St. Albans Drive-In is for sale

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WFFF, Burlington VT’s news leader, came up with a great bit of investigative reporting. It found that the St. Albans Drive-In, just across the border in St. Albans NH, is for sale. The implication is that St. Albans’ future is in doubt.

According to WFFF, the St. Albans had been owned by Paul Gamache, who died in January. Now his son, Anthony Gamache, owns the place, and he wasn’t talking to WFFF. Oh, and did we mention that there’s a new Walmart being built across the street?

A nice touch at the end of the report: “Regardless of the motive for selling it on the drive-in’s real estate listing the property is called superb for retail.”

Iowa’s 61 Drive-In reopens with digital projection

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KWWL, Waterloo IA’s news leader, provides with yet another happy story of a nearby drive-in converting to digital projection in time for the opening of the 2013 season. In this case, it’s the 61 Drive-In of nearby Delmar.

I love what 61 Drive-In owner Dennis Voy said when a reporter asked him why he spent all that money on the new projection equipment. “It was either making the conversion or going out of business,” he said,” and we have too many drive-in theater fans in the eastern Iowa area that enjoy this theater.”

It’s great to see another example of a drive-in doing what it will take to stay with us for a long time to come.

Niagara CCC excited about Transit’s reopening

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Sunset at the Transit Drive-InIn the Niagara County (NY) Community College newspaper, The Spirit, there’s a front-page story about the reopening of the Transit Drive-In of South Lockport. The lengthy article (4.2 MB PDF) by Katie Murawski fairly gushes about the place “that looks as inviting to drive by as it is going in.”

According to the article, business is more than sufficient to support this largest of New York drive-ins. Murawski writes, “It’s not uncommon to drive past on the weekend and see a line of cars about a mile long just waiting to get their spot.”

In addition to the renovated snack bar (always a good idea), another thing I like hearing about the Transit is its retro night Tuesdays. On what would otherwise be a disappointing box office night, the folks there instead show older films such as The Goonies and Ghostbusters. I’ll bet that taps into a whole different audience, and the film rental has got to be a lot cheaper. If you’ve got a broadband connection for that big PDF, then go check it out!

Family Drive-In opens for 58th season

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Family_fromsiteWHAG, Hagerstown MD’s news leader, recently ran a video report about the 2013 season opener of the Family Drive-In across the border in Stephens City VA. The Family bills itself as “the only drive-in left in northern Virginia and the DC Metro area”. I’ll grant the northern Virginia part, but the Family really isn’t near Washington DC. Bengies, in suburban Baltimore, is at least 10 miles and 10 minutes closer to the Washington Monument than the Family. But I digress.

I really wish I could embed that video here, but you’ll have to go visit Your4State.com to see it. I also wish that video’s page wasn’t messed up; there’s more to read but you’ll need to highlight the text or view the page’s source to overcome the black-on-black type after the first few paragraphs. Or maybe it’s just my computer. I digress again.

Jim Kopp owns the Family, but longtime box office employee Paula Cooper has the best quote. ”Every night, somebody will say ‘will you show the movies?’” Cooper said. “And I say ‘as long as we get some cars’ and ‘what’s the magic number?’ I don’t know because we’ve never closed it down.” Go watch the rest!

Aut-O-Rama adds digital for its 2013 opening

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Autorama_facebookCleveland.com reported that the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In (North Ridgeville OH) spent over $150,000 for two digital projectors and reopened for the 2013 season. The woman in charge, Deb Sherman, said “They just arrived, so that’s why we were able to set our opening date for (last) Friday.”

Sherman’s family has been running the Aut-O-Rama since they opened it in 1965. At first, it showed movies all year, but it shifted to the more traditional April-October drive-in schedule.

The good news is that the audience is growing again. “I’ve noticed a whole new audience coming lately,” Sherman said. “A lot of the baby boomers who went to the drive-ins when they were teenagers themselves are now coming back on a date night.”

Update: The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram also ran a nice article about the new digital projection system. It includes a few photos and more info about the 2013 season, so it’s also worth reading.

The Aut-O-Rama. Man, I love that name. Glad that one is in it for the long haul.

The story behind THE classic drive-in photo

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Charlton Heston as Moses in The Ten Commandments, drive-in theater, Utah, 1958.

photo by J.R. Eyerman — Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Take a look at the 200-pixel photo thumbnail I’ve embedded here. Look familiar? That might be because it’s been used as a “generic” drive-in photo for several theater sites, including one in India, and I just spotted it in an otherwise well-researched book, Drive-in Theaters by Kerry Segrave. (I’ll post a book review in a few days.)

That photo was taken in 1958 at a drive-in in Salt Lake City by J.R. Eyerman and published in Life magazine. (The drive-in isn’t named. Based on the city lights, I’d say it was the Motor-Vu, but it could have been the Highland or the Park-Vu, all long dead by now.) You can see the full-sized photo and the story behind it at the Life web site.

Ben Cosgrove, editor of Life.com, writes “Despite how familiar and recognizably universal an experience it might be, however, it turns out that it’s remarkably difficult to really capture in a single, still photograph what it feels like to go to the moving pictures.” Amen to that! In fact, the more I look at that photo, the more I wonder whether it was doctored or partially staged.

I’ve got no problem with the magnificent mountainous sunset, reflected by rows of hardtops. That right there is a superb photo, probably taken from the projection booth. But look at the ambient twilight. It’s hard to imagine a projectionist even starting a feature with that much light in the sky, but we’re supposed to believe that The Ten Commandments had been running long enough to have reached Charlton Heston’s Red Sea scene?

It’s easier for me to believe that the photo was doctored or staged. Eyerman could have started with that photo of the cars pointed at a blank screen, waiting for the movie to start. Then he could have superimposed that frame from the film, resulting in “Charlton Heston as Moses, arms outstretched, looming over what appears to be, if one looks at it just right, a congregation of rapt, immobile automobiles at prayer,” as Cosgrove elegantly describes it. The low-tech alternative would be to stage it by projecting just that frame, even as a slide, well before the film was shown to the audience, then taking the photo. Although it wasn’t so easy to do in 1958, superimposing wins my uninformed vote.
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Got a better idea? Know more about this than I do? (That’s not difficult.) Leave a comment and tell us more.

Video of the Auto Vue, open for its final season

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Yes, we covered the upcoming closing of the Auto Vue (Colville WA) months ago, and no, we don’t enjoy dwelling on bad news. But we do love our embedded video, and this offering is worthy.

KXLY, Spokane’s news leader, presented a lovely video postcard of the Auto Vue and its owner, Steve Wisner. There’s not a lot of new information, except that over half the money Wisner would have needed was for upgrading the screen as well as buying a digital projector. Spending a couple of minutes looking around that well-worn physical plant, that’s easy to believe. Thanks to KXLY for preserving this one last look at a 60-year-old drive-in.

US-23 open for 2013 season, will convert to digital

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23 Drive-In marquee and screen

photo by MichiganDriveIns, used by permission

MLive.com reported recently that the US-23 Drive-In (Flint MI) reopened for another season last Friday. General manager Johny Thomas says that the US-23 will be fully converted to digital projection on its three screens by the first of July, and according to MLive, Thomas has a novel method of paying for all those new projectors. He’s raised ticket prices by $1 per person this year.

The story also includes an 11-photo gallery of 2012 opening day photos from The Flint Journal. (I love the photo of the really big popcorn popper.) So go check it out!

Drive-in success story: Occasional free nights

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Las Vegas 6 Drive-In Theatre signs

Signs for West Wind’s Las Vegas 6. Photo by Neon Michael from the Carload Flickr group.

I picked this up from the Santa Barbara (CA) Independent, but it really applies to all of West Wind‘s drive-in theaters in California, Nevada, and Arizona. This is a brilliant idea. Show recent, family-friendly movies for free on one special, promoted weeknight. It reminds families how much fun it is to go to the drive-in, it probably generates enough concession stand sales to cover costs, and it’s definitely worth losing a standard early-season weeknight gate. Here’s the press release, as printed in the Independent:

As they have done every year for the last several years, the Santa Barbara Drive-In is hosting Customer Appreciation Night with free movies to the public on Thursday, April 25, 2013.

Drive-In theaters across the country are benefiting from a resurgence in demand with revenues outpacing traditional “walk-in” theaters by a wide margin. Drive-in movie attendance is up by double digits again this year and the West Wind Santa Barbara Drive-In has reaped the benefits.

Patrick LaCava, Senior Vice President of Operations explains that “value seems to be the major reason drive-ins are growing.” Tickets to the drive-in are only $7.00 per adult, and kids 5-11 years old are just $1.00, while kids 4 and under are free. Plus, you get double features each night, instead of just one movie at the indoor theaters. LaCava continues “A family of four with young children can see two first run movies for $14.00, or $16.00 if you have kids between 5-11 years old.”

If you think drive-ins are dead, think again. “Business is so good, we’ve reopened drive-ins. Five years ago we reopened the Solano Drive-In in Concord, CA and three years ago we reopened this one in Santa Barbara after being closed for 19 years“ according to LaCava.

Tony Maniscalco, Vice President of Marketing is thrilled that people are re-discovering the family fun of the drive-in. “Parents bring their kids to watch the first movie then the kids fall asleep in the back seat while the parents watch the second movie. It’s the perfect baby sitter.”

Drive-ins presentation has changed considerably over the years yet the nostalgic feeling remains. Improvements in presentation and sound that now rivals walk-in along with delicious well-known brands at a fraction of the cost you find at conventional theatres are just part of the draw. There’s still that great old school vibe in a family friendly and updated location.

The West Wind Drive-Ins are taking this great value one step further with Free Movie Customer Appreciation Night on Thursday, April 25, featuring recent movie blockbusters Wreck It Ralph and Jack the Giant Slayer. “We are opening up our drive-ins as we do a few times every year to thank our loyal customers and to invite those who have not yet experienced the drive-in to give it a try. We typically show first run movies every night but on Customer Appreciation Night we give everyone a chance to catch up on the best movies of the past few months.” Maniscalco explains. “Relax in your car or bring a chair and a blanket and enjoy your movie under the stars and moonlight” adds LaCava.

Drive-in success story: Become a popular restaurant

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Maybe this is cheating a bit, but this news report is a great illustration of an idea that more drive-ins should use. It’s from WBOY, Clarksburg WV’s news leader, and it’s all about the Ellis Restaurant on US 19 south of Shinnston. As much as we like restaurants, the only reason we care about this story is that the Ellis started as the snack shack for the adjacent Sunset Drive-In Theater, which is still operating. You can see both the restaurant and the screen in the Google Street View image embedded below. (It might help to zoom in a little.)

Anyway, this just shows that a great way to make a drive-in profitable is to make its restaurant popular all day and all year round. Since most of the ticket money goes to distributors, what’s left makes the business model of a drive-in theater look more like a seasonal, evening-only restaurant. So find a way to make that food wonderful (it often is) and find a way to make it convenient to buy even when the movies aren’t showing. If you can manage that, your place may be as successful as the Ellis, where the Sunset is reduced to second billing.

Update: Just after I posted this, I noticed that WBOY also ran a story about the Sunset, and they posted a video of that too. Too much multimedia for one story? Leave a comment and let me know. View Larger Map