Author Archives: mrdrivein

May 10: Skyline Drive-In Theater, Shelton WA

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Skyline Drive-In marquee and screen

photo by Jasperdo, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 130 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I was ready for a longer drive, but thanks to I-5 it took less than three hours to drive from Newberg OR to the Skyline Drive-In Theater in Shelton WA.

The Skyline opened in 1964 by two guys who were painters by day at the Bremerton Navy Shipyard. One of the two passed away a couple of decades later, and the survivor sold the Skyline to Dorothea Mayes in 2005.

In 2013, Christopher Mayes, the owner’s son, launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise money towards a digital projector. He told the Kitsap Sun, “We were only halfway there when we had 24 to 48 hours left to go. Kickstarter is all-or-nothing, and people tend to procrastinate. We went into the final 24 to 48 hours with a couple big pledges, which was enough of a late boost for Kickstarter to put us on their front page. Then we had people from all over the country and the world giving back.”

So in 2014 the Skyline celebrated its 50th anniversary and The News Tribune of Tacoma interviewed several employees for a retrospective article. Longtime projectionist Ken Layton, who started in 1992, remembered that then-owner Dave Thibodeau often had a paintbrush in hand and was always painting something at the drive-in.

The Skyline is open Fridays through Sundays this time of year, leaving me without a movie for another Wednesday night.

Miles Today / Total:  148 / 14462 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 59

Nearby Restaurant: The Taylor Station Restaurant is within walking distance of the Skyline, if one would ever want to walk from a restaurant to a drive-in. It looks about as old at the Skyline, with family-restaurant furnishings inside and a fish pond out back. I had pork chops with a baked potato, and it tasted just like such meals used to taste.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I would have been interested in staying at the Little Creek Casino Resort, but it was booked solid. The second best choice, a Super 8, was a lot closer and it was available. My room was clean, it had a fridge, the wifi was fast enough to stream TV on my tablet, and breakfast was enough to get me going. And the price was great.

Only in Shelton: As mentioned on Roadside America, Shelton is home to a large metal pig. It stands in front of Spike’s Hydraulics & Fire Equipment on the east side of town, an was apparently placed there to protest property tax assessments. Its early description and photos show the words County Assessor on the side, but in a Google Street View image (shot at night – first time I’ve seen that) from November 2016, the barely-visible pig now has GREED as its new message. (There’s a daylight photo here.)

Next stop: Rodeo Drive-In Theatre, Bremerton WA.

May 9: 99W Drive-in, Newberg OR

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99W Drive-In marquee at night

photo from the 99W Drive-In web site

It’s Day 129 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Oregon’s another one of those states that look smaller on a map. Sure, I needed to travel almost from border to border heading from Milton-Freewater to Newberg, but it takes driving it to appreciate the four and a half hours it took to get to the 99W Drive-in.

The 99W opened in 1953, and it’s been operated by the Francis family ever since. It’s listed in the National Register of Historic Places “as a rare, remaining, intact example of a drive-in theater.” Owner Brian Francis told KOIN, “People will come in and call it ‘retro,’ which is a little incorrect. It’s actually original. It’s not recreated 50s, it is from 1953.”

The 99W caught a break in 2013 when it was one of the first five winners of a digital projector in Honda’s Project Drive-In contest. Last year, USA Today readers voted it the Best Drive-In in the USA.

A March 2016 article in The Newberg Graphic said that 2015 was was the highest-grossing season that Francis had ever seen. Despite similar weather, he said that crowds before Memorial Day tend to be better than after Labor Day. “There’s a gene in people and the idea of going to a drive-in switches off with them.”

The folks who run the 99W have a nice sense of humor. Check out their rules page, which tells patrons not to start barbecue fires and also addresses the questions that so many FAQs overlook, such as “Are you conveniently located from the Las Vegas Strip?” and “I think the moon is staring at me.” (The answer: “The moon IS staring at you. And it is JUDGING you.”)

Too bad such an historic, top-notch place was closed on a Tuesday night. The 99W is open Fridays through Sundays this time of year.

Miles Today / Total:  263 / 14314 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 59

Nearby Restaurant: There are a lot of excellent, upscale, expensive restaurants in Newberg. Then there’s Burgerville USA, which is a lot easier on the wallet and with food that’s a much better match to the 99W’s retro 50s-original vibe. Burgerville is part of a regional chain boasting great cheeseburgers using nearby Tillimook cheese. Great milkshakes too.

Where I Virtually Stayed: My choice for the night was the Best Western Newberg Inn for a good combination of nice and not too expensive. My king bed room had a coffee maker and a fridge. The wifi worked fine, and breakfast included biscuits and gravy and hard-boiled eggs. This place was just what I needed.

Only in Newberg: Just a few miles northwest of Newberg, Bruce Campbell has been converting a 727 airplane into his place to live.since 1999. What’s more remarkable is that the plane is on a forested hill far from any tarmac. To read about it from an outsider’s perspective, check Roadside America. To read Campbell’s perspective, along with updates, check AirplaneHome.com.

Next stop: Skyline Drive-In Theater, Shelton WA.

May 8: Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater, Milton-Freewater OR

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It’s Day 128 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. The fastest way to get from La Grande OR to Milton-Freewater wasn’t the shortest way, but an hour and a half later I arrived at the Milton-Freewater Drive-In Theater.

I was fortunate to find another drive-in video profile, this time for the M-F. (It’s sometimes called the Milton-Freewater, sometimes the M-F, and I’ve got to admit that three characters are a lot easier to type.)

The M-F was built in 1953 and was bought by the Spiess family in 1961. Big bills came in a cluster about 50 years later. The M-F sustained terrible damage (as seen here) during a windstorm in January 2008. “That was the first year we were in charge of day-to-day operations after my parents semi-retired from running it,” Mike Spiess told Ruralite. In 2011, Oregon drinking water laws required them to drill a new well, and they bought a digital projector in 2013.

In 2014, at that time of the Ruralite article, Mike and his wife Lorie owned the M-F and also held down day jobs. “The drive-in is our family hobby,” he said.

The M-F is open Fridays through Sundays this time of year, so I was on my own on a Monday night.

Miles Today / Total:  77 / 14051 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 59

Nearby Restaurant: I’m glad I got to Wee bit O’Heathers in time for lunch. They serve the kind of thin hash browns that mix well with other vegetables, and the cinnamon rolls were amazing. It was kind of crowded, but you know that’s always a good sign for a small-town restaurant.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There are some chain hotels across the border in Walla Walla WA, but I wanted to stay in town and same money, so I spent the night at the Out West Motel. Clean, if not fancy, with a fridge and a coffee maker in my room. Sometimes that’s all I need.

Only in Milton-Freewater: There aren’t that many cities with hyphenated names, although there are plenty of newspapers with hyphenated names. In Milton-Freewater’s case, the reason was the same as it typically was for newspapers – a merger. In 1951, the neighboring rival cities of Milton and Freewater voted to merge.

Next stop: 99W Drive-in, Newberg OR.