tee Pee. According to a summary at Route66News.com, the same Florida guy, then going by the name Russ Glen, lease-purchased the Tee Pee, which had closed in 1999. (Speaking of confusing names, you’ll see the name Tee Pee used with and without a space in various news stories. Based on photos of the original sign, I’m going with Tee Pee.)

Soon after Glen entered the picture, a group of volunteers repainted and cleaned up the Tee Pee. The summary says that Glen also set up the TeePee Drive-In Theater Association to accept donations of money and equipment for the theater’s restoration. A month later, one of the volunteers said “the association is suspending the acceptance of donations, and money from the bank account has been removed because of ‘issues with the legitimacy of the nonprofit.’” Glen insisted that everything was perfectly legitimate. And from all accounts, the Tee Pee never reopened.

And that’s about as far as I can go, given that I have no first-hand information about any of these stories. I recommend the Route66News summary, which also includes a lot of links and embedded videos of the Tee Pee saga. For the Mahoning, only time will tell.

North York Drive-In calls it quits

Posted on May 17, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

Even as we celebrate the unexpectedly large number of drive-ins that have weathered the storm of converting to digital projection, we need to pause and recognize those that aren’t going to make it. As CityNews Toronto tells us, the North York Drive-In announced that it will not be reopening this season, and apparently forever. The North York is between Holland Landing and Sharon north of Toronto.

On its Facebook page, the Murrell family wrote, “Regrettably the drive-in will not be open this summer 2013. Thank you for 58 years of support.” (Actually, the Murrell family used all caps, but I thought I’d spare you.) ““Unfortunately due to development and changes to digital film we are unable to continue the tradition this year. It is with much regret that we say goodbye to summer evenings at North York.”

CityNews Toronto wrote that it couldn’t reach anyone from the North York for further comment. How sad it is to see another great drive-in fade away.

Update: The Toronto Star ran a story quoting Mark Murrell, the owner’s son. “Yes, it is sad for all of us,” he said. “It was my dad’s life.” The Star article also discusses digital conversion and the future of other Ontario drive-ins, so you probably ought to go read it!

Montana drive-in goes digital

Posted on May 16, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

KULR-8 Television, Billings, MT

KULR, Billings MT’s news leader, had a nice story about the Amusement Park Drive-In just northeast of Laurel, which completed its conversion to digital projection. What sets this apart from all the other digital conversion stories is (a) it’s in Montana, (b) it includes video, and (c) I just love the name Amusement Park Drive-In.

Riley Cooke, co-owner of the theater, recalled the pre-digital days when something sometimes went wrong with the big film loop, made of spliced film from individual reels. ”We had things called ‘brain wrap’, where it looks like a Christmas Tree,” Cooke said. “The film piled up, and you get to tell everybody out there ‘thanks for coming. This movie’s over until we spend about four hours straightening this mess up!’”

The story is really just an accurate retelling of the video segment, but the Cookes make it worth watching. So one way or another, go check it out!

Calvert DI reopens for 60th season

Posted on May 14, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

photo by Bill Eichelberger, used by permission

The Murray State News recently gave us a quiet portrait of John Harrington, the manager of the Calvert Drive-In in Calvert City KY. Sometimes history is the sum of individual experiences, and reading what Harrington had to say about the Calvert can add to our understanding of what things were like in the early days.

Harrington’s grandparents built the Calvert, and four generations of his family have worked there. Recent improvements they’ve made to the place include a new screen (in 2003), a better concession area (2007), and now digital projection.

The part of the article that I liked best was the date Harrington picked as perhaps the beginning of the end of drive-in mania. It wasn’t what I would have guessed.

“1958 was a hard year for drive-ins,” Harrington said. “… In the late ‘50s/early ‘60s when TVs really started becoming popular, people could stay at home and catch up on the news. Back in the ‘30s and ‘40s, people would go to the theaters to see what was going on in the war, and there were a lot of newsreels.” That’s a part of the TV experience I hadn’t considered, that it broke a habit of going to the movies to see what’s news. Thanks to the Murray State News for giving us that look back.

Glendale 9 is Drive-In Heaven

Posted on May 13, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

photo by Neon Michael, from the Carload Flickr pool

Well, this is good timing. Just as I was getting ready to tell you exactly how the Glendale (AZ) 9 Drive-In is Drive-In Heaven, the Arizona Republic sort of beat me to it. This will go better if you go read the article now, then come back and let me add what I saw.

Did you read it? Great. Now let me tell you some more about the place. The article says that the Glendale 9 was built in 1979, which would make it one of the world’s most modern drive-ins. Unlike most multi-screen drive-ins, the Glendale was designed from the start for this many screens; its central projector room services all of them.

That central projector room sits atop a central snack bar and arcade, all unusually spacious for a drive-in theater. Nearby there’s a playground, plenty of benches, and a beer cart. Woohoo! Another unusual feature is a row of roofs to shade a back row of cars. This is suburban Phoenix, and that’s got to come in handy during all those triple-digit summer days.

How about that landscaping? Everywhere I turned, I saw palm trees and flowering bushes (or are those trees) along the edges. The snack bar island had more little flowering bushes. Again, this is in the desert, so maintaining such touches can’t be easy, but they illustrate a commitment to provide a great customer experience.

I can’t speak to how busy the Glendale tends to be, since I was there on a Thursday night and left before it got dark, but I did get to see the nine freshly installed digital projectors ready to work. Considering the many estimates for how much one of those babies costs, the West Wind folks who own the Glendale probably had to lay out around a half million dollars, even if they got a quantity price break. The Glendale must be doing very good business to justify that vote of confidence.

The assistant manager told me the sad tale of the nearby Scottsdale 6, which West Wind ran until September 2011, when it couldn’t renew its lease. Unlike that case, West Wind owns the Glendale’s land, and it sure sounds like it’s going to be around for a long time. Thank goodness. I’d hate to lose my Drive-In Heaven.

SD drive-in picks up first-run movies

Posted on May 12, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

The Daily Republic of Mitchell SD recently gave us a brief glimpse of the Starlite Drive-In there. While a lot of theaters are worrying about switching to digital projection, the Starlite is looking forward to a different kind of upgrade – first-run movies.

“This will give moviegoers a chance to see new movies immediately,” said a news release from Logan Luxury Theatres, which owns the Starlite.

Some of the other improvements sound like fun. According to The Daily Republic, “The Starlite is working with Mitchell Technical Institute chef instructor Josh Kranz to add new, unique items to the snack bar menu.” They’re also rebuilding the 18-hole mini-golf course. Between that and the playground, the Starlite is giving me lots of reasons to arrive early. Check out its Facebook page for more photos of what it’s got to offer.

Sunset Drive-In (PA) opens May 17

Posted on May 11, 2013 by mrdrivein · Leave a comment

Thanks to the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com, we’ve got this fun, silly bit of video about the Sunset Drive-In of Waterford PA. And there’s even a story about the Sunset that doesn’t just rewrite the dialogue from the video, so you still need to go read it.

Sunset owners Dennis and Margaret Koper have purchased and installed the new digital projection equipment, and now they’re trying to figure it all out in time for the season opener May 17. As with all the other drive-ins that have sprung for this expense, it’s a sign that they’re in it for the long haul. The article said that Dennis “expects a 15-year return on his digital investment.”

Dennis said it was this or retirement, and he jokingly blames his wife for deciding to keep running the drive-in. Now about that new equipment. ”I don’t have any idea how to work this thing right now,” he said. “But we’ll both learn in time.”