Author Archives: mrdrivein

Nov. 18: Hound’s Drive-In, Kings Mountain NC

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It’s Day 322 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Because I’m still connecting the dots for the only drive-ins still showing movies in mid-November, I drove over six hours from the Family Drive-In Theatre southwest of Stephens City VA to Hound’s Drive-In in Kings Mountain NC.

The Brown family opened Hound’s last year at its campground there. As documented at the Shelby Star, owner Mike “Hound” Brown previously owned the local indoor theater from 1978-90, and his son Preston worked there in his youth.

“We just miss the theater experience back when we were younger,” Preston said. “We liked it. It was fun and exciting and we’ve always wanted to get back into it.”

After another nearby drive-in closed in 2014, the Browns saw the opportunity to open their own. They built a 100×50 foot screen and a digital projection booth to serve it. The lot holds about 500-800 cars, depending on how closely they get packed. A concession stand serves fast-food dinners as well as the typical theater snacks.

The Gaston Gazette followed up in June this year, and it reported that Hound’s is a hit. “I expected it to do well, but I didn’t expect it to do as well as it’s done,” Preston said.

Thanks in part to overflow crowds, the Browns are building a second screen, which should be ready by the start of the 2018 season. You can see it on the embedded YouTube video of the day, which was uploaded just last month. The Gazette said that Preston also wants to add a third screen. The crowds he’s seen so far should support three screenings a night, he said.

The Hound’s Drive-In web site says that this is a “Double Feature Weekend” showing “Polar Express, Justice League and The Kingsman”. I hope that doesn’t mean that I can only pick two of those movies to watch. At any rate, I only count the earliest flick, which means it’s my first time this year to watch The Polar Express. I wonder if I’ll see it at any other Christmas special nights next month.

Miles Today / Total: 382 / 36846 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Polar Express / 193

Nearby Restaurant: After driving most of the day, I took my fast dinner at the other drive-in in Kings Mountain, Blackwood’s Drive-In restaurant. I skipped past all the burgers and ordered a ribeye steak sandwich and an order of fries. My order was delivered to my car, just like the drive-in restaurants of old. Great nostalgia, great sandwich.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It looks like the best place to stay in Kings Mountain is the Holiday Inn Express. It was nice in every way. There were warm cookies waiting at check-in. My comfortable room had all the modern amenities. And I’d forgotten how I’d missed the HIE cinnamon rolls as part of the very nice HIE free breakfast in the morning.

Only in Kings Mountain: The city of Kings Mountain was once called White Plains, but it was renamed in honor of the nearby Battle of Kings Mountain, which took place October 7, 1780. The decisive victory by the Patriot militia over the Loyalist militia greatly raised the Patriots’ morale. With his Loyalist militia beaten, British General Cornwallis was forced to abandon his plan to invade North Carolina and retreated into South Carolina.

Next stop: Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre, Henderson NC.

Nov. 17: Family Drive-In Theatre, Stephens City VA

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It’s Day 321 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Even with some interstate highway assistance, it still took me four hours to drive from the Dependable Drive-In in Moon PA across the Appalachian Mountains to the Family Drive-In Theatre southwest of Stephens City VA.

The Family was built by William F. Dalke Jr. and opened as a single screen on June 14, 1956. His son, his son, Tim Dalke, told The Washington Post in 2013, “Our drive-in was mostly a family affair from the beginning. I think that’s the same case today.”

Tim and his three brothers worked at the drive-in, and in time Tim took over the Family. “I twinned the screen in 1989 because we could double the product we were offering the public,” he said.

Remember James Kopp, the guy who used to run the Raleigh Road Outdoor Theater, profiled just a few days ago? Since 2009, Kopp has leased Family Drive-In from Tim Dalke.

Among other things, Kopp has made sure to keep the in-car speakers on their poles, which include the original lighted markers at their rows’ ends. “A lot of people don’t get to experience the speakers at the drive-in anymore,” he told WTOP. “If you’re like me, I put the car speaker in the window and I also turn my radio on, so I’m getting a stereo-type event.” He converted both screens to digital projection in 2013.

The embedded YouTube video of the day is a nice mix of aerial and ground coverage, and some of the shots pointing almost straight down provide a nice perspective. I also like the way it shows the grassy playground area in front of the main screen.

I was so glad that the Family was still open that I didn’t mind watching Justice League for the second straight night.

Miles Today / Total: 215 / 36464 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Justice League / 192

Nearby Restaurant: The name pulled me in. Granny’s Pancake Cottage is just up US Highway 11 from the Family, and my only question was whether it would still be open when I got there for lunch. Yes, it was. I love eating breakfast for lunch, and it was great to find another restaurant that serves scrapple. Add a bowl of grits and plenty of coffee, and I was happy to have been lured to Granny’s.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Less than two miles away, I found a good old Comfort Inn. It’s not new and pretty, but it was clean and comfortable. My room had all the modern amenities. Breakfast was typical Comfort Inn with a waffle maker and omelettes as well as the continental standards. It was just what I needed at a good price.

Only in Stephens City: Just five miles south of the Family is where the Battle of Cedar Creek took place in 1864. Wikipedia calls it the culminating battle of the Valley Campaigns near the end of the Civil War. Southern Spaces wrote that “General Philip Sheridan’s ride south from Winchester to rally retreating Union forces passed directly over the drive-in’s grounds.”

Next stop: Hound’s Drive-In, Kings Mountain NC.

Nov. 16: Dependable Drive-In, Moon PA

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It’s Day 320 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Thanks to the miracle of I-79, it took me less than two hours to drive from the Sunset Drive-In Theater just south of Shinnston WV to the Dependable Drive-In in Moon PA.

The single-screen Dependable opened in late June 1950, then was heavily damaged by a flood a week later. It was reportedly owned by three couples, the Hofackers, the Marcuses, and the Springers. (Although a 1951 newspaper report called Howard Benson the owner, I’m guessing he was the manager.) In April 1952, Robert J. Springer sued the other two couples for leasing the drive-in to Ernest Stern in June 1951. Springer was still around in 1955, so I guess that worked out somehow.

The Pittsburgh City Paper wrote that Rick Glaus had “run the Dependable since 1968”. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote in 2010 that “Glaus, 56, … operates the drive-in with his son, Jonathan. The Glaus family bought the Dependable in the late 1960s from original owner Pat Springer.”

Sure enough, a March 1974 article about concerned neighbors identified Rick Glaus as the manager. “Let’s face it – X-rated films are the only thing that saves us,” he told The Pittsburgh Press. If all these newspapers are right, Glaus would have been about 20 at the time and 14(!) when he started running the Dependable. That can’t be right, can it?

Cinema Treasures says the Dependable added a second screen in 1995, a third in 1997, and a fourth in 2003.

It appears that Jonathan became known as Jay, because a 2012 article in The Pitt News said that Jay Glaus was the 19-year-old manager at that point. “We try to keep it modern but nostalgic at the same time, which is a challenge because you want to make everything modern, and you want to bring everything up to contemporary stuff. But you have to remember you’re running a drive-in,” he said. “You’re not running an indoor movie theater.”

The last I saw, Rick still owns the Dependable and Jay still runs it as general manager. The great thing about it now is that it’s open year-round, giving me a chance to get a little closer to my goal of 200 active drive-in nights this year. It was cold and rainy, but I got the chance to see a special Thursday night premiere of Justice League.

The embedded video of the day comes from WPXI, Pittsburgh’s News Leader. It tells of the generosity of Dependable patrons after one jerk stole from a donation box.

Miles Today / Total: 114 / 36249 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Justice League / 191

Nearby Restaurant: For a fine, inexpensive lunch, I headed over to the Brighton Hot Dog Shoppe, part of a regional restaurant chain. Fresh-cut French fries and hot dogs with a special chili sauce were all I really needed to get me from breakfast to dinner. Did I also have one of their Oreo and peanut butter milkshakes? I’m not telling.

Where I Virtually Stayed: When you’re across the highway from a major airport, you know that hotels can’t be far away. One of those was a Hampton Inn, and if you’ve been reading these virtual visits, you know the rest. This one had a manager’s reception with free beer in the lobby, so that’s a point in its favor. My comfy room had all the modern amenities, and the breakfast was the good Hampton standard.

Only in Moon: Just across I-376 from the Dependable, the Pittsburgh International Airport is home to a 20-foot robot sculpture that appears to be made of bridges. As described in Geek Pittsburgh, “Arch” was built to last only six months as part of Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, but it was so admired that it was restored to a more permanent state and replaced inside the airport in June 2013.

Next stop: Family Drive-In Theatre, Stephens City VA.