Author Archives: mrdrivein

Sept. 30: Mendon Twin Drive-In, Mendon MA

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It’s Day 273 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Even though I crossed a state line, it took just a half hour to drive from Rhode Island’s only active drive-in, the Rustic Tri View Drive-In, to one of three left in Massachusetts, the Mendon Twin Drive-In in Mendon of course.

When and how did the Mendon first open? Every post I read says that it was as the Milford on June 14, 1954, and they’re probably right. But Mendon MA had a drive-in before that, and I ended up digging down a rabbit hole to find out more about it.

The 1948-49 Theatre Catalog ran one of the industry’s first drive-in lists, and one of its 761 theaters was “Drive-In” on Mendon-Millville Road, capacity 100 cars, owned by Fred Parker. Another publication, the Motion Picture Almanac, lists that same F. Parker as owning Mendon’s only drive-in, with the same capacity, from 1952 through at least 1957. But Mendon-Millville Road is on the southwest side of Mendon, and the old Milford was on the highway to Milford northeast of Mendon. I think the MPA failed to notice when the old drive-in closed and the Milford opened.

The Milford started with a capacity of 475 cars. According to a 2013 article in the Milford Daily News, Susan Swanson bought the drive-in in 1987, changed its name to the Mendon, and added a second screen in 1998, boosting the capacity to 800. “When I bought the theater, I turned it into a really family-oriented business,” she said. “In the ’80s, you’d see horror and biker movies at drive-ins… Now, we play every G, PG and PG-13 movie we can get.”

One year after that article, Swanson sold the Mendon Twin to the Andelman brothers, producers of regional favorite TV show Phantom Gourmet. “Our family made frequent trips to the Mendon Twin Drive-In when my brothers and I were growing up and it’s always been something that is very dear to us,” Mike Andelman wrote in a press release at the time. “With there being so few drive-ins left in our country, we thought it would be an incredible opportunity to continue and to grow this landmark destination that means so much to so many people.”

And they made good on that promise as shown in a YouTube promotional piece they made in 2014. Drive-in gourmet food such as fried dough and popcorn chicken was one part of the new Mendon Twin, and another was the beer garden. That was one great idea!

On this night, for the second time this week, I got to see a special concert movie. This one was Let’s Play Two, a rockumentary of Pearl Jam’s 2016 performance at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

The embedded YouTube video of the day is a nice overview (yes, it’s a pun) of the grounds of the Mendon Twin on a busy night. You can see both screens, the projection building, and that wonderful beer garden.

Miles Today / Total: 16 / 31788 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Let’s Play Two / 173

Nearby Restaurant: The Muffin House Cafe in Mendon has two of my favorites in its name, and I’m not talking about a house. Freshly baked muffins (pina colada is my new favorite) and plenty of coffee made this a great place to stop for a second breakfast.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Over in Milford, there’s a Holiday Inn Express that had my name on it. There were cookies waiting at check-in. My room had the full set of modern amenities, including a Keurig coffee maker. Breakfast in the morning included bacon and biscuits, plus those terribly wonderful HIE cinnamon rolls. Just another great stay.

Only in Mendon: The ever-cheeky Roadside America noticed the Irish round tower in a cemetary in nearby Milford. “The only Irish Round Tower in North America. Tallest thing in a Catholic cemetery. Built in the mid-19th-century for some reason.” Ashley Roberson has a more thoughtful take. “Thousands of Irish immigrants are buried at Saint Mary’s Cemetery… A tower was built in honor of these immigrants in the late 19th century that replicated the many round towers found throughout Ireland. ” Better yet, Roberson has several tower photos.

Next stop: Overlook Drive-In Theatre, Poughkeepsie NY.

Sept. 29: Rustic Tri Vue Drive-In, North Smithfield RI

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It’s Day 272 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. The direct route from Mansfield Center CT to North Smithfield RI is mostly US Highway 6, the old Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Driving for about an hour and a half, it was a classic way to get to the state’s only remaining drive-in, the Rustic Tri View Drive-In.

The Rustic opened as a single-screen drive-in in 1951. My old Theatre Catalogs list the first owner as M. Stanzler. That’s might be Meyer Stanzler, who ran the nearby Boro Drive-In and later owned the Rhodes On The Pawtuxet ballroom.

At some point in the 1960s or 70s, the Rustic switched to adult films, and during this period attracted a reputation that lingered long enough to be brought up in a 2013 TV interview.

That changed in 1986 when Clem and Beverly Desmaris, who first met at the Rustic decades earlier, purchased the place and switched to general release movies. Clem told The New York Times a decade later, “(W)e were skeptical about business if we dropped the X-rated movies. But we wanted it to be a family place again, so we added a couple of screens, figured we’d make a go of it, and business has been good ever since.” Those two extra screens were added in 1988, changing the drive-in’s name to include Tri-View.

A 2007 article in the Providence Journal, captured on a post at Film-Tech.com, talked about their daughter Beth Desmaris, who took over after her parents passed away in 2001. She said that she sometimes sold out all three screens on busy weekend nights, and that some patrons actually asked her why the Rustic doesn’t have matinees (“and the scary thing is, they’re serious.”)

The Providence Business News picked up the next big change. Just before the 2008 season, the Desmaris family sold the Rustic to Boston Culinary Group, a food-service management company that had previously helped run the Rustic’s concession stand. Among its 21 theaters, it’s the only drive-in. The director of the company’s theater division told PBN that company founder Joseph O’Donnell “didn’t want to see the place close – that was a big part of it. There wasn’t interest right away [from others] in buying it.”

The Rustic upgraded to digital projection in June 2013, prompting a lengthy interview with plenty of video clips of the drive-in on WPRI, Providence’s News Leader. The menagerie that roams the grounds during the day underscores just how remote and tree-lined this place is.

That’s a very good video, but few can beat a good drone shot like today’s embedded YouTube video by Sonny Solan. I like the set-up context that many of these drone videos lack. For still more video, try a 2008 staycation postcard of the Rustic from The Herald News.

Miles Today / Total: 55 / 31772 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Mother! / 172

Nearby Restaurant: It’s only a mile and a half to drive from Lil & Gene’s Restaurant to the Rustic, though the trip in the other direction is almost five miles because you can’t turn left out of the drive-in. Lil & Gene’s is the place to be on a Friday night for the seafood. Fish and chips plus crab cakes plus clam chowder all add up to a real Friday feast!

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Hampton Inn in Smithfield is just 10 minutes away from the drive-in, and it’s still my favorite chain. It offers a free shuttle to the Twin Rivers Casino, which would have been attractive on a night the drive-in was closed. There were cookies waiting for me when I checked in. My room had all the modern amenities, and breakfast was the very nice, dependable Hampton standard.

Only in North Smithfield: A 20-foot tall milk can building sits just up the highway from the Rustic. According to the ReStore the Milk Can Building in North Smithfield page on Facebook, “Opened as The Milk Can in 1929 as an ice cream shop and closed in 1968, the milk bottle building is empty. … This building is an important, historical, Rhode Island landmark and should be renovated before it is too late! Spread the word until the right person reads about it and makes it happen! We can make a difference!”

Next stop: Mendon Twin Drive-In, Mendon MA.

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.