Category Archives: 2017 Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey

This is the virtual tour that will imagine what it would be like to visit every North American drive-in theater in 2017 by visiting one or two every day. While the drive-ins, restaurants, and hotels are real, all the events in this section are fiction. But it’s fun to dream!

Feb. 19: El Rancho Drive-In 4, Sparks NV

Posted on by

It’s Day 50 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it took me almost two and a half hours and a half to drive east from Sacramento to the El Rancho Drive-In 4, Sparks NV.

I was disappointed to find the El Rancho closed for the season. Sure, the temperature never broke 55 all day, but it was an increasingly rare day and night without rain. I just need to remember that the Reno area isn’t warm desert like most of Nevada.

At least I could visit the public market (aka flea market) on the grounds of the El Rancho. They run that every Saturday and Sunday even during the drive-in’s off season. They charge 75 cents to get in Sunday, as opposed to 50 cents on Saturdays. I really wonder why they bother to have different prices on different days.

As documented on Cinema Treasures, the El Rancho opened in August 1950 as a single-screen theater. It added two screens in 1973 and a fourth in 1974.

Miles Today / Total:  142 / 5848 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 36

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant is actually across the border in Reno at a place known as simply The Wok. It’s just a converted Wendy’s in a little shopping center, but the combos are a lot like those at my favorite Chinese restaurant at home – surprisingly complex and flavorful yet not too expensive.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Never mind how close it is (just 10 minutes, actually), if I’m here and the drive-in is closed, I’d like to stay at a place where I can gamble and have a good time. That place was the Atlantis Casino Resort in Reno. Great rooms, a huge buffet for dinner and breakfast, and free drinks while I play. Casinos like this are always fun as long as you don’t lose too much at the slots or the tables.

Only in Sparks: According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, the new permanent (until it changes again) home for a 36-foot-high prospector statue is in front of the Sparks Heritage Museum. “Last Chance Joe” was originally installed in 1958 at what is now The Nugget in downtown Sparks. The casino was sold in 2013, and in late 2014, its remodeling prompted Joe to find a new home. Now that it’s away from the shelter of a casino building, the chicken wire and “paper-maché-type material” statue needs significant restoration, so city leaders started the Last Chance Joe Fund.

Next Stop: Skyline Drive-in Theater, Barstow CA.

Feb. 18: Sacramento 6 Drive-In, Sacramento CA

Posted on by

photo by Mitch O, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 49 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it took me two and a half hours and a half to drive southeast from Lakeport to the Sacramento 6 Drive-In in Sacramento CA. It was pretty safe from the Oroville Dam area flooding once I got on I-5.

The Sacramento opened in 1972, when there were already at least six competitors in town. By the 2000s, it was limping forward as the sole survivor. According to a California Public Radio story, it almost closed in 2008 in favor of a retail development, but the Great Recession ended those plans. The theater operator, West Wind, renovated and modernized the drive-in, but CPR cautions that “When the market is right, the theater will once again face demolition.”

According to a commenter on Cinema Treasures, the Sacramento had a 34-week engagement of the original Star Wars in 1977-78, tied for “the longest drive-in run of Star Wars in the United States.” I remember an indoor theater in Kansas that ran Star Wars for one full year, so I can definitely believe the Sacramento’s achievement.

The Great Wall makes a great drive-in movie, and I was glad it was one of the choices available early. I hope I don’t have to see it too many more times, though.

Miles Today / Total:  135 / 5706 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Great Wall / 36

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant is the Pho Bac Hoa Viet on Bradshaw Road. (There are several Pho Bac Hoa Viets in Sacramento.) Fine Vietnamese food, served up fast and ready to go. A great place to stop since I was back in the bustle of the city.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I couldn’t find anything suitable close by, but there’s a large cluster of pretty good places just four miles east on the Lincoln Highway to Rancho Cordova. The hotel I picked was the Fairfield Inn, because those are pretty dependable with a good free breakfast.

Only in Sacramento: Outside the state capitol building is a permanent memorial plaque for Senator Capitol Kitty, a friendly, feral, black cat that lived on the state capitol grounds for 13 years. She became such a celebrity that former First Lady Sharon Davis wrote a fictional children’s book about her, entitled “The Adventures of Capitol Kitty.” The cat was also known as Senator Kitty, as she preferred to sit outside the Senate wing of the Capitol.

Next Stop: El Rancho Drive-In 4, Sparks NV.

Feb. 17: Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In, Lakeport CA

Posted on by
Red-paneled concession stand building at the Lakeport Drive-In

photo by Granola via CinemaTreasures.org

It’s Day 48 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it took me almost two and a half hours and a half to drive north from Concord to the Lakeport Auto Movies Drive In, Lakeport CA.

It was a rainy day, so it didn’t bother me so much that the Lakeport was still closed for the season. The floodwaters aren’t getting too close yet, but I’ll be glad to get back south to Sacramento for my next stop.

When did the Lakeport first open? That’s a good question. It’s not included in my 1972 Motion Picture Almanac, but it’s there in my 1984 edition. That matches the recent story in The Press Democrat of Sonoma County which said that the Lakewood has been showing summer movies since 1974. Too bad it’s not summer yet.

Miles Today / Total:  104 / 5571 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 35

Nearby Restaurant: I headed to downtown Lakeport for dinner at the Park Place Restaurant. While I gazed out at Clear Lake, I enjoyed a vegetable panini in a cozy, busy setting.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t many places where the Rodeway Inn is the best hotel in town, but Lakeport might be one of them. The Park Place was within walking distance, but the nicest part was a path to the lake. It would have been a restful setting on a dry night, but just about any evening indoors is unusually restful for this odyssey.

Only in Lakeport: Just across now-swollen Clear Lake in the town of Nice is Clarke’s Collectibles and Lunchbox Museum, which displays almost 700 lunchboxes collected over 30 years, housed in an old firehouse. As Deb Clarke described on Roadside America, “All the merchandise for sale is set up like a museum. Everyone that comes loves it and won’t leave.”

Next Stop: Sacramento 6 Drive-In, Sacramento CA.