Apache will reopen for one more season

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Carload Exclusive NewsCarload.com has learned that the Apache Drive-In of Globe AZ will reopen next Friday, May 24, for its final season. Despite its forlorn appearance just a few weeks earlier, the Apache will continue to show movies for one more year; it won’t upgrade to digital projection.

Taking a step back, when Carload expanded last year, I identified 17 active drive-ins in the Four Corners states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. If the Comanche Drive-In (Buena Vista CO) follows through on its plan to also reopen May 24, than all 17 will have survived the wave of digital conversion, at least for now.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’re going to lose this historic bit of Americana, which has stood for over 60 years. (According to my 1952 Theatre Catalog, the Apache was then being run by “O.K. Leonard”.) And the bittersweet news is that at least we all have this warning. If you want to experience a fine evening in Arizona’s high country, watching a movie at an old-time, intimate (300 cars) single-screen drive-in complete with old-fashioned speakers and an eternal mountain backdrop, you’ve still got a few months to visit the Apache.

Apache Drive-in globe light and screen behind brick wall topped with barbed wire

North York Drive-In calls it quits

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Twilight at the North York Drive-InEven 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

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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!