Author Archives: mrdrivein

Twin Falls drive-ins’ future looks bleak

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The Twin Falls (ID) Times-News ran a fairly pessimistic piece this week about the drive-ins in that town. The Motor-Vu and Grand-Vu will open this spring, but they have no plans to make the switch to digital projection. When Hollywood stops sending film, they’ll just shut down.

Both drive-ins are owned by Interstate Amusement, which has a web site that mentions the other theaters in town but not the drive-ins. Maybe they’ll add something once they reopen? The Times-News article quotes Larry Roper, which it says is Interstate Amusement’s managing director, although last summer’s Times-News video, embedded above, says he’s the owner. Anyway, Roper sounds pretty glum about the future of drive-ins in general. “If we cannot get some kind of solution to the end of the 35-mm film or a way to put digital into the drive-ins, they all will be closing,” he said.

Wow! I hope that Roper is just so busy running all those theaters so that he hasn’t noticed that several drive-ins have already converted to digital, and many more have indicated that they’ll convert this season. For just one example, the Star Drive-In of Montrose CO recently announced on its Facebook page that it will convert even as its fundraising efforts continue.

At least the Motor-Vu’s Facebook page is more optimistic, posting “We have to upgrade to Digital which will cost upwards of $100,000.” And the Motor-Vu’s fans have already chimed in, talking about raising the money. (Strangely, I can’t find any web site for the Grand-Vu. If you know of one, post a comment here and I’ll add the link.) So let’s hope the Times-News just caught Roper on a bad day, and the good folks of Twin Falls find a way to keep their drive-in(s) for decades to come.

Daylight Saving Time hates drive-ins

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Daylight Saving Time photo

© Depositphotos.com/Siarhei Hashnikau

I hate Daylight Saving Time – that’s a singular “Saving”, the correct way to write it. I don’t like tweaking all my clocks twice a year. I don’t like losing an hour of sleep in the spring. And I don’t like what it does to drive-ins.

DST was never kind to drive-ins. For much of the country, the only months warm enough to operate a drive-in coincide with DST, and the result is a one-hour delay in the start of each evening’s program. For me, the difference between driving home at 10:30 and driving home at 11:30 is the difference between weeknight and weekend-only visits. And I’m sure I’m not the only patron who sees it that way.

The US nationally standardized Uniform Time Act that took effect in 1967 wasn’t a Chicxulub-meteor extinction event for drive-ins, but it was at least a chilling breeze to drive-in owners. Suburban sprawl took a stronger role by changing edge-of-town sites into prime development land, then premium cable channels and the VCR pulled away a hefty chunk of the drive-in’s audience. Expanding indoor theaters battled drive-ins for the remaining movie-going crowd, and with DST, the drive-in was always at a disadvantage. If DST wasn’t a killer, it was at least a burden.

There’s no annual Sprawl day or VCR festival, so the start of DST is my best chance to rail against the forces that closed so many drive-ins. My only other reminder is when we get the hour back in November, and for that weekend, well that extra hour of sleep feels pretty good.

Drive-in doesn’t mean drive into marquee

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damaged 99W marqueeKPTV, Portland OR’s news leader, reported how a car drove into the marquee of the 99W Drive-In in Newberg. Not only does the report include some video of the theater as it looks today, but KPTV also included a bit of home movies from the 99W’s construction 50 years ago. You really should check out the video.

The 99W is still facing the expense of the transition to digital projection, and KPTV’s report makes it sound like they’ll try to raise money while operating with film for one more year. Now they’ve got to fix the sign too, but one would hope that somebody’s insurance will cover that.

KOIN, yet another news leader in Portland, added a short slide show of the incident. Normally, I’d also link to the drive-in’s page, but I’m not sure whether to choose the official company web site, which has some great recent and old photos in its gallery, or the Friends of the 99W Facebook page, which is where the tilted marquee photo was first posted. So I guess I’ll mention both.