Author Archives: mrdrivein

Saying a long, fond farewell to the Auto Vue

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AutoVueWA_Facebook_cropFolks are really going to miss the Auto Vue Drive-In of Colville WA. Over the winter, I’d already run one note about its planned closing at the end of this season due to lack of funds for conversion to digital projection. Then in April, I added an embedded video of the Auto Vue. But since then, I’ve continued to see one story after another with tributes of varying lengths to this rickety old piece of Americana.

But none of those measured up to the lengthy article in the Pacific Northwest Insider last week. This one’s got everything – history, old photos, a whole page of new photos, references to other theaters’ fundraisers, just plain everything. And the writer understands the appeal of a drive-in, that it’s not like an indoor theater. “On this Sunday night at the Auto Vue, though, it feels like an event, not a movie. It’s something — at least until after Labor Day, when the last double feature hits the screen — to see, not just to watch.”

This article is one of the finest drive-in articles I’ve read this year. Of course you should go read it!

One more note: I wish the Auto Vue people would contact the folks who run the Comanche Drive-In in Buena Vista CO. Rather than worry about showing current releases, the Comanche seems to embrace its film-based nostalgia. I mean, a drive-in makes almost all of its profit from the concession stand. As long as enough hungry patrons come to watch, everybody’s happy. Why not rent older films and stay in business?

Utah’s Sunset Drive-In snack bar burns down

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Sunset Drive-In at night

photo by Arbyreed, used by permission

We’ve got sad news from Utah. The Sunset Drive-In in Vernal is closed indefinitely after a major fire Friday night. According to the Deseret News story, Uintah Fire District Chief Jeremy Raymond said it started with a grease fire from the Sunset’s deep-fat fryers. Raymond called the combination box office and concession building “a total loss.”

The Vernal Express fire story, which said it was still under investigation, said that the projection booth and drive-in screen both survived the fire. What neither article addressed is a deeper question: When will the Sunset rebuild and reopen? Or was this the final chapter for this over 60-year-old landmark?

There are a few more details, and you really should read both stories to see the full range of morning-after photos. Let’s hope that the Vernal community rallies around the Sunset and brings it back better than ever.

Reminisce with the past and current owners of the Verne

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Verne_URLThis week, the Worthington (MN) Daily Globe gave us a present of the kind of relaxing, fun drive-in theater article that’s always a pleasure to read. The occasion was a meeting of Walt Deutsch, a guy who owned the Verne Drive-In Theater (Luverne MN) back in 1960s and 70s, and Glenn Burmeister, the guy who owns it today.

There are so many highlights, but I was most struck by a story that sounds a lot like a report we carried about a Russian drive-in that was looking for someone to scare its patrons.

Burmeister said, “During ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ (Deutsch) had a chainsaw, took the chain off and would go in back of a car, start it up and come out with the chainsaw.”

“There were five girls in the car and when I ran that they piled out the other side,” Deutsch said.

And then there’s romance. “We have had two wedding proposals here,” Burmeister said. “We have another one coming up. I got an email from a guy and he asked if we would do it. Usually what I do is I’m upstairs and I read it and it goes over the speaker system. The one guy, they were in a pick-up and they stood up and I read it. I asked, ‘What if she says no?’ He says, ‘Then I’m embarrassed in front of a lot of people.’”

And those are just two of the great, fun anecdotes that the Daily Globe article covers. I shouldn’t even have to tell you that you should go read it!