Oct. 23: Sunset Drive In, Waterford PA

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Sunset Drive-In marquee and back of screen

Photo from the Sunset Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 296 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It was time to sweep through some of the drive-ins along the New York / Pennsylvania border, so I started by driving 2½ hours from one Sunset to another – from the Sunset Drive-In in Middleport NY to the Sunset Drive In just southeast of Waterford PA.

Waterford’s Sunset opened on June 10, 1948. The first movie shown was The Westerner starring Gary Cooper. The Theatre Catalog list of drive-ins that year named the owners as Ray Woodward, E. Wilson, and Alden Phelps. Those three names shifted around in the ownership records for the next couple of decades. In 1958, the Huntingdon PA Daily News said that Phelps was the owner. The International Motion Picture Almanacs for 1955-66 listed Woodward.

The drive-in showed X-rated movies for a while in the 1970s into the early 1980s, as evidenced by advertisements in the Titusville Herald. Who knows who owned it then?

The modern era began in 1988 when Dennis and Margaret Koper bought the Sunset. Dennis told WJET, Erie’s News Leader, “The wife liked to go to the movies, so I bought her a movie theater!”

A story at GoErie.com says Dennis began working at the Sunset in 1968 as an electronics technician. That should mean that he’s comfortable with the digital projection system he installed before the 2013 season. The couple has had 30 years of owning this humble drive-in, and I hope they continue with it as long as they want. For now, it’s closed for the season.

I wish I could have embedded a couple of minutes of nice video here, but you’ll have to go to YourErie.com to watch. Then you can watch a half-minute of video recorded earlier at YourErie. Then you can check out some nice photos at GoErie.com.

Miles Today / Total: 138 / 33661 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 182

Nearby Restaurant: It had been a long time since I’d gone for Chinese, and I was happy to find Maggie’s Chinese Inn in Waterford. It’s not a buffet, so everything’s prepared fresh. The egg drop soup, my personal measuring stick for Chinese restaurants, was great, and I find shrimp fried rice to be a certain kind of comfort food.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotels to the Sunset are past Waterford to where I-90 scrapes past Erie. And one of those, less than 10 miles from the drive-in, is another Hampton Inn. It’s a place where I know what to expect. Coffee all the time in the lobby. A comfortable room with all the modern amenities. The great Hampton breakfast. Yes, I’m spoiled that way.

Only in Waterford: According to Wikipedia, Waterford contains a statue of George Washington wearing the uniform of an officer in the Virginia Militia. In December 1753, at age 21, Washington was asked by Governor Dinwiddie to carry a British ultimatum to the French on the Ohio frontier. Washington delivered the message at Fort Le Boeuf in present-day Waterford. The message went unheeded because he delivered it to the wrong person.

Next stop: Family Drive In Theatre, Kane PA.

Oct. 22: Sunset Drive-In, Middleport NY

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It’s Day 295 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I had a nice short virtual drive this day, less than a half hour from the Transit Drive In south of Lockport NY. Sunset Drive-In in  Middleport NY.

The Sunset was opened as a single-screen drive-in in August 1950 by Alex and Mary Stornelli. The book Royalton, Middleport, and Hartland said that the Sunset “was an immediate hit.” In the 1950s and 1960s, drive-in guests were greeted by Alex’s pet monkey “Chi Chi,” the Sunset fire truck provided guest with rides, and it even hosted go-cart racing.

In 1994, the drive-in was passed down to the founders’ son and daughter-in-law, Mario and Denise Stornelli. The next year, the new owners added two more screens, according to NewYorkDriveIns.com. Mario and Denise have operated the Sunset ever since. In 2007, their son Kris opened an ice cream shop in front.

The Rayva Roundtable just ran a great two-part interview with the Sornellis. Part Two appeared just this past Thursday.) Business was down about a quarter this summer, mainly due to weak movies, and Denise said, “The business has been here 67 years, the same family. Second generation. But it’s a business that depends on variables we have no control over. You’re against weather, and you’re against product. The thing you have to remember is, it’s not new. You have good years, you have bad years. And you just take what comes.”

That interview includes a lot of insights into the Sornelli’s expanded restaurant, the conversion to digital projection, and memories of how the Sunset didn’t resort to adult movies in the 1970s. Add in several photos, and you really should go read it.

I just missed the Sunset’s final weekend of the season last weekend. It’s getting harder to schedule my trips to catch the last active drive-in nights of the season. I may have to try a different approach; this is a virtual odyssey after all.

Miles Today / Total: 18 / 33523 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 182

Nearby Restaurant: Since the drive was short, it was easy to get here for Sunday brunch at The Basket Factory. They had all I could eat of scrambled eggs, bacon, chicken & biscuits, pasta, fruit, pastries, quiche, pancakes, waffles, and coffee, all with the Erie Canal in their back yard.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotels to the Sunset are five miles east in Medina, and the oldest of them is the Hart House Hotel, which first opened in 1876. My classically small room had a mini-fridge, and wifi. There was coffee available, and a breakfast voucher for the Shirt Factory Cafe downstairs.

Only in Middleport: Just east of Medina is Culvert Road, which includes the only tunnel that goes under the Erie Canal. It’s only one lane, and the clearance is just 7½ feet, but there it is, under the historic waterway.

Next stop: Sunset Drive In, Waterford PA.

Oct. 21: Transit Drive In, Lockport NY

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It’s Day 294 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I drove for almost an hour and a half to get from the Vintage Drive In Theatre, just east of Avon NY to the Transit Drive In south of Lockport NY.

Rick Cohen is a national treasure. I just want to say that right up front. The owner of the Transit is a huge fan of all drive-ins and backs that love with hard work and community outreach to benefit the whole drive-in universe.

But first, let me touch on the origins of the Transit, which opened on August 1, 1952, built by a group of Buffalo businessmen: Anthony Ragusa, George Tater, Louis Battaglia, and John Battaglia. The group also operated the Lockport Drive-In, which had opened in 1946 in neighboring Gasport. In 1957, Irving and Mary Cohen bought the Transit, and it’s been in their family ever since.

According to the Transit’s excellent History page, Irving and Mary’s older son, Gary, managed the Transit from 1957 to 1963. Macy, their younger son, managed the theater from 1963 to 1986, increasing the parking capacity from 600 to 990 cars by 1973, introducing in-car heaters and a 12 month schedule from 1972 until 1977. Rick, who is Macy’s youngest son, recalled those years in an article in The Daily Beast, “Man, we packed them in there in the middle of the winter, 10 degrees out, to see adult movies.”

The History page continues, “In 1987, Rick began managing the Transit, and immediately began a more aggressive, dedicated approach to the business.” Rick converted the drive-in to FM stereo sound, installed a platter film system, and rebuilt the original 1950’s neon marquee. An even nicer marquee was installed in 2014 after someone crashed into the old one.

The Transit installed a second screen in 1994, a third in 1996, and a fourth in 2001. Most recently in 2016, they added a fifth screen mainly to avoid turning away customers during popular movie weekends.

But Rick Cohen doesn’t just improve his own drive-in, he reaches out to help others. In 2010, he held a fundraiser to replace the burned-down screens of the Admiral Twin in Tulsa OK. In 2015, he walked back from Florida to raise money for a digital projector for the Auto Vue in Sidney OH. His motto on that History page is “What (the world) really needs are more dedicated, loyal drive-in theater managers.” And I would say, like him.

The YouTube video of the day comes from WIVB, Buffalo’s News Leader. I’d also recommend checking a little promo video from 2011 featuring an uncredited rooftop cameo by Carload’s friend, drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs.

With those five screens available, I had a lot of choices, so I picked a movie I hadn’t seen but which didn’t have a hint of terror in it. Unless you’re scared of ponies.

Miles Today / Total: 60 / 33505 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: My Little Pony: The Movie / 182

Nearby Restaurant: I found another diner! Tom’s Diner has the black and white checkerboard tile floor, though not enough red vinyl furniture for the full effect. On the other hand, there is a jukebox, and that more than makes up for it. For lunch, an open-faced roast beef sandwich seemed very appropriate for its surroundings.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Oh yeah, there’s a Hampton Inn in Lockport. Sometimes it’s nice to sample those different mom and pop motels, and sometimes it’s nice to stay somewhere that feels familiar even when you’ve never been there before. My room had all the modern amenities and USB charging ports. Breakfast was the fine Hampton standard. This place is the hotel equivalent of comfort food.

Only in Lockport: Way back in April, I told you about an underground boat ride in a former mine in Missouri. Here, the Lockport Cave has that beat with “America’s longest underground boat ride” through the water tunnels under Lockport. “The tunnel was the invention of Birdsill Holly, a mechanical genius, whose inventions were manufactured using Erie Canal water power provided by this tunnel.”

Next stop: Sunset Drive-In, Middleport NY.