Author Archives: mrdrivein

Video: How The Pine Hill Looks Now

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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!

Tiffin’s Field of Dreams Will Restore Neon

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Daylight photo of the mural on the back of the screen of the Mission Drive-In Theatre

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.

TN Church Built Its Own Drive-In

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A small group sitting in front of a small drive-in movie screen

Photo from the Cornerstone Drive-In Facebook page

During the winter doldrums, I’m catching up on some of the stories I didn’t get to during the long Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey that took up most of my time last year. One of those is about a church in Scotts Hill TN that illustrates my definition of a drive-in theater.

In May 2017, the Cornerstone Church built its own drive-in screen and started showing faith-based movies on Friday and Saturday nights. Admission was free and open to the public, and there was a concession trailer with popcorn, drinks, hot dogs and burgers. In July, the operation was profiled on WBBJ, Jackson’s News Leader, in a video that I couldn’t embed here. The drive-in continued showing films on weekends until closing its season in mid-October.

“Teenagers can take their girlfriends on dates here for free instead of having to worrying about asking their parents for money,” Cornerstone’s Joanie Gant told WBBJ. “The parents don’t have to worry about what they’re seeing because they know it’s going to be a faith based film.” There’s a good picture of the full screen at the Lexington Progress.

As I wrote over a year ago, a drive-in is any outdoor theater at a fixed location where members of the public can drive their own cars in to watch a movie on a recurring basis. The Cornerstone is unconventional, but it fits the definition as well as the Blue Starlite or the Apache. Once it opens again in 2018, I’ll need to add it to my official drive-in list.