Author Archives: mrdrivein

Sept. 28: Mansfield Drive-in Theatre, Mansfield Center CT

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It’s Day 271 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. There sure are a lot of twisty highways around here. It took two hours to drive just 82 miles from Amenia NY to the Mansfield Drive-in Theatre in Mansfield Center CT.

The Mansfield opened in April 1954, built for $150,000 by owners Morris Keppner and Louis Lipman. It featured “the largest screen in eastern Connecticut, 116 feet wide and 62 feet high,” and its original 750-car capacity was bumped to 850 after its first season, suggesting how successful it was. My last note of Keppner as owner was 1966, although it may have changed hands before or after that date.

What I know for sure is that in a 2016 interview with current owner Michael Jungden, he said he started managing the Mansfield in 1974 and leased it “a few years” after that. Jungden added two more screens in 1985, just as cable TV came to town, and bought the Mansfield in 1991.

In Diane Smith’s recent book Seasons of Connecticut, Jungden said, “The first time I came and saw this place it really looked like a place that nobody loved, but it was really a beautiful piece of property.” About how he keeps the place running, he said, “I repair things. I’m the projection booth repairman, and I’m the soda machine repairman. When the soda machine breaks, I fix it because by the time Pepsi gets here I’ve already lost a few hundred dollars.”

Another way the Mansfield stays alive is that every Sunday it transforms into the Mansfield Marketplace flea market, including an indoor area Jungden purchased a few years ago. And it was one of the first drive-ins to switch to digital projection, all three screens, by 2012.

This night was a special occasion, the kind that digital projection makes possible. The rockumentary of Black Sabbath’s final show was appearing in theaters for one night only, and the Mansfield opened just its main viewing area for a cover band followed by the movie. It’s always nice to see something new, especially when I know I won’t be seeing it again this year.

Miles Today / Total: 82 / 31717 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Black Sabbath: The End Of The End / 171

Nearby Restaurant: The Farmer’s Cow Calfé & Creamery in Mansfield Center was opened by a local group that said “it couldn’t just be a café, we’re dairy farmers with cows and calves, it needed to be a Calfé!” To get in the moo-d (my turn for a pun), I had the “English ploughman’s lunch” of a wedge of cheese, an open-faced ham sandwich, and a hard-boiled egg. And an ice cream sundae for dessert, because that’s the true specialty here.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel, and maybe the only one in Mansfield Center, is the Best Western on Storrs Road. After a few stays at bed and breakfasts, it was nice to return to a room with the full set of modern amenities. The continental breakfast had a few hot items in the morning as well as the usuals. I was safely back in the 21st century.

Only in Mansfield Center: In Willimantic, just a few miles south of the drive-in, they hold a Boom Box Parade every July. It’s called that because of the parade’s music sources, instead of marching bands. The Norwich Bulletin wrote, “The largest parade of its kind in the country and perhaps the state’s most famous, the Boom Box Parade allows anyone to march with two caveats: they must have a radio tuned to WILI AM to broadcast the marching music and they need to sport the patriotic colors of the American flag.”

Next stop: Rustic Tri Vue Drive-In, North Smithfield RI.

Sept. 27: Four Brothers Drive In, Amenia NY

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It’s Day 270 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. My drive of almost four hours today was a bit longer than my typical day’s trip, but I was so excited that anybody would be showing movies on a Wednesday night at this time of year. So I headed almost due south from Bethel VT to the Four Brothers Drive In in Amenia NY.

A few decades ago, Amenia hosted what may have been the smallest permanent drive-in in the USA. From 1965 through 1983, no more than 54 (the Poughkeepsie Journal says 44) cars at a time squeezed in behind an auto body shop to watch a movie on a 32-foot-wide screen. (The world record holder for smallest drive-in, at 36 cars, remains the Jericho Drive-In in the Australian outback.)

Less than a mile down the road from that long-forgotten site stands Four Brothers Pizza Inn, the Amenia outpost of a small regional chain. Since that location opened in 1978, it’s possible that someone there remembered the old Amenia Drive-In. In 2013, owners Paul and John Stefanopoulos (sons of William and nephews of the other three founding brothers) decided to add a drive-in theater to their restaurant. It would be nostalgic, quirky, and state of the art. So that’s exactly what they did.

“People can relate to it no matter what their age,” Paul told Rural Intelligence. “We wanted to make it a place you could come and hang out with your family or on a date.”

This drive-in’s features and decor are amazing. There’s an art deco painting on the projection building wall, a classic four-letter square “LOVE” in lights, a water fountain and a fire pit (not in the same place). Patrons can order food from the restaurant and have it delivered to their car, where other employees will wash the windshield on request. There’s even a charging station for electric cars, the first at a drive-in theater but I’ll bet that’ll become a popular feature very soon.

There’s mini-golf, which is always a smart addition, and the Four Brothers also hosts weddings at the drive-in. On Throwback Thursdays, they show classic movies. I’m just a little sad that I missed one of those.

Rural Intelligence wrote that the original four brothers “often told their children that one of the first things they did when they came to America in the 1970s was go to the drive-in. They had a dream in the back of their minds that someday they would open their own.” I can’t imagine a better little drive-in than the Four Brothers, where the web site says “We are a boutique cinema in pursuit of magic.”

The YouTube video of the day is the first of a two-part series where the brothers explain what they wanted in a drive-in and what it looks like now. Be sure to click on Part 2. Also, if you get Food Network, check them out on the Drive-In Date Night episode of Farmhouse Rules; check for its next air date here.

For me, the best part of the Four Brothers experience is that it’s actually showing movies on the last Wednesday night of September. Sure, it’s a fun place, but the most important thing is the restaurant lets it stay functioning seven nights a week.

Miles Today / Total: 176 / 31635 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: It / 170

Nearby Restaurant: It would be impolite if I didn’t eat at the Four Brothers Restaurant, where pizza and other Italian food are the specialties. Along with big Greek salads, so that’s what I had in my intermittent quest to eat healthy. It had the feta cheese, cucumbers, olives and peppers mixed into a nice heap of lettuce.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Since there aren’t a lot of hotels near the Four Brothers, I picked a bed and breakfast that was close by, the Hilltop House. I reserved one of the rooms with a private bath, in consideration of my fellow guests, and was surprised how good the wifi was in this century-old mansion. The next morning, I ate an amazing breakfast on the screened porch and was ready to face another day.

Only in Amenia: Every year the town holds a Strawberry Festival in late spring. The Amenia Library, founded in 1938, co-sponsors the event, featuring a silent auction, baked goods, and a book sale. The 2017 festival took place on May 20 at the Four Brothers Drive-In.

Next stop: Mansfield Drive-in Theatre, Mansfield Center CT.

Sept. 26: Bethel Drive-In, Bethel VT

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It’s Day 269 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Driving through twisty mountain roads, I averaged less than 40 mph as I went from the Fairlee Motel & Drive-in Theater in Fairlee VT of course to the Bethel Drive-In in Bethel VT of course.

The Bethel opened in 1954 as the Randall Drive-In, owned by Harry Hudson. Then as now, it was a small drive-in even by small-town standards with room for just 150 cars. Beginning in 1982, my reference books list the owner as “Ostenberg”, who probably bought the place in the 1970s.

A May 2006 article in The Herald of Randolph VT said Scott Corse bought the Randall “11 years ago”. His crew of teenagers were moving away, so he was looking for someone to operate the drive-in. Corse rented it to Larry and Laurie Girard later in 2006 (through at least 2008), and to Lorena Miller and family in 2012.

Adam Gerhard and Regina Franz leased the Randall from Corse in 2013. Through community appeals including a Kickstarter, which completed in June 2014, they raised enough money for a down payment on a digital projector. That season continued uneventfully, then the couple left, taking the projector with them to a drive-in in New York. They said that Corse had surprised them by not renewing their lease, but according to The Herald, Corse had told them in February 2014 that he did not want them back in 2015.

Some donors were unhappy that their contributions didn’t go towards a long-term solution for their local drive-in. That led to the civil suit filed by the state of Vermont “for making deceptive representations in connection with a fundraiser.” The defendants have maintained their innocence, saying the suit includes erroneous, unsubstantiated by any evidence, and in many cases outright false statements.

David and Tammy Tomaszewski stepped up in 2015 to take over the drive-in, renaming it the Bethel. Corse signed a “yearly renewable lease” with the Tomaszewskis, who also run the local indoor theater. They kept the Bethel going with the last movies available on 35mm film, replaced the original screen before the 2016 season, and installed another digital projector this year. There’s a great interview all about it in the Valley News.

The Bethel’s last movies of this season were on Labor Day Weekend, leaving me in the dark on this Tuesday night in late September. At least I can expect to find this drive-in alive again next spring.

The YouTube video of the day is someone’s capture of the report by WVNY (Burlington’s News Leader) about the 2014 Kickstarter campaign. You can see a clearer version on that Kickstarter page, though the bits of film in the lower corners of this video are a nice touch.

Miles Today / Total: 45 / 31459 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 169

Nearby Restaurant: The Bethel Village Sandwich Shop in the heart of town is a great place for breakfast or lunch. Since there’s that “sandwich” in the name, I figured they had to be good. I ordered the Gilead, which might have been a simple ham and swiss before adding apple maple chutney sauce. That and plenty of coffee made a good sandwich great.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel to the Bethel is the Maple Leaf Inn in Barnard. You know the kind of Victorian-era bed and breakfast set in the middle of Vermont woods, the kind you see in postcards? This is that B&B. My room didn’t have a fridge, but it did have a wood-burning fireplace, which is much better. Breakfast was wonderful with freshly baked scones, pumpkin pancakes with true maple syrup, and everything else you would expect from that postcard.

Only in Bethel: Just east of Bethel in South Royalton is a monument to the birthplace of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith. As Roadside America reports, Smith was born on the town line between Sharon and Royalton on December 23, 1805. The LDS Church owns 350 acres of landscaped forest and hilltop leading up to a memorial 52-foot-high granite pillar. Smith lived in Vermont until he was ten years old.

Next stop: Four Brothers Drive In, Amenia NY.