Author Archives: mrdrivein

Oct. 30: Unadilla Drive-In, Unadilla NY

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Unadilla Drive-In marquee and screen

Photo from the Unadilla Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 303 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. On the Monday before Halloween, nobody was going to be showing movies, so I might as well start checking in with more drive-ins that are closed for the season. On this day, that meant driving an hour and a half from the Circle Drive In Theatre in Dickson City PA to the Unadilla Drive-In in Unadilla NY, of course.

Like the Garden Drive In, which I visited four days earlier, the Unadilla is adjacent to the Susquehanna River to its south. This is where I like to list the full history of the drive-in, but the The Daily Star of Oneonta beat me to it in an article on May 22, 2016. According to the newspaper accounts of the day, two guys from Albany built the Unadilla – John Gardner, operator of the Turnpike Drive-In, and Al LaFamme, manager of the Strand Theater. The new drive-in opened on a Tuesday, May 29, 1956.

(An aside: The 1957 International Motion Picture Almanac said the owners were Gardner and “A. O. La Flamme”, with an L. I don’t think that’s a typo. There was definitely an Alcide LaFlamme who lived in Albany in May 1956 and was mentioned as living in Unadilla during 1961-67 at least. That seems like quite a coincidence in a town of fewer than 4000 residents. But newspaper articles about the drive-in consistently use LaFamme, so that’s how I’ll spell it for the rest of this post.)

The Daily Star quoted its Aug. 22, 1986 article when “Michael and Beatrice Chonka were determined to keep their drive-in open, as they had for the last 17 years.” That put the purchase date around 1969. But the Binghamton NY Press and Sun Bulletin wrote in August 1983 that Michael Chonka had “31 years in Unadilla – 15 years as owner”, which would make it 1968.

The 1986 Daily Star article mostly concurred, “Chonka, a Binghamton native, started in the business almost two decades ago when Al LaFamme, who built the Unadilla theater, asked him to come to work. … when LaFamme wanted to sell some time later, Chonka bought the theater.”

Michael Chonka passed away in August 1994, and the theater closed earlier than usual that season. Trevor Ladner and Thomas Owens bought the Unadilla from his widow and re-opened it in late May 1995.

A long story in the July 15, 2016 PressConnects.com is the best source after that. It said that “Unadilla’s current owners are Eric and Marcia Wilson, who bought the property in 2000”. The old wooden screen was blown down in a windstorm “three years ago” and was replaced by a steel screen. The Wilsons’ children work there now, and Rob Tracey is the general manager.

And that brings us to where we are today, with the Unadilla closed for the season.

Miles Today / Total: 92 / 34307 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 185

Nearby Restaurant: The humble Parkview Deli in Unadilla looks like a converted house, but the food is big on the inside. There’s a lot more than just deli food; I had the redneck burger with bacon and habanero salsa, plus a side of garbage fries topped with onions, olives, peppers, and lots of other stuff. It’s not hard to get full here.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel to the Unadilla is the Super 8 in Sydney nine miles west. The price is so reasonable that I upgraded to a suite to get my favorite modern amenities in the room. The wifi was solid and the continental breakfast was the usual Super 8 quality. It’s nice to have such a decent hotel close by.

Only in Unadilla: The most famous athlete associated with Unadilla wasn’t human. Spectacular Bid, the winner of the 1979 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, won over $2.7 million in his short career. He spent the last 12 years of his life in semi-retirement (still occasionally servicing mares) at Milfer Farms in Unadilla.

Next stop: Jericho Drive-in, Glenmont NY.

Oct. 29: Circle Drive In Theatre, Dickson City PA

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It’s Day 302 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Coming from the Warwick Drive-In Theatre, just across the border near Warwick NY, it took just an hour and a half to drive to the Circle Drive In Theatre in Dickson City PA.

The important part of the history of the Circle is that Michael Delfino bought it some time in the 1960s, and as of 2015, the 95-year-old was still the owner. That year was when he added a second screen to the Circle, which still packs them in every weekend.

What went before is a little sketchy from the very beginning. Milford Now reported in 2014 that the Circle was built in 1945, which matches what the Circle web site’s history page says. Also in 2014, Happenings magazine said the drive-in had been around “for 65 years” which would put the opening date at 1949, but that it broke ground in 1945. Cinema Treasures also puts the opener in 1949. Why would an erected drive-in sit idle for over three years? That’s a story, but it’s one I don’t know.

What I do know is that the Circle’s first appearance in the fairly reliable Theatre Catalog series was its 1949-50 edition. It was said to be owned by “Albert Frangel,” who I suspect to really be Albert Frengel only because that was a much more common surname in eastern Pennsylvania.

The 1952-59 editions of the Motion Picture Almanac listed the owner as E. Hollander of the Allied Circuit or just the circuit. In the early 1960s, it switched to the “Milgrim (sic) Bkg. Serv.”, actually Philadelphia’s Milgram Booking Service which was associated with Nathan Milgram Services, owner of over a dozen PA drive-ins.

Next up was Delfino, but when exactly? Milford Now said he bought it in 1964. The Times-Tribune of Scranton said it was 1963. WNEP, Moosic’s News Leader, reported it was “the early 1960s.” The Paper Shop blog said it was 1969. Happenings wrote that he had been there “for 61 of the theater’s 65 years,” implying that he worked there before buying the Circle. All I can tell for sure was that it was before the MPA’s 1978 edition, which listed Delfino as the owner.

And that’s when the uncertainty ended. From all accounts, Delfino has had a great time running the Circle. “When you love what you’re doing, you’ll never work a day in your life. I’ve never worked a day in my life at the theater,” he told Happenings. He guided the switch the digital projection in 2012, enlarging the screen at the time.

In 2015, the Circle added a second screen. “I’m a firm believer in perpetuity and that’s forever and everything here is going to last forever. It’s going to be here permanently and that’s why we are doing that,” he told WNEP.

On this night, the occasion was the drive-in’s annual Circle of Screams, “America’s only haunted drive-in theatre.” As part of the package, it was showing two public domain classics, The Horror and Night of the Living Dead.

The video of the day is that WNEP report on the new screen in 2015. Enjoy!

Miles Today / Total: 84 / 34215 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Terror / 185

Nearby Restaurant: It’s just a little out of the way, but I had to see the life-sized pirate ship in front of Cooper’s Seafood House in Scranton. It’s been around about as long as the Circle (1948), and the walls are covered with dioramas, photos, and quirky decorations. And there’s food! And a bar with plenty of beers! I had the broiled seafood platter and a pint of Shipyard Pumpkinhead. It was a great way to get ready for the drive-in.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The best bargain among Dickson City’s hotels is probably the Microtel Inn. I got the standardization of a chain hotel at a mom and pop price. There were cookies and coffee to welcome me, my two queens room had all the modern amenities, and the continental breakfast included hard boiled eggs, waffles and fruit. I was ready for another week on the road.

Only in Dickson City: Over in nearby Scranton is the Steamtown National Historic Site, a railroad museum to top them all. There’s an active restoration shop for the steam locomotives and a working roundhouse. Scranton also had the first electric streetcar, and the Electric City Trolley Museum is right next door.

Next stop: Unadilla Drive-In, Unadilla NY.

Oct. 28: Warwick Drive-In Theatre, Warwick NY

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It’s Day 301 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It was time to get back on the  Pennsylvania Turnpike for part of the 2½-hour drive from the Mahoning Drive-In Theater a few miles west of Lehighton PA to the Warwick Drive-In Theatre, just across the border and a couple of miles west of Warwick NY.

The Warwick has a great history, kept up to date, on the About Us page of its web site. The drive-in was built in 1950 by Charles and Mary Finger in partnership with George and Adeline Miller on land owned by Paul and Emma Miller. George and Adeline sold out to Russ and Gloria Eurich. It had one 70-by-40-foot screen and parking for 350 cars. Soon, the Fingers bought out the business from the Eurichs. It was run successfully by the Finger family for 25 years.

The Fingers retired and sold the drive-in to Frank Seeber in 1977. Seeber also bought the property from Miller’s widow, then bought more acreage from her in 1982. Seeber and his wife Ann expanded the drive-in to two screens with two projection rooms. Before 1995, they added a third screen and more ticket selling stations to comply “with the town’s insistence on controlling the traffic and parking situations.”

In 1995, the Seebers retired from the drive-in business and sold the theater and land to Beth and Ernest Wilson as Casey Family Theaters, Inc. “We named the company after our nickname for Cassandra, the youngest of our four children,” Beth told the Warwick Valley Chamber. “She was born on the day we purchased the business.”

Beth’s sister, Laurey Keller, assists with daily operations, and Beth and Laurey’s children have worked at the Warwick throughout the years. Concession manager Joan Damon has been with the theater since the 1970s, before the Seebers bought it. The drive-in converted to digital projection in 2014.

The Warwick is the closest drive-in to Manhattan, about 90 minutes away, and for years was the closest drive-in to New Jersey. I was fortunate enough to catch it on the very last night of its 2017 season. Although it was the Saturday before Halloween, there were plenty of “regular” choices available to watch.

The YouTube video of the day comes from the time of digital conversion. It’s a nice little slice of life at the drive-in.

Miles Today / Total: 105 / 34131 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: American Made / 184

Nearby Restaurant: Some of the best ice cream anywhere can be found at the Bellvale Farms Creamery in Warwick. For the season, I tried their pumpkin flavor, then I added some Black Dirt Blast on a homemade waffle cone. Did you know that with enough ice cream, you don’t need anything else for dinner?

Where I Virtually Stayed: The nicest place to stay in Warwick is probably the Inn at Stony Creek, a restored colonial farmhouse bed and breakfast built in 1840. My room had its own bathroom and good wifi. Breakfast was an amazing homemade experience, so different from the cookie-cutter hotel breakfast buffets. Good stuff!

Only in Warwick: Zen spirituality author and artist Frederick Franck created the Pacem in Terris sculpture garden around a rebuilt old windmill along the Wawayanda River in Warwick. It holds occasional poetry readings and concerts, but it’s nice and peaceful as it is.

Next stop: Circle Drive In Theatre, Dickson City PA.