Category Archives: 2017 Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey

This is the virtual tour that will imagine what it would be like to visit every North American drive-in theater in 2017 by visiting one or two every day. While the drive-ins, restaurants, and hotels are real, all the events in this section are fiction. But it’s fun to dream!

Jan. 14: Iuka, Iuka MS

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drive-in concession stand and screen

photo from the Iuka Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 14 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, time to leave Alabama for a while and sneak in to Tishomingo County, which is the northeast corner of Mississippi, and its county seat of Iuka, home of the Iuka Drive-In. The drive only took about an hour and a half.

For the third straight day, I’m at a drive-in that’s closed for the season. I was congratulating myself for not scheduling my visit for tomorrow (it’s closed Sundays), but no luck. The Iuka’s phone recording promises that it will reopen this year with digital projection, although the opening date is still unknown. A story from the Corinth MS Daily Corinthian said it tends to be in April.

I don’t know how many drive-ins are as deeply forested as the Iuka. Its lone driveway winds through trees until you see the 100-car single-screen theater that looks as though it was cleared Field of Dreams-style. (The movie, not the Ohio drive-in.)

How old is the Iuka? It’s not among the 63 Mississippi drive-ins listed in the 1955 Theatre Catalog. According to CinemaTreasures, it opened “around 1957,” but the recording thanks patrons for 28 years of support, suggesting that something started or changed in 1988.

Miles Today / Total:  74 / 1205 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 9

Nearby Restaurant: The closest was Little Smokies, which was fortunate. Sometimes I just want a barbeque plate with meat and beans and fries and sauce. It makes up for the times I eat healthy.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Really not a lot of choices in Iuka, so I chose the Victorian Inn there. It’s an older place with some friendly people, and boy, was it cheap!

Only in Iuka: According to The New York Times, after spending $1.2 billion to begin construction on the Yellow Creek nuclear power plant just north of Iuka, the Tennessee Valley Authority stopped work in 1982 and officially cancelled the project in 1984. Then NASA decided to spend $1.5 billion to refurbish the 1200-acre campus to build solid rocket motors, but Congress killed its funding in 1993 when the site was 80 percent complete.

Next Stop: Summer Drive-In, Memphis TN.

Jan. 13: Blue Moon, Guin AL

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It’s Day 13 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, Friday the 13th. and once again my drive was a little over an hour. This time the trip was from Russellville to Guin AL, home of the Blue Moon Drive-In Theater.

The Blue Moon is still closed for the season, although its Facebook page says it will reopen in “early 2017.” Just not quite this early, I guess.

According to CinemaTreasures, the Blue Moon opened in 1956 as the single screen Gu-Win Drive-In. (It’s between the cities of Winfield and Guin in the very small town of Gu-Win.) The 1955 drive-in census listed over 100 Alabama theaters, but nothing in any of those three municipalities.

Miles Today / Total:  53 / 1131 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 9

Nearby Restaurant: Should I go to Winfield or Guin? That was my question, because there isn’t that much of anything in Gu-Win. Turns out that the closest restaurant was La Casa Fiesta in Guin. Fresh Mexican food beats the chain restaurants, at least most of them.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Since I had picked Guin for dinner, I figured I might as well stay in town, at the Holiday Inn Guin. That sounds like the name of a small-town motel from the 1960s when Holiday Inn ruled the roads of America, but this place looks like it was built recently.

Only in Guin, or is it Gu-Win: According to Wikipedia, the Gu-Win area had been known as Ear Gap. When it incorporated in 1956, it named itself after its drive-in, which must have been just opening. Less than three miles west, in July 2010, Guin voted to become the first city in Marion County to allow the sale of alcohol since Prohibition. Yet another reason to stay there.

Next Stop: Iula Drive-In, Iula MS.

Jan. 12: King, Russellville AL

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It’s Day 12 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and the drive was pretty short again today. It took less than an hour and a half to get from Athens to the King Drive-In north of Russellville AL.

The King is closed for the season. Its Facebook page suggests that patrons check back in mid-February for details on when it will reopen for spring.

People tell me that the speakers still work at the King, which has been around since 1949. (There’s also FM radio sound, but what’s the fun in that?) The King was listed in the 1950 Theatre Catalog as one of 31 active Alabama drive-ins, open seven days a week for nine months a year and operated by Lee King. Sorry I missed seeing a show here.

Miles Today / Total:  65 / 1078 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 9

Nearby Restaurant: With the drive-in closed, I didn’t mind driving 3.5 miles back to the middle of Russellville to the 43 Grill (as in US Highway 43) for the best steak and salad bar I’ve had so far on this trip.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There weren’t a lot of choices in Russellville, but fortunately one of them was the Best Western Plus. Very reasonable prices, friendly staff, guest laundry, and breakfast to get me on the road again.

Only in Russellville: According to Wikipedia, after the War of 1812, the U.S. government wanted a better road from Nashville to New Orleans. That road, named Jackson’s Military Road after Andrew Jackson, passed through what became Russellville. One of the road’s builders, Major William Russell, gave the city its name. Today, US Highway 43 follows portions of that original road.

Next Stop: Blue Moon Drive-In, Guin AL.