Author Archives: mrdrivein

Mar. 8: Kenda Drive-In, Marshall, AR

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photo from the Kenda Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 67 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I drove about two and a half hours following US 412 from Fayetteville to US 65 and on to the Kenda Drive-In, deep in the Ozark Mountains in Marshall, AR.

The Kenda’s Facebook page says that the drive-in opened in April 1965. Its sign is on Highway 65, but the theater itself is about a block north on Westwood Drive. It’s almost certainly the only drive-in that Marshall has ever known, considering the city has never had as many as 2000 residents.

Although the Kenda is only showing movies on Friday through Sunday nights for now, the concession stand was open for lunch. I got here in time to try some burgers and those chocolate rolls for dessert, and watching a movie loaded on my phone, it was an interesting daytime drive-in experience.

Miles Today / Total:  117 / 8640 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 38

Nearby Restaurant: When the drive-in isn’t serving food, the best example of local cuisine is the Daisy Queen just down the road. That’s not a typo; although the sign looks a lot like that other DQ, this place is more like a diner than an ice-cream parlor. It’s best known for its burgers and fries, but I had a chef salad just to get something green. And yes, they do serve ice cream for dessert.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Oh dear. Google Maps didn’t think there was a place to stay within 10 miles of the Kenda, and I think that’s because it thought the old Sunset Motel was closed. I kept looking for hotels along the way to my next stop, and I couldn’t find anything I wanted. Mountain View was only an hour away, and since I didn’t have to drive late at night, I didn’t mind too much. Besides, this way I’ll get to spend two nights at a clean, nicely priced Econo Lodge.

Only in Marshall: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture says “Marshall’s significance lies in its survival as a mountain county seat after challenges such as Civil War anarchy, devastation of mining and timber industries, a bankrupt railroad, failed small local and outsider-owned industries, and aggressive environmentalists.” The Searcy County historical society’s annual North Arkansas Ancestor Fair, started in 1990, draws hundreds of visitors.

Next Stop: Stone Drive-In Theatre, Mountain View AR.

Mar. 7: 112 Drive In, Fayetteville AR

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It’s Day 66 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I spent an hour and a half driving across the border from eastern Oklahoma to western Arkansas, then north to the 112 Drive In in Fayetteville.

The 112 is a single-screen theater. It’s laid out for a second screen, but a Cinema Treasures commenter relayed that “the City of Fayetteville wanted us to Build a lake to retain water, (and) to dig out the culverts under 112. … We were to put a sidewalk from Nelms to the Glass company, to put in an irrigation system and water line and plant trees all across the HWY 112 frontage, So that kind of killed (the second screen) as ever being possible.”

When did the 112 open? I couldn’t find any hard information about it. There was a New York Times article about a guy who graduated college in 1980 and had visited the 112 “as a teenager”. It’s listed for Fayetteville in my 1984 Motion Picture Almanac along with the 62 Drive-in and 71 Drive-In. (Can you guess that they were all owned by the same company?) Yet the 1982 MPA lists the other two drive-ins and not the 112. On the other hand, none of those three appear in my 1972 MPA, but I know from another source that the 71 had operated since the 1950s, so maybe that source is just too erratic to trust.

The previous paragraph already had too many numbers in it, so the short version is that the 112 was probably open by the mid-1970s, but I just don’t know.

Once again, I arrived just a little too early. The 112 will reopen for the 2017 season on March 17.

Miles Today / Total:  88 / 8523 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 38

Nearby Restaurant: There are a lot of chain restaurants along the main drag on old Business 71 about a mile from the 112, but I kept on going because of the promise of an unusual experience. Hammontree’s Grilled Cheese offers, yes, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, sweet potato fries and so much more. I started off with the edamame hummus dip and black bean tortilla soup before the sourdough-based specialty of the house.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Had I stayed at a Sleep Inn yet during this odyssey? All those modern motel chains are starting to blur together. Anyway, at a great price, I got a clean room, good wifi, and some breakfast – all I needed for another day in Arkansas.

Only in Fayetteville: If you happened to click that New York Times link above, you already know this one. Sitting in front of the Colonial Motel in nearby Prairie Grove is a phone booth with its own Wikipedia page. This style of booth was introduced by AT&T in 1954 to make pay phones accessible in outdoor locations. It was damaged in a 2014 traffic accident, and its restoration became an internet cause célèbre. The phone booth was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2015.

Next Stop: Kenda Drive-In, Marshall, AR.

Video: TV’s Riverdale Uses BC’s Twilight

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Full drive-in theater lot watching a movie, with CW logo

Riverdale screen grab via Seeing-Stars.com

The CW TV network recently launched Riverdale, a series based on the classic Archie comics’ characters. One of its early story lines revolved around a drive-in theater, and the Langley Times had a great article about how the Twilight Drive-In Theatre in Aldergrove, British Columbia, became the place where Jughead worked. There’s even a nice couple of minutes of video (MP4) showing the Twilight’s digital projection system that Riverdale’s drive-in doesn’t use.

The Times article, and the video, features Jay Daulat, the Twilight’s owner and projectionist. The Riverdale production team dropped in for two weeknights in October 2016, and Daulat ran the old film projector so scenes from Rebel Without A Cause could appear on the drive-in screen. He was happy that Riverdale kept the Twilight name. “That gave us that added exposure,” Daulat said.

Daulat’s son Vijay, who also works at the drive-in, said he was bombarded by texts after the episode aired. “They said, ‘Do you know the drive-in was on Riverdale?’ Well… yeah! Of course I do,” Vijay said. “They didn’t change anything. The first scene was our sign outside, as is.”

The Times article has much more about Daulat’s drive-in history, the other movies and TV shows that have featured the Twilight, and even a couple of nice photos, so you know you really should go read it!