Author Archives: mrdrivein

Apr. 16: I-70 Drive-In, Kansas City MO

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I-70 Drive-in marquee at night

photo by John, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 106 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I doubled back from the Boulevard Drive-In Theatre in Kansas City KS so I could watch a Sunday evening movie for the first time in four weeks. It only took 20 minutes to drive back to the Missouri side to the I-70 Drive-In in Kansas City MO.

Of the hundreds of active drive-ins in the United States, there are plenty that are named for US highways and even a few for state highways, but the I-70 is the only one named for an interstate highway. Some closed drive-ins had been named after interstates; just in Missouri there was another I-70 in St. Peters and the I-44 in Valley Park. Kansas City’s I-70 is the last of its kind.

The I-70 opened in July 1964 with a single screen, then split into four screens in the late 1980s. According to an article in the Kansas City Star, Darryl Smith bought the I-70 in 1999. When the digital projection changeover swept through in 2014, he sold it to B&B Theatres, along with the Twin in Independence.

Four screens mean four choices, and I hadn’t seen two of the early movies. One was the latest Smurfs installment, a phrase that I was a little sad to type just now, and the other was Ghost in the Shell, which makes a fine drive-in movie.

Miles Today / Total:  12 / 11447 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Ghost in the Shell / 51

Nearby Restaurant: Just across the border in Independence, Dixon’s Famous Chili is the closest excellent place to eat, but I couldn’t leave KC before getting some famous barbecue. Arthur Bryant’s BBQ is as legendary as barbecue gets. The wall of celebrities who have enjoyed this tradition help provide the mood, but the heaps of tender meat and singular sauce are the reason this place is truly famous.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It’s not in too many small towns, but the Drury Inn is one of the places I search out. The one across I-70 from Kauffman Stadium is just five minutes away from the drive-in. Happy hour every evening, a really solid breakfast buffet in the morning, and lots of little touches keep the Drurys among the top hotels in its class.

Only in Kansas City: Continuing the I-70 theme, the first section of any interstate was an eight-mile stretch that opened as I-70 just west of Topeka on November 14, 1956. (The last section of the originally planned interstate to be completed was also part of I-70, through Glenwood Canyon CO in 1992.)

Next stop: Mid-Way Drive-In Theatre, Paola KS.

Apr. 15: Boulevard Drive-In Theatre, Kansas City KS

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It’s Day 105 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I had planned to go east to west within the Kansas City area from the Twin to the I-70 to the Boulevard, but then I noticed that the I-70 shows movies on Sundays this time of year but the Boulevard doesn’t. So I drove the 30 minutes of urban streets from the Twin to the Boulevard just over the Kansas border at the far south edge of KCK.

The Boulevard’s grand opening ad in June 1950 announced, “No longer do you have to drive to a drive-in! You can walk, take a bus or street car, or drive to the truly new drive-in!” To me that sounds like they were still working out the business model, but I’m intrigued at the thought that someone once took a streetcar to a drive-in. The ad claims room for 1000 cars, but reference works at the time suggested 750 or 800, and Cinema Treasures now says it’s 600. That’s still a lot for one relatively narrow viewing field.

My favorite memory of the Boulevard was during its lean times. In 1985 I watched Brewster’s Millions while I had a portable TV in my car showing Siskel and Ebert’s review of Brewster’s Millions. The third movie of that night was announced as “not for the kids.” They don’t show those kind of movies at the Boulevard any more. My most recent memory was in 2012 for Men in Black 3, and the place was packed with happy families, just like most drive-ins these days.

With just one screen, the Boulevard offers only one choice, so I watched The Fate of the Furious for the second straight evening. But here they serve beer, which makes movies and most other things in life just a little better. When consumed early and in moderation, of course.

Miles Today / Total:  17 / 11435 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Fate of the Furious / 50

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant, just a little west of the drive-in down Merriam Lane, is Tacos El Matador. It’s actually quite good. The place doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the authentic Mexican-style tacos make me glad I stopped by.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I was back to a Holiday Inn Express, this time by the University of Kansas Medical Center a couple of miles east of the Boulevard. It’s within a stone’s throw of the Missouri border and the Westport area, where I lived for a couple of years. I had a fridge in the room and bacon for breakfast, and what could be better than that?

Only in Kansas City: Take a standard old-style diner and add model trains and you get Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. Diners use their table-mounted telephone to call in their orders, which are delivered by model train, lowered from the overhead tracks. The food’s okay, but the trains are the reason to go out of your way to visit.

Next stop: I-70 Drive-In, Kansas City MO.

Video: Getty Drive-In opens for 2017

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There’s not much to this story, except that it’s warm, reassuring news. Muskegon MI’s Getty Drive-In has reopened for another season, which is always cause for celebration. WZZM, Grand Rapids’ News Leader, was excited enough to publish a story with a video, giving us an opportunity once again to embed drive-in video. It includes an short interview with longtime general manager Kevin Sims.

MLive also ran a story earlier this week about the Getty, including some nice photos. “It’s a like an open air concert or picnic atmosphere nowadays,” Sims told MLive. “A lot of people don’t even stay in their car anymore.” Check out both stories, or just enjoy the video above.