Author Archives: mrdrivein

Oct. 7: Malta Drive-In Theatre, Malta NY

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It’s Day 280 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It was nice to have a really short drive for a change, barely 40 minutes from the Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, northwest of Averill Park NY, to the Malta Drive-In Theatre, in Malta NY of course.

Out in front, the Malta has its own historical marker. It reads: Malta Drive-In Signs / Open-air theater started in 1949 by Sarto and Leona Smaldone, drive-In purchased in 1988 by brothers Ed and Tom Caro, in operation for over 50 years.

But that’s not all the history we can find for this drive-in, which opened as a single-screen. There’s a gold mine of information in the Saratogian‘s 2006 obituary for Leona. Her sons Bill and Ron said “that their mother had as much or more to do with building the drive-in as their father.” Bill said it took a lot of work to fill in the field off Route 9 and level it for the drive-in. His mother was out there every day, directing workers and driving the project even when Sarto became discouraged. Sarto, who was mayor of Saratoga Springs for two terms (1970-73), passed away in 2002 at the age of 97.

The Smaldones sold the Malta in 1977, and the Caros are the drive-in’s third owner. So who was in the middle for at least a decade and didn’t rate a mention on the marker? Christopher Bietka was the manager in a June 1986 newspaper article. That’s the only clue I could find.

So now we turn to the current owners, brothers Tom and Ed Caro. Before purchasing the Malta, Ed managed the Greenville (NY) Drive-In. After they bought the Malta, the brothers built a second, year-round business adjacent to the drive-in, The Furniture Theater, that was active until just a few years ago. They added a second screen for the 2008 season, and Tom told the Saratogian, “A business that’s been doing the same thing for almost 60 years to almost double itself is exciting.” They also increased the restroom size to handle the additional customers.

The next major change came after the 2012 season when the Malta upgraded to digital projection. In an interview with the Ballston Journal, Ed said they had to insulate both projection booths and hook up to the internet. With the new equipment in place, the Malta is ready for more decades of continuous operation. “We’re committed to running the drive-in for a long time.”

The YouTube video of the day is a time capsule of a visit to the Malta in 2003 when it still had just a single screen. Though I must caution you, if anyone asks how old you are, tell the truth, okay?

I was really excited about seeing the Blade Runner sequel on its opening weekend. Add some standard concession stand snacks and a bottle of Saratoga sparking water, and I was ready for a great Saturday night at the show.

Miles Today / Total: 33 / 32643 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Blade Runner 2049 / 176

Nearby Restaurant: At Carson’s Woodside Tavern, the view is as important as the food. With a fireplace inside, the windows looking out at Saratoga Lake provide a great atmosphere, although the college football on the TVs also caught my attention. For lunch I had a simple turkey and swiss sandwich and a tossed salad. And a beer, because this is a tavern after all.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I found another one of those hotels set up for folks to stay a couple of weeks or one nights. The Home2 Suites in Malta provides full kitchenettes in the rooms, a patio with a fire pit, an indoor pool, and a combination laundry / workout room. The breakfast bar in the morning was an interesting take on the standard hotel provisions.

Only in Malta: In nearby Saratoga Springs, where the Malta’s founder was mayor, they have the Saratoga horse racing track and the long-titled National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. There are statues of Secretariat and Seabiscuit and a long row of those little jockey statues, each with different colors. It’s a great place to look around, as long as you like horse racing.

Next stop: El Rancho Drive-In Theatre, Palatine Bridge NY.

Oct. 6: Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, Averill Park NY

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Hollywood Drive-In marquee with a rainbow in the background

Photo from the Hollywood Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 279 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It took over an hour and a half to drive from Barkhamsted CT to the Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, northwest of Averill Park NY.

I’ve been sweating out different drive-ins’ histories for weeks. This time, I’ll let the Hollywood’s own History page tell the story, with only a bit of my editing.

The Hollywood Drive-In Theater is located on (NY State) Route 66 just eight miles outside of Troy. The theater was built in 1952 by the late James Fisher who oversaw the operation for the next 16 years.

In the beginning James, his wife, Beatrice, and son Frank kept the theater open year round. It ran seven nights a week in the spring and summer months and on weekends September through May. For the colder weather the theater offered heaters for the cars at no charge. The heaters plugged into the side of the speaker pole.

In 1968 Frank took over the business from his father and still enjoys running it to this day. He has learned everything from the projectors to the concessions when he was just a teenager, working with his father and through trial and error, and has improved the theater tremendously from those early days.

The theater began with two pre-1950’s carbon arc projectors which held 2000 foot reels. Then came 6000 foot reels and the projectors had to be reconditioned to handle the larger reels. After that the projectors were changed to Xenon which gave off a more brilliant light, and they added a platter system.

As of April 2012 the theatre has converted to a digital projection system with Dolby digital sound, projected onto a 36- by 88-foot screen. In 1952 the theater held 250 cars but has expanded over the years and now can accommodate approximately 400 cars.

I’m back. To read more about the Hollywood, you could read Frank’s 2009 interview with All Over Albany, where he said, “The drive-ins that are open are as popular today as they used to be. There was a time in the 70’s when it was really, really bad — when a drive in couldn’t get first-run movies. They got a bad name somewhere along the line. But the nostalgia kind of brought them back.”

About the only thing I couldn’t find for the Hollywood was a good video. I was happy to be able to visit on its final Friday of the season. Too bad it doesn’t stay open all year any more.

Miles Today / Total: 77 / 32610 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Lego Ninjago Movie / 175

Nearby Restaurant: About halfway between the Hollywood and Troy is what is probably the closest restaurant, Paolo Lombardi’s Ristorante in Wynantskill. It’s a solid white linen Italian restaurant with a wide variety of dishes. I was tempted by the filet mignon but figured that pasta would be Paolo’s specialty, so I picked the parmesan chicken. That worked great for me.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I think the closest hotel to the Hollywood is the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy. Since I was happy to find an HGI close by, I’ll stick to that explanation. There was a fireplace in the lobby to greet me from the seasonal autumn air. My room had the full complement of modern amenities. The very nice HGI breakfast buffet was included because I’m a Gold level Hiltoner. Good stuff!

Only in Averill Park: Samuel Wilson (1766-1854) was a meat packer from Troy just up the highway. His name is purportedly the source of the personification of the United States known as “Uncle Sam,” according to Wikipedia. During the War of 1812, his company supplied a few thousand barrels of meat to soldiers stationed nearby. They knew of Wilson and his local nickname and started calling the barrels, marked E.A.-U.S., property of Uncle Sam, and it just snowballed from there.

Next stop: Malta Drive-In Theatre, Malta NY.

Oct. 5: Pleasant Valley Drive-in, Barkhamsted CT

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It’s Day 278 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Even though the majority of my drive was on I-91, it took almost two hours to drive the 90 miles from the Northfield Drive-In Theatre, just barely across the Massachusetts border in Hinsdale NH, to the Pleasant Valley Drive-in in Barkhamsted CT.

This is a place, literally a stone’s throw from the Farmington River across the highway, with quite a history. It opened in 1947 under a different name. I’m pretty sure it was the Rogers Corner, because that’s what Billboard magazine called it when it wrote about it in 1949. That’s when “Vincent J. Youmatz, part-owner, founder, and former president of the theater” sued the corporation that owned it. But the name of that corporation was the Peoples Forest Drive-In Theater Corporation, and some people, including the current owner, believe that it opened as the People’s Drive-In.

Don Heilbron bought the drive-in from the original owners in the 1970s. Around that time, according to The New York Times, “it survived by showing what the multiplexes couldn’t: X-rated movies.” At that point, everyone agrees that it was called the Rogers Corner.

In 1987, Brady and Sally Miller bought the Rogers Corner, switched to family movies, and changed the drive-in’s name to Pleasant Valley to help it publicly break from its X-rated past. “It took Brady three years before people started realizing it was a family venue again,” wrote Donna McGrane, who bought it from the Millers in 1996. (She was gracious enough to share the drive-in’s history with me.)

From the time McGrane took over, the Pleasant Valley’s history is pretty well documented. In that Times article from 2008, she said, “My mother used to run the ticket booth and my dad would work part time running the projector, so weekends they’d put us in pajamas and pack us into the station wagon, and that’s how we spent our summers. When the theater came up for sale 11 years ago I couldn’t let it go.”

More recently, the drive-in went through an amazing story of finding the money for the digital conversion before the 2014 season. Eloquently written by Entertainment Weekly, it tells how an 11th hour reprieve, in the form of a benefit auction organized by Torrington Preservation Trust member Travis Lipinski, surprisingly raised the cash for a down payment on the new projector.

The Pleasant Valley is open for another weekend this season, but not on this night, a Thursday. At least I know that it should be around for years to come.

The embedded video of the day is a little personal. Four years ago, I wrote about the Pleasant Valley and used this clip from WVIT, Connecticut’s News Leader. Then a week later, the video stopped working in my blog post. It’s working again (at least as I type this), so I’m giving it another try.

Miles Today / Total: 90 / 32533 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 174

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant to Pleasant Valley appeared to be the Log House, so that’s where I went. Inside and out, the place was just as wooden as the name promises. They say this is a homestyle restaurant, though I don’t know how many serve such an excellent lobster bisque. I continued on to the roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, then finished with a slice of chocolate cake. Wonderful comfort food!

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t any hotels near Pleasant Valley, so I drove a few miles to Avon and the Residence Inn there. My studio suite had a fully stocked kitchen and a fireplace. I could have lived here for weeks, which is the idea. The full breakfast buffet in the morning was one of the best free hotel breakfasts I’ve had this year. I was ready for another day.

Only in Barkhamsted: Every year, the Barkhamsted Historical Society reopens Squire’s Tavern for one night of food, drinks, games, and music “just like it was in the 1800’s.” This year, the date is October 21. If you want to see what the place is like when it’s quiet, you can take a virtual tour here.

Next stop: Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, Averill Park NY.