Author Archives: mrdrivein

Porterville screen resists demolition

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There’s an odd little story in the Porterville CA Recorder about one of the screens at the Porterville Drive-In. It’s amusing, and a testament to 1950-era engineering, how difficult it was for a demolition company to knock it down.

According to Cinema Treasures, the Porterville opened in May 1950, added a second screen some time later, and closed after the 2004 season. The Burton School District purchased the site earlier this year and “agreed to clean up the area, including removing the two screens.” Since the school district hasn’t mentioned its plans for the property, I’m not sure those screens needed removing. Especially considering the oldest definitely wasn’t in danger of collapse.

That article in the Recorder contains a great play-by-play of Housley Demolition’s diligent work at taking down what was apparently the original screen. Housley workers cut six of the seven steel beams that held up the screen, believing that its weight would make it bend down on the seventh. After the sixth cut, nothing. As the Recorder eloquently put it, “Even the pigeons did not move.”

Then workers spent over two hours cutting the seventh beam, but the screen remained stubborn. The next day, Housley brought a large excavator, which finally pushed the screen down. I guess they really knew how to build eight-story-high screens 66 years ago.

There are some great photos of the demolition process and a lot more details in the Recorder article, so you know you really should go read it!

Monroe MI approves drive-in plan

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Here’s yet another data point in a remarkable season of drive-in renewals. The Frenchtown Township MI planning commission has approved a special use permit and zoning adjustments to allow a developer to rebuild the Denniston Drive-In in Monroe. The next step is for the developer to submit a full site plan to the commission, according to the story in the Monroe News.

The article doesn’t mention his name, but according to Dean Cousino, the hardest-working man in Monroe, the developer is Todd Williams from Brownstown Township. Cousino told me that the full site plan won’t be included in the commission’s next meeting on Oct. 20, so we’ll have to wait to learn more about the project.

The Denniston was a huge single-screen drive-in that opened in the 1950s and closed in the 1980s, when a small two-screen indoor theater took its place there. That theater closed a few years ago. As you can see by the Google Earth View above, the lot is still remarkably clear.

According to the story in the News, the current plan is to face the screen to the east, opposite of original screen’s orientation. The site already has utility service, and the developer plans only a concession stand with restrooms. And a screen, of course. For more details, you really should go read it!

Minturn CO embraces its new drive-in

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Just this past Sunday, the Denver Post ran a nice little article describing the arrival and first season of the Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-In in Minturn CO. That makes me wonder how long the editors sat on this story, since the Blue Starlite’s last Minturn movie of the season was over six weeks ago. Maybe they were stumped about how a theater in a mountain valley small town could still call itself “urban”.

The Post tells the story of Josh Frank, who started the Blue Starlite on a shoestring in a 20-car lot in Austin TX and has grown the business to several locations across the country. His funky, eclectic vision of drive-ins was a perfect match for Minturn, a 1000-resident village with the words “funky” and “eclectic” in its mission statement.

In Minturn, Frank’s Blue Starlite sets up in the 40-car parking lot at Little Beach Park, which the village lets him use for free. Most weekend shows have been sellouts. At 7860 feet, this Blue Starlite is touted as the highest drive-in in the country. “This has been my favorite place to do this in six years,” Frank said.

There’s much more, including another Blue Starlite photo scraped from its web site. So go read it!