Nov. 17: Family Drive-In Theatre, Stephens City VA

It’s Day 321 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Even with some interstate highway assistance, it still took me four hours to drive from the Dependable Drive-In in Moon PA across the Appalachian Mountains to the Family Drive-In Theatre southwest of Stephens City VA.

The Family was built by William F. Dalke Jr. and opened as a single screen on June 14, 1956. His son, his son, Tim Dalke, told The Washington Post in 2013, “Our drive-in was mostly a family affair from the beginning. I think that’s the same case today.”

Tim and his three brothers worked at the drive-in, and in time Tim took over the Family. “I twinned the screen in 1989 because we could double the product we were offering the public,” he said.

Remember James Kopp, the guy who used to run the Raleigh Road Outdoor Theater, profiled just a few days ago? Since 2009, Kopp has leased Family Drive-In from Tim Dalke.

Among other things, Kopp has made sure to keep the in-car speakers on their poles, which include the original lighted markers at their rows’ ends. “A lot of people don’t get to experience the speakers at the drive-in anymore,” he told WTOP. “If you’re like me, I put the car speaker in the window and I also turn my radio on, so I’m getting a stereo-type event.” He converted both screens to digital projection in 2013.

The embedded YouTube video of the day is a nice mix of aerial and ground coverage, and some of the shots pointing almost straight down provide a nice perspective. I also like the way it shows the grassy playground area in front of the main screen.

I was so glad that the Family was still open that I didn’t mind watching Justice League for the second straight night.

Miles Today / Total: 215 / 36464 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Justice League / 192

Nearby Restaurant: The name pulled me in. Granny’s Pancake Cottage is just up US Highway 11 from the Family, and my only question was whether it would still be open when I got there for lunch. Yes, it was. I love eating breakfast for lunch, and it was great to find another restaurant that serves scrapple. Add a bowl of grits and plenty of coffee, and I was happy to have been lured to Granny’s.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Less than two miles away, I found a good old Comfort Inn. It’s not new and pretty, but it was clean and comfortable. My room had all the modern amenities. Breakfast was typical Comfort Inn with a waffle maker and omelettes as well as the continental standards. It was just what I needed at a good price.

Only in Stephens City: Just five miles south of the Family is where the Battle of Cedar Creek took place in 1864. Wikipedia calls it the culminating battle of the Valley Campaigns near the end of the Civil War. Southern Spaces wrote that “General Philip Sheridan’s ride south from Winchester to rally retreating Union forces passed directly over the drive-in’s grounds.”

Next stop: Hound’s Drive-In, Kings Mountain NC.

Nov. 16: Dependable Drive-In, Moon PA

It’s Day 320 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Thanks to the miracle of I-79, it took me less than two hours to drive from the Sunset Drive-In Theater just south of Shinnston WV to the Dependable Drive-In in Moon PA.

The single-screen Dependable opened in late June 1950, then was heavily damaged by a flood a week later. It was reportedly owned by three couples, the Hofackers, the Marcuses, and the Springers. (Although a 1951 newspaper report called Howard Benson the owner, I’m guessing he was the manager.) In April 1952, Robert J. Springer sued the other two couples for leasing the drive-in to Ernest Stern in June 1951. Springer was still around in 1955, so I guess that worked out somehow.

The Pittsburgh City Paper wrote that Rick Glaus had “run the Dependable since 1968”. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote in 2010 that “Glaus, 56, … operates the drive-in with his son, Jonathan. The Glaus family bought the Dependable in the late 1960s from original owner Pat Springer.”

Sure enough, a March 1974 article about concerned neighbors identified Rick Glaus as the manager. “Let’s face it – X-rated films are the only thing that saves us,” he told The Pittsburgh Press. If all these newspapers are right, Glaus would have been about 20 at the time and 14(!) when he started running the Dependable. That can’t be right, can it?

Cinema Treasures says the Dependable added a second screen in 1995, a third in 1997, and a fourth in 2003.

It appears that Jonathan became known as Jay, because a 2012 article in The Pitt News said that Jay Glaus was the 19-year-old manager at that point. “We try to keep it modern but nostalgic at the same time, which is a challenge because you want to make everything modern, and you want to bring everything up to contemporary stuff. But you have to remember you’re running a drive-in,” he said. “You’re not running an indoor movie theater.”

The last I saw, Rick still owns the Dependable and Jay still runs it as general manager. The great thing about it now is that it’s open year-round, giving me a chance to get a little closer to my goal of 200 active drive-in nights this year. It was cold and rainy, but I got the chance to see a special Thursday night premiere of Justice League.

The embedded video of the day comes from WPXI, Pittsburgh’s News Leader. It tells of the generosity of Dependable patrons after one jerk stole from a donation box.

Miles Today / Total: 114 / 36249 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Justice League / 191

Nearby Restaurant: For a fine, inexpensive lunch, I headed over to the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe, part of a regional restaurant chain. Fresh-cut French fries and hot dogs with a special chili sauce were all I really needed to get me from breakfast to dinner. Did I also have one of their Oreo and peanut butter milkshakes? I’m not telling.

Where I Virtually Stayed: When you’re across the highway from a major airport, you know that hotels can’t be far away. One of those was a Hampton Inn, and if you’ve been reading these virtual visits, you know the rest. This one had a manager’s reception with free beer in the lobby, so that’s a point in its favor. My comfy room had all the modern amenities, and the breakfast was the good Hampton standard.

Only in Moon: Just across I-376 from the Dependable, the Pittsburgh International Airport is home to a 20-foot robot sculpture that appears to be made of bridges. As described in Geek Pittsburgh, “Arch” was built to last only six months as part of Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, but it was so admired that it was restored to a more permanent state and replaced inside the airport in June 2013.

Next stop: Family Drive-In Theatre, Stephens City VA.

Nov. 15: Sunset Drive-In Theater, Shinnston WV

It’s Day 319 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Driving through the hills and forest of West Virginia, it took me 2½ hours to drive from Warner’s Drive-In in Franklin to the Sunset Drive-In Theater just south of Shinnston in the unincorporated area called Meadowbrook.

When the Sunset opened in 1947, it was owned by Alex Sidan and Steve Medue, Jr., who together owned several other theaters in the region. According to a story on the West Virginia Historic Theatre Trail web site, it has been owned by the Ellis family since 1955, along with the adjacent Sunset Ellis Restaurant.

According to the book Around Shinnston by Robert P. Bice III, when John Ellis bought the Sunset, the concession stand / restaurant was an old streetcar. (There’s a great photo of that converted streetcar and another of the old sign behind the screen at WeHeartWV.com.) The Ellis family remodeled it into a real building in 1960.

The year-round restaurant and the drive-in have stayed in the family ever since. “My family leased it out for about 20 years, but my Uncle John took over after that and has run it for the past 16 years,” Antoinette Ellis-Casto told the Shinnston News last year. That lease was to Jim Henderson, who later bought the Grafton Drive-In, which closed in 2014. Unlike the Grafton, the Sunset converted to digital projection.

Although some of the in-car speakers on the grounds still work, the Sunset uses FM radio sound. Looking back at the screen, a full residence is there at its base and three stories’ worth of windows on the other side, as seen in the photos at the Eccentric Roadside blog. And that screen is so close to US Highway 19 that its marquee is on the opposite side.

The Sunset celebrated its 70th anniversary this year, and it was one of the inspirations for the embedded YouTube video of the day. RoganRadio has posted several videos about the Sunset, including some very nice drone footage, and this one is from August.

Too bad the night I was virtually there was in mid-November, when the drive-in was closed for the season.

Miles Today / Total: 126 / 36135 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 190

Nearby Restaurant: Well of course I had to have dinner at the Ellis Restaurant at the drive-in. Although I was tempted by the all-day breakfast, I took advantage of the daily special because it had been a long time since I’d eaten spaghetti. It came with the salad bar and garlic bread, and the price was great. I can see how this place stays open all year long.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There’s a Hampton Inn less than six miles from the Sunset in Bridgeport. That was easy. There were cookies and coffee waiting at check-in. My room had the full set of modern amenities. Breakfast was solid Hampton with chunks of sausage in the biscuit gravy. I was glad that this night’s lodging was such a no-brainer.

Only in Shinnston: There’s a large scrap metal statue of a coal miner named Charlie standing 21 feet tall in Shinnston. According to Eccentric Roadside, Charlie was commissioned in 1999 by Phil Southern as a tribute to his father who was killed in a coal mine in 1951.

Next stop: Dependable Drive-In, Moon PA.