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!

Jan. 26: Graham Drive-In, Graham TX

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It’s Day 26 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it only took about an hour and a half to drive from Granbury to the Graham Drive In Theatre in Graham TX. For the second straight day, I experienced an old-time classic single-screen drive-in that happened to still be closed for the season. The Graham’s web site says it will reopen “TBA in February.”

The Graham was one of the first five winners of Honda’s Project Drive-In in 2013, scoring a digital projector to help future-proof the place. Back in 1955, it was part of a Life Magazine feature on Blondie, a local pet lion, and her adventures in Graham. Graham’s CinemaTreasures profile says it was opened in 1947 with a capacity of 180 cars, but the Graham first appears in my Theatre Catalogs in the 1949 edition, in a listing noting that it can hold 300 cars. It also ran 12 months a year, so there’s another change.

Miles Today / Total:  86 / 3064 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 18

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant is the Dinner Bell Cafe, right across from the cemetery. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but I always love great biscuits and chicken fried steak.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Wildcutter Ranch is supposed to be the best hotel around Graham, but it seemed a little far away. So I settled for a more convenient location and a better rate at the Best Western Plus Graham Inn. A good bed, a mini fridge, and a microwave make almost any room the best room in town.

Only in Graham: South of Graham, near the entrance to Possum Kingdom State Park, is a large, homemade steel wheelbarrow in a field. Next to the wheelbarrow is a sign proclaiming it to be the “World’s Largest Wheelbarrow“. But it isn’t. Consider these larger examples from Australia and New Zealand. Sorry, Possum Kingdom.

Next Stop: Town and Country Drive-In Theatre, Abilene TX.

Jan. 25: Brazos Drive In, Granbury TX

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Brazos Drive-In screen and marquee

photo by Rob Sneed, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 25 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and although the distance from the Coyote in Fort Worth to the Brazos Drive-In of Granbury TX was about the same as the distance I’d driven the day before from the Coyote in Lewisville, it felt very different. I went from vibrant modern multi-screen urban theaters to an old-time classic single-screen.

According to CinemaTreasures, the Brazos opened in 1954, although Preservation Texas puts the date at 1952. For what it’s worth, my 1952 Theatre Catalog doesn’t include the Brazos in its drive-in census, but my 1955 version does. That Preservation Texas listing, which included the theater in its Most Endangered Places list for 2010, said the Brazos was built “with local materials by businessmen to lure people into town.” Some commenters at CinemaTreasurers added that the theater converted to digital projection by 2014, but was up for sale on eBay that November. Still, the Brazos endures.

I had a run of seven straight movie nights snapped by the Brazos, which is still closed for the season. One goal for this Odyssey is to catch at least 200 active movie nights in the 365-day year, about 55%. Picking up seven in a row in January has got to help my chances there; so far I’m at 72%.

Miles Today / Total:  40 / 2978 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 18

Nearby Restaurant: I do love that fried chicken, and Granbury has an excellent example of the farmhouse-style chicken restaurant: Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. Babe’s is a small regional chain, and it reminds me of metro Denver’s White Fence Farm – a comfortable, family-friendly setting, an emphasis on fried chicken, and all the green beans and sides you care to eat.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Not only is Granbury’s Hilton Garden Inn full of the usual HGI amenities, it’s got a superb view of the Brazos River. It’s a real bonus when the view from the hotel room window isn’t just a grassy field, the building next door, or somebody’s back yard.

Only in Granbury: According to KTRK, former Hood County Sheriff Gene Mayo, freshly defeated in a 2009 re-election bid, was criticized for writing “lost election/fired” on his application for unemployment benefits. A spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Counties said, “When you are elected, you are elected for a certain amount of time. That term ended.” A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said that serving as an elected official is not considered “employment”.

Next Stop: Graham Drive In Theatre, Graham TX.

Jan. 24: Coyote Drive-In, Fort Worth TX

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A couple with blankets watching the drive-in screen

photo from the Coyote Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 24 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, time again for the occasional oddity of consecutive nights in theaters of the same chain. The drive took less than an hour, from the northeast corner of the DFW metroplex to the heart of Fort Worth TX, but it was also a trip back to the start of a new era in drive-in theaters, the era that began when the Coyote Drive-In opened.

It’s an exaggeration to say that the Coyote in Fort Worth spearheaded the drive-in renaissance, but only slightly. Since it was built from scratch and opened in May 2013, we’ve seen others reopened and others created or planned. And of course there are the two newest members of the Coyote family in Leeds AL and Lewisville TX. Jimmy Buffett performed here in June 2014 concert that was syndicated to other drive-ins, a great example of the possibilities created by the switch to digital projection.

The menu here was pretty much identical to the Coyote in Lewisville, right down to the note that “Taxis are available.” Considering that a “small” fountain soft drink is $5.50, a $5 pint of domestic beer looked like a real bargain. But instead of the footlong corn dog, I switched to the buffalo chicken pizza.

There were four double features playing, yet I had a tough choice. I had already seen three of the early movies, and the fourth was one of those creepy types I wouldn’t ordinarily choose. But desperation and some good buzz about Split led me there for the night. If you see it, don’t tell anyone about the ending!

Miles Today / Total:  37 / 2938 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Split / 18

Nearby Restaurant: I was in heaven again. I didn’t expect that the closest restaurant to the Fort Worth Coyote would be another authentic German place. This unassuming small standalone building next to a gas station, Little Germany, had the best spaetzle since New Braunfels at least. Are there good German restaurants everywhere, but I just didn’t notice before I visited Munich?

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Coyote is close enough to downtown Fort Worth and its intersection of interstate highways that there are plenty of hotel choices. The very closest was a safe choice, the TownPlace Suites Downtown. With a full-sized fridge in the room, weeknight evening reception and a good breakfast, I wish I could have the extended stay this place is made for.

Only in Fort Worth: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram had the headline of the year last January: “Fort Worth firefighters respond to elevator fire, find man juggling flaming batons”. The details were that it was a grain elevator, it was around 7 on a Saturday evening, and “the man didn’t have a reason to be there.” The torches were quickly extinguished, and it appeared that no arrests were made.

Next Stop: Brazos Drive In, Granbury TX.