It’s Day 294 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I drove for almost an hour and a half to get from the Vintage Drive In Theatre, just east of Avon NY to the Transit Drive In south of Lockport NY.

Rick Cohen is a national treasure. I just want to say that right up front. The owner of the Transit is a huge fan of all drive-ins and backs that love with hard work and community outreach to benefit the whole drive-in universe.

But first, let me touch on the origins of the Transit, which opened on August 1, 1952, built by a group of Buffalo businessmen: Anthony Ragusa, George Tater, Louis Battaglia, and John Battaglia. The group also operated the Lockport Drive-In, which had opened in 1946 in neighboring Gasport. In 1957, Irving and Mary Cohen bought the Transit, and it’s been in their family ever since.

According to the Transit’s excellent History page, Irving and Mary’s older son, Gary, managed the Transit from 1957 to 1963. Macy, their younger son, managed the theater from 1963 to 1986, increasing the parking capacity from 600 to 990 cars by 1973, introducing in-car heaters and a 12 month schedule from 1972 until 1977. Rick, who is Macy’s youngest son, recalled those years in an article in The Daily Beast, “Man, we packed them in there in the middle of the winter, 10 degrees out, to see adult movies.”

The History page continues, “In 1987, Rick began managing the Transit, and immediately began a more aggressive, dedicated approach to the business.” Rick converted the drive-in to FM stereo sound, installed a platter film system, and rebuilt the original 1950’s neon marquee. An even nicer marquee was installed in 2014 after someone crashed into the old one.

The Transit installed a second screen in 1994, a third in 1996, and a fourth in 2001. Most recently in 2016, they added a fifth screen mainly to avoid turning away customers during popular movie weekends.

But Rick Cohen doesn’t just improve his own drive-in, he reaches out to help others. In 2010, he held a fundraiser to replace the burned-down screens of the Admiral Twin in Tulsa OK. In 2015, he walked back from Florida to raise money for a digital projector for the Auto Vue in Sidney OH. His motto on that History page is “What (the world) really needs are more dedicated, loyal drive-in theater managers.” And I would say, like him.

The YouTube video of the day comes from WIVB, Buffalo’s News Leader. I’d also recommend checking a little promo video from 2011 featuring an uncredited rooftop cameo by Carload’s friend, drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs.

With those five screens available, I had a lot of choices, so I picked a movie I hadn’t seen but which didn’t have a hint of terror in it. Unless you’re scared of ponies.

Miles Today / Total: 60 / 33505 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: My Little Pony: The Movie / 182

Nearby Restaurant: I found another diner! Tom’s Diner has the black and white checkerboard tile floor, though not enough red vinyl furniture for the full effect. On the other hand, there is a jukebox, and that more than makes up for it. For lunch, an open-faced roast beef sandwich seemed very appropriate for its surroundings.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Oh yeah, there’s a Hampton Inn in Lockport. Sometimes it’s nice to sample those different mom and pop motels, and sometimes it’s nice to stay somewhere that feels familiar even when you’ve never been there before. My room had all the modern amenities and USB charging ports. Breakfast was the fine Hampton standard. This place is the hotel equivalent of comfort food.

Only in Lockport: Way back in April, I told you about an underground boat ride in a former mine in Missouri. Here, the Lockport Cave has that beat with “America’s longest underground boat ride” through the water tunnels under Lockport. “The tunnel was the invention of Birdsill Holly, a mechanical genius, whose inventions were manufactured using Erie Canal water power provided by this tunnel.”

Next stop: Sunset Drive-In, Middleport NY.

It’s Day 293 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It took about 80 minutes to drive the 60 miles from Delevan Twin Drive In in Delevan NY (of course) to the Vintage Drive In Theatre, just east of Avon NY.

In the Summer 2002 issue of Life in the Finger Lakes magazine, it said, “In the 1960s, a harness racing track …, the East Avon Downs, was located just north of Route 5 and 20. In the 1970s it was converted into a successful flea market.” (Historic Aerials shows farmland on that site in 1951, and a simple oval with no grandstand in 1971, so I’ll take that with a grain of salt. Maybe it was a practice oval for the 180-year-old Avon Springs Downs three miles west. But I digress.) Paul Dean bought the site in the early 1990s, and in 1997 he did the reverse of so many places – he added a drive-in to an existing flea market.

The Vintage opened in June 1997, the work of Dean and David Philips. In an article in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Philips dismissed the idea that building the drive-in was an unlikely gamble. “Everywhere else drive-ins are opening, not closing, and I had the property so I took the opportunity,” he said. On Opening Day, it had one screen up and a second under construction.

The Baltimore Sun wrote the next year that the Vintage had been the first new drive-in built in the northeast in at least 10 years. Business was so strong that Dean planned to build a third screen for Year 3. “This is the future,” he said. “I’ve had business advisors say, ‘You’re crazy. It takes up too much property.’ But it’s a classic case of what is old is new again. People want cheap, wholesome, outdoor family entertainment. I’m going to make money with this.”

I guess he was right. A decade later in 2008, Dean told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that “his original investment in equipment was in the mid-six-figure range, and that his investment has been a good one.” And during the 2009-2010 offseason, the fourth screen went up.

The Vintage uses flat parking lots, smaller screens set fairly close to the ground, and FM radio sound. The layout is probably unique, with three screens in a row along the south (from east to west: a projector, a double-sided screen, a two-way projector, and the most recently built screen) and one screen and projector along a parallel path to the north. The concession stand has a 50s diner theme, a row of arcade games, and a mini-golf course right behind it.

On this night, the Vintage continued its yearly Fright Village promotion where half of its grounds are transformed into a haunted housing block. The scary public domain movie Night of the Living Dead is included with admission to the village, and that sounded like a better show than the new stuff on the other two screens. On a reasonably warm night for late October, it was a real treat.

Miles Today / Total: 60 / 33445 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Night of the Living Dead / 181

Nearby Restaurant: It’s almost too small (nine locations) to be a regional chain, which is surprising considering the burger quality at Tom Wahl’s, home of the Wahlburger. I love a good malted milkshake, and it’s rare to find one as good as they make it here. The signature burger comes with Swiss cheese, another of my favorite combinations. It was just what I wanted, at fast food prices.

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you’re going to stay in Avon, you’re going to want to stay at the Cedarwood Travel Lodge, another one of those little motels that happens to be nice. My comfortable, wood-paneled room had a mini-fridge, which is always nice. And best of all, I didn’t have to drive far away after a scary night at the drive-in.

Only in Avon: Less than a half mile south of the Vintage, where Rochester Road intersects Routes 5 and 20, there’s a statue of a white horse. According to the blog Stagecoach Days, that’s all that’s left of the White Horse Tavern, “one of the most noted of the hostelries of the stagecoach era that survived well into the 20th century”. It was built in 1812 and “was an important early stagecoach stop”. In 1930, its owner added this statue. After the tavern burned down in 1955, the statue was left to mark its location.

Next stop: Transit Drive In, Lockport NY.