Author Archives: mrdrivein

Feb. 17: Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In, Lakeport CA

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Red-paneled concession stand building at the Lakeport Drive-In

photo by Granola via CinemaTreasures.org

It’s Day 48 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it took me almost two and a half hours and a half to drive north from Concord to the Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In, Lakeport CA.

It was a rainy day, so it didn’t bother me so much that the Lakeport was still closed for the season. The floodwaters aren’t getting too close yet, but I’ll be glad to get back south to Sacramento for my next stop.

When did the Lakeport first open? That’s a good question. It’s not included in my 1972 Motion Picture Almanac, but it’s there in my 1984 edition. That matches the recent story in The Press Democrat of Sonoma County which said that the Lakewood has been showing summer movies since 1974. Too bad it’s not summer yet.

Miles Today / Total:  104 / 5571 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 35

Nearby Restaurant: I headed to downtown Lakeport for dinner at the Park Place Restaurant. While I gazed out at Clear Lake, I enjoyed a vegetable panini in a cozy, busy setting.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t many places where the Rodeway Inn is the best hotel in town, but Lakeport might be one of them. The Park Place was within walking distance, but the nicest part was a path to the lake. It would have been a restful setting on a dry night, but just about any evening indoors is unusually restful for this odyssey.

Only in Lakeport: Just across now-swollen Clear Lake in the town of Nice is Clarke’s Collectibles and Lunchbox Museum, which displays almost 700 lunchboxes collected over 30 years, housed in an old firehouse. As Deb Clarke described on Roadside America, “All the merchandise for sale is set up like a museum. Everyone that comes loves it and won’t leave.”

Next Stop: Sacramento 6 Drive-In, Sacramento CA.

Feb. 16: Solano Theater, Concord CA

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Solano Drive-In screen at twilight

photo by Thomas Hawk, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 47 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it took me almost an hour and a half to skirt the east side of the San Francisco Bay area from San Jose to the Solano Theater in Concord CA.

It was a rainy day, but it cleared up pretty well by the time the evening hit. The drive-in wasn’t as packed and the sky wasn’t as cloudless, but I’m glad I finally got a chance to run Thomas Hawk’s amazing photo of the place with its twilight colors and evergreens lit by the street behind the screen.

Concord was first served by the Contra Costa Motor-In, which opened some time before 1949. That theater persevered into the 1970s. By 1984, the Motor-In was gone and the Solano Twin had taken its place. The Solano closed after the 2004 season, but reopened in May 2007.

One of the distant echoes of the original drive-in boom was the idea of an attendant bringing food to the car. Just a few months ago, I wrote about an earlier proposed system of two-way speakers for “phoning in” a concession stand order. The Solano brought that up to date. The ticket booth folks supply a menu so you can text an order to be delivered from the snack bar.

Even though it was just Thursday, the Solano had a new release for me. I was very grateful for that.

Miles Today / Total:  62 / 5467 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Fist Fight / 35

Nearby Restaurant: There’s nothing all that close in the mostly industrial area surrounding the Solano. Four miles away in the Sunvalley Shopping Center, I was drawn to an unassuming little place called the Tomi Japanese Seafood Buffet. They had me at the word ‘buffet,’ but when I found out that it was partly an excuse for dim sum, I was happy I made the trip.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I’m a Hilton Honors Gold member. That gives me a free breakfast at Hilton Garden Inns, which are more common, but the best perk comes when I can find a true Hilton with an Executive Lounge with a light dinner and drinks in the evening and a really nice breakfast in the morning. So it might not be worth it for you, but staying at the Hilton Concord was definitely worth it for me.

Only in Concord: In Martinez, just northwest of Concord, at the corner of Alhambra and Masonic/Thompson, there’s a small rock with a small plaque. It commemorates the first martini. The plaque reads, “On this site in 1874, Julio Richelieu, Bartender, served up the first Martini when a miner came into his saloon with a fistful of nuggets and asked for something special. He was served a ‘Martinez Special.’ After three or four drinks, however, the ‘Z’ would get very much in the way. The drink consisted of 2/3 gin, 1/3 vermouth, a dash or orange bitters, poured over crushed ice and served with an olive.”

Next Stop: Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In, Lakeport CA.

Feb. 15: Capitol 6 Drive-In, San Jose CA

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It’s Day 46 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my first in the San Francisco Bay area. It took over two hours to drive from little Madera to the Capitol 6 Drive-In in San Jose CA

The Capitol was one of the last in the primary wave of drive-in theater construction. When it opened in May 1971, there were already six other drive-ins in San Jose. A decade later, it was one of three survivors along with the El Rancho and the San Jose. Now it’s the only one left.

Have you ever heard of Brazilian cheese rolls? I hadn’t until I got a cup of pao do queijo at the concession stand. Not sweet, but very cheesy! They also had hot Cheetos mixed with popcorn, but I’ve got to draw the line somewhere.

With six screens to choose from, at least I got a break from The Lego Batman Movie, which was on only two of them. Several movies I would have preferred were on later, but the only early film I hadn’t seen was Fifty Shades Darker. How was it? As reviewer Amy Nicholson put it, the Fifty Shades movies “aren’t so bad they’re good. They’re so brilliantly bad they’re genius.”

Miles Today / Total:  124 / 5405 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Fifty Shades Darker / 34

Nearby Restaurant: Sometimes, you just take whatever’s across the street. In this case, that’s Tony Di Maggio’s Pizza, home of the world’s best stromboli. Not only was the food great (as in wonderful taste and as in huge), I could look out the window across Monterey Road to see the Capitol’s screens.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Every hotel close by was either undesirable or excessively priced. That’s what I told myself as I ponied up a few more twenties to stay at the historic Hayes Mansion three miles away from the Capitol. It may be the first hotel I’ve visited this trip that has its own Wikipedia page, not to mention a pamphlet with a self-guided walking tour. I could get used to this!

Only in San Jose: According to the San Jose Mercury News, one day in May 2009 the San Jose Fire Department’s hazmat team was summoned to an AT&T call center to rescue workers who had been overcome while trying to clean out the office mini-fridge. Over 300 employees were evacuated, including seven treated at area hospitals. A total of 50 firefighters and 18 emergency vehicles responded to the two-alarm incident.

Next Stop: Solano Theater, Concord CA.