It’s been over a year since I made my virtual visit to the Silver Moon Drive-In Theatre in Lakeland FL. Such innocent times! It was the first week of my Drive-in-a-Day odyssey, back when I was still skimping on historical details, and I hadn’t yet noticed how cool it is to embed a video with my visit report.
Today I’ll correct that last omission. Here’s a YouTube video describing a typical night at the Silver Moon, supplemented by old photos and video clips. Enjoy!
In mid-2016, when I first compiled my full database of active drive-ins in the United States, I was initially undecided on the status of the Pine Hill Drive-In in Piedmont MO. I collected the Google Maps Street View (which showed it still active as of December 2015) and Google Maps’ satellite view (which still shows all the pieces looking good). Ultimately I went with Cinema Treasures‘ explanation that the Pine Hill had closed after the 2015 season, citing vandalism, though I would expect some digital projection issues in the mix.
Here’s a YouTube video posted in August 2017 and probably shot around then which shows that the drive-in still looks like it’s in pretty good shape. I especially like the way the ground naturally slopes toward the screen, and the drive-in speaker hanging in the open-air ticket booth. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone wanting a drive-in to reopen would stumble across this post and start in on an Ozark Mountain restoration? A Facebook post this week says it still hasn’t sold, so go check it out!
Here’s an example of how a glorious neon display on the back of a drive-in screen used to look. This one’s in San Antonio, and its restoration used faux neon. Photo by Neon Michael from the Carload Flickr pool
In Sunday’s edition of The Advertiser-Tribune of Tiffin OH, neon artist Michael Flechtner is recreating some of the original neon at the Field of Dreams Drive-In, which spent most of its life as the Tiffin.
When I last wrote about this Field of Dreams (the original is in Liberty Center), its owners were listed as Rod and Donna Saunders, but Sunday’s article said the owner is Donna Callahan-Saunders. I don’t know whether that’s a change. Anyway, Callahan-Saunders told The Advertiser-Tribune that the original neon had been removed before they purchased the drive-in in 2011, because the neon tubes would break in severe weather. “Part of the work to restore the neon is to work with local experts who can help design a way to protect the neon tubing from severe elements,” she said.
That might answer my nagging question of what had happened to most of the wonderful neon murals that once commonly covered the backs of drive-in screens. The old Theatre Catalogs were full of them, but now they’re pretty hard to find.
Flechtner said he planned to meet with the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, and was trying to find any photos of the old Tiffin’s neon display. Sounds like something that’s going to look great for the start of the 2018 season.