Author Archives: mrdrivein

Oct. 31: Jericho Drive-in, Glenmont NY

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It’s Day 304 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. On Halloween, I scurried to a safe retreat, driving less than two hours from the Unadilla Drive-In in Unadilla NY, of course, to the Jericho Drive-in in Glenmont NY.

The story according to Oval Pike is, “The Jericho opened in 1955, after two brothers bought the land from the physician who lived across the road.” It’s true that the incorporation papers for Jericho & 9-W Drive-In Theater, Inc. were filed with the state on Sept. 16, 1955, and DriveInMovie.com wrote that those brothers were Morris and Raphael Klein. But New York Drive-Ins and everybody else says that the grand opening was on Flag Day, June 14, 1957.

The International Motion Picture Almanac still listed Morris Klein as the owner in its 1966 edition, and the Jericho’s capacity was 520 cars. Then came a few decades where I’m really not sure what happened.

The Spotlight of Albany County says that current owners Mike and Lisa Chenette bought the Jericho in 1995. About 2007, they carved out a piece of their viewing field to open the TwisT ice cream stand. (Which offers 25 flavors of hard ice cream and 22 varieties of soft serve including eight combinations of candy that can be added! But I digress.) In 2013, they tried and failed to get a free digital projector in Honda’s Project Drive-In. In 2014, they tried fundraisers to build up some of the cast they’d need, and they upgraded to digital projection in 2015.

And that’s about all I’ve got for this beloved local staple. The video of the day must have first aired on WNYT, Albany’s News Leader, in early 2014 although it was posted to YouTube over two years later.

The Jericho is closed for the season. The ice cream stand was closed for Halloween, but otherwise expects to stay open through this Sunday.

Miles Today / Total: 100 / 34407 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 185

Nearby Restaurant: I find a good old 50s-style diner to be a great salve for missing out on the drive-in experience, and Johnny B’s Glenmont Diner fits that to a T. It’s not shy about sharing all the awards it’s won, or about nailing plenty of vinyl records to the wall. Everyone was dressed up for Halloween, adding to the surreal. Oh yes, the breakfast was amazing, with eggs and bacon and plenty of coffee.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There were a couple of hotels closer to the Jericho, but the Hilton Garden Inn by the Albany Medical Center was just six miles away, so I went with one of my favorite chains. There were cookies waiting for me at check-in, my room had all the modern amenities, and my Hilton Gold status scored me a free breakfast from its substantial buffet.

Only in Glenmont: Next door in Albany, there’s a 28-foot tall, four-ton steel and fiberglass statue of Nipper, the dog best known as listening to “His Master’s Voice” for RCA. According to the Albany Institute of History & Art, Nipper came to his downtown perch in 1958 following renovations of a rundown warehouse built in 1900. The refurbished structure became the new home of RTA, a distributor specializing in RCA appliances. The sculpture was fabricated in Chicago, shipped by rail in five sections, and assembled on the roof with the help of a ten-story crane.

Next stop: Greenville Drive-In Outdoor Cinema, Greenville NY.

Oct. 30: Unadilla Drive-In, Unadilla NY

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Unadilla Drive-In marquee and screen

Photo from the Unadilla Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 303 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. On the Monday before Halloween, nobody was going to be showing movies, so I might as well start checking in with more drive-ins that are closed for the season. On this day, that meant driving an hour and a half from the Circle Drive In Theatre in Dickson City PA to the Unadilla Drive-In in Unadilla NY, of course.

Like the Garden Drive In, which I visited four days earlier, the Unadilla is adjacent to the Susquehanna River to its south. This is where I like to list the full history of the drive-in, but the The Daily Star of Oneonta beat me to it in an article on May 22, 2016. According to the newspaper accounts of the day, two guys from Albany built the Unadilla – John Gardner, operator of the Turnpike Drive-In, and Al LaFamme, manager of the Strand Theater. The new drive-in opened on a Tuesday, May 29, 1956.

(An aside: The 1957 International Motion Picture Almanac said the owners were Gardner and “A. O. La Flamme”, with an L. I don’t think that’s a typo. There was definitely an Alcide LaFlamme who lived in Albany in May 1956 and was mentioned as living in Unadilla during 1961-67 at least. That seems like quite a coincidence in a town of fewer than 4000 residents. But newspaper articles about the drive-in consistently use LaFamme, so that’s how I’ll spell it for the rest of this post.)

The Daily Star quoted its Aug. 22, 1986 article when “Michael and Beatrice Chonka were determined to keep their drive-in open, as they had for the last 17 years.” That put the purchase date around 1969. But the Binghamton NY Press and Sun Bulletin wrote in August 1983 that Michael Chonka had “31 years in Unadilla – 15 years as owner”, which would make it 1968.

The 1986 Daily Star article mostly concurred, “Chonka, a Binghamton native, started in the business almost two decades ago when Al LaFamme, who built the Unadilla theater, asked him to come to work. … when LaFamme wanted to sell some time later, Chonka bought the theater.”

Michael Chonka passed away in August 1994, and the theater closed earlier than usual that season. Trevor Ladner and Thomas Owens bought the Unadilla from his widow and re-opened it in late May 1995.

A long story in the July 15, 2016 PressConnects.com is the best source after that. It said that “Unadilla’s current owners are Eric and Marcia Wilson, who bought the property in 2000”. The old wooden screen was blown down in a windstorm “three years ago” and was replaced by a steel screen. The Wilsons’ children work there now, and Rob Tracey is the general manager.

And that brings us to where we are today, with the Unadilla closed for the season.

Miles Today / Total: 92 / 34307 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 185

Nearby Restaurant: The humble Parkview Deli in Unadilla looks like a converted house, but the food is big on the inside. There’s a lot more than just deli food; I had the redneck burger with bacon and habanero salsa, plus a side of garbage fries topped with onions, olives, peppers, and lots of other stuff. It’s not hard to get full here.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel to the Unadilla is the Super 8 in Sydney nine miles west. The price is so reasonable that I upgraded to a suite to get my favorite modern amenities in the room. The wifi was solid and the continental breakfast was the usual Super 8 quality. It’s nice to have such a decent hotel close by.

Only in Unadilla: The most famous athlete associated with Unadilla wasn’t human. Spectacular Bid, the winner of the 1979 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, won over $2.7 million in his short career. He spent the last 12 years of his life in semi-retirement (still occasionally servicing mares) at Milfer Farms in Unadilla.

Next stop: Jericho Drive-in, Glenmont NY.

Oct. 29: Circle Drive In Theatre, Dickson City PA

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It’s Day 302 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Coming from the Warwick Drive-In Theatre, just across the border near Warwick NY, it took just an hour and a half to drive to the Circle Drive In Theatre in Dickson City PA.

The important part of the history of the Circle is that Michael Delfino bought it some time in the 1960s, and as of 2015, the 95-year-old was still the owner. That year was when he added a second screen to the Circle, which still packs them in every weekend.

What went before is a little sketchy from the very beginning. Milford Now reported in 2014 that the Circle was built in 1945, which matches what the Circle web site’s history page says. Also in 2014, Happenings magazine said the drive-in had been around “for 65 years” which would put the opening date at 1949, but that it broke ground in 1945. Cinema Treasures also puts the opener in 1949. Why would an erected drive-in sit idle for over three years? That’s a story, but it’s one I don’t know.

What I do know is that the Circle’s first appearance in the fairly reliable Theatre Catalog series was its 1949-50 edition. It was said to be owned by “Albert Frangel,” who I suspect to really be Albert Frengel only because that was a much more common surname in eastern Pennsylvania.

The 1952-59 editions of the Motion Picture Almanac listed the owner as E. Hollander of the Allied Circuit or just the circuit. In the early 1960s, it switched to the “Milgrim (sic) Bkg. Serv.”, actually Philadelphia’s Milgram Booking Service which was associated with Nathan Milgram Services, owner of over a dozen PA drive-ins.

Next up was Delfino, but when exactly? Milford Now said he bought it in 1964. The Times-Tribune of Scranton said it was 1963. WNEP, Moosic’s News Leader, reported it was “the early 1960s.” The Paper Shop blog said it was 1969. Happenings wrote that he had been there “for 61 of the theater’s 65 years,” implying that he worked there before buying the Circle. All I can tell for sure was that it was before the MPA’s 1978 edition, which listed Delfino as the owner.

And that’s when the uncertainty ended. From all accounts, Delfino has had a great time running the Circle. “When you love what you’re doing, you’ll never work a day in your life. I’ve never worked a day in my life at the theater,” he told Happenings. He guided the switch the digital projection in 2012, enlarging the screen at the time.

In 2015, the Circle added a second screen. “I’m a firm believer in perpetuity and that’s forever and everything here is going to last forever. It’s going to be here permanently and that’s why we are doing that,” he told WNEP.

On this night, the occasion was the drive-in’s annual Circle of Screams, “America’s only haunted drive-in theatre.” As part of the package, it was showing two public domain classics, The Horror and Night of the Living Dead.

The video of the day is that WNEP report on the new screen in 2015. Enjoy!

Miles Today / Total: 84 / 34215 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Terror / 185

Nearby Restaurant: It’s just a little out of the way, but I had to see the life-sized pirate ship in front of Cooper’s Seafood House in Scranton. It’s been around about as long as the Circle (1948), and the walls are covered with dioramas, photos, and quirky decorations. And there’s food! And a bar with plenty of beers! I had the broiled seafood platter and a pint of Shipyard Pumpkinhead. It was a great way to get ready for the drive-in.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The best bargain among Dickson City’s hotels is probably the Microtel Inn. I got the standardization of a chain hotel at a mom and pop price. There were cookies and coffee to welcome me, my two queens room had all the modern amenities, and the continental breakfast included hard boiled eggs, waffles and fruit. I was ready for another week on the road.

Only in Dickson City: Over in nearby Scranton is the Steamtown National Historic Site, a railroad museum to top them all. There’s an active restoration shop for the steam locomotives and a working roundhouse. Scranton also had the first electric streetcar, and the Electric City Trolley Museum is right next door.

Next stop: Unadilla Drive-In, Unadilla NY.