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!

Sept. 16: Bangor Drive-In, Hermon ME

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It’s Day 259 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I ended the Canadian portion of the trek this day, driving four hours from the Neptune Drive-In in Shediac New Brunswick to the Bangor Drive-In, built in Bangor but thanks to shifting boundaries, now just across the border in the town of Hermon ME.

Thanks to Steve Ginn’s wonderful YouTube history of the Bangor, I found almost all the details of the drive-in all in one place. The drive-in opened in June 1950 with a large single screen. Through the 1970s, it showed mostly mainstream movies with the occasional stag film night mixed in.

A storm blew down the original screen on Jan. 8, 1978. It was replaced that year by the two screens that survive today.

AM Radio sound was added before the 1985 season, which is odd because the Bangor abruptly closed on July 24, 1985. By noon on the 25th, every speaker had been removed. The eight-screen Bangor Mall Cinemas, owned by the same company as the drive-in, opened on the 26th.

The drive-in sat for almost 30 years, its grounds falling into disrepair but those recently built aluminum and steel screens holding up just fine. In 2015, Cinema Bangor LLC renovated and rebuilt the Bangor. The irony here is that the LLC also owned that same Bangor Mall Cinema. The company is fronted by partner Carol Epstein, whose father opened the drive-in in 1950.

The Bangor Daily News related Epstein’s excitement about the project. “[The drive-in] was a big piece of my childhood and I think for a lot of people it was a big piece of their childhood,” she said. Now everything is modern, including the digital projection of course, and the drive-in charges by the carload, which I prefer for some reason.

A special preview night was the occasion for the embedded YouTube video of the day. A radio morning crew visited, and I only hope they didn’t have to get up at 5 am or whatever the next day to work their shift.

How popular is the Stephen King movie It? (Well, his house is in Bangor.) On screen one, the Bangor is showing It followed by Annabelle: Creation. On screen two, the Bangor is showing It followed by The Hitman’s Bodyguard. With a choice like that, I watched It.

Miles Today / Total: 285 / 30762 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: It / 165

Nearby Restaurant: I’m glad I made it here in time for a late lunch at Friars’ Bakehouse. Run by the Franciscan Brothers of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, they offer seemingly simple dishes that taste better than one would expect. My chicken pot pie was amazing, and their signature bread was worth buying extra to save for later.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Comfort Inn in Bangor had everything I needed for my return to the USA. There were cheese, crackers, and cookies available as evening snacks. My room had a fridge and microwave; it never hurts to ask. And in the morning, the solid Comfort breakfast of waffles, meat, eggs and the continental regulars had me ready for a new day.

Only in Hermon Bangor: At Pickering Square, a pedestrian circle downtown, if you stand in the center and clap your hands, you’ll hear the echo as a squeak. The phenomenon has been reported by several sources, but no one knows exactly why it happens. If you want to try it, don’t go when it’s snowy (it doesn’t work then) but go soon; the city wants to modify the parking garage at one end and hopes it won’t change the acoustics.

Next stop: Skowhegan Drive-In, Skowhegan ME.

Sept. 15: Neptune Drive-In, Shediac NB

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It’s Day 258 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. After a week of driving four hours or more every day, I was very happy to spend just over an hour to get from Sussex, New Brunswick to the Neptune Drive-In in Shediac NB.

According to an article in the Times & Transcript, copied into notes on a 2008 petition at GoPetition.com, then-owner Gilles LeBlanc’s father opened the Neptune in 1964. Cinema Treasures says the drive-in closed in 1985 but reopened in 1990. Then around 2006 it closed again, as Gilles put the place up for sale. That petition was delivered to the mayor of Shediac, who had earlier said the town could not afford the asking price of over $1 million.

(By the way, who was Gilles’s father, the founder of the Neptune? In a 2016 obituary, one Gilles LeBlanc, son of Edgar LeBlanc, passed away in Shediac at the age of 60. A 2005 New Brunswick news release said that “Shediac-area resident” Gilles A. LeBlanc pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act related to “property owned by his father, Azor LeBlanc.” Then there was the Gilles LeBlanc, former Director of Material Resources for Villa Providence Shediac and son of Ronald LeBlanc, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 53. Was the Neptune’s Gilles one of these? I just don’t know.)

In 2010, “a local business person bought the property and approached (Jeff) Coates with a suggestion to lease the drive-in business,” according to a story in The Globe and Mail. Coates joined with Robert Farquharson to lease the Neptune. In the 2012-13 offseason, they switched to digital projection.

This video of the day, a 2013 report from Global News, casts doubt on the date the Neptune opened, but it’s also a nice interview with Coates and a peek at the freshly converted projection room. For another, wobblier, look at what it was like to visit the drive-in in 2014, check out YouTube.

On my final night in Canada this year, I got a chance to see a new release, American Assassin. I’m always happy to find an active drive-in during the off-season, and doubly glad to watch something fresh.

Miles Today / Total: 69 / 30477 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: American Assassin / 164

Nearby Restaurant: So I’m at the beach, and I want something historic yet inexpensive. The solution was Chez Léo‘s fried clams. It’s only takeout, and the fries aren’t nearly as wonderful, but those fresh, tasty clams can’t be matched just anywhere.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I couldn’t find a chain hotel in Shediac itself, which left me open to a reasonably priced night at the Hôtel Shediac. It’s in the middle of town but looks like it was built recently. My “executive floor” king bed room had the full set of modern amenities including a Keurig. With the pancake machine, breakfast was like a Holiday Inn Express. It’s all good.

Only in Shediac: Remember Animaland, concrete sculptor Winston Bronnum’s park from yesterday? Bronnum also built the most remarkable item in Shediac, the world’s largest lobster. The town calls itself the “Lobster Capital of the World,” so naturally it needed the lifelike 35-foot-long sculpture to remind visitors.

Next stop: Bangor Drive-In, Bangor ME.

Sept. 14: Sussex Drive In, Sussex NB

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Lit drive-in at night with cars, the screen, and the concession stand

Photo from the Sussex Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 257 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Another long drive (almost six hours) through the Canadian woods brought me from Sydney, near the eastern tip of Nova Scotia, to the Sussex Drive In in Sussex, New Brunswick.

A blog post by Open Air Cinema in 2009 gives us a few hints about the origin of the Sussex. It was founded by Gerald Alexander and his family in 1967, and they had kept the single-screen drive-in in operation ever since. Saint John NB businessmen Tom Boudreau, Paul Galloway and Randy Defazio bought the place in 2008 and separately purchased the adjacent campground.

“And like every year, the canteen will carry its complete menu,” Open Air Cinema wrote, “including typical movie favourites such as popcorn and nachos, as well as chicken wings, hamburgers, hotdogs, pogos, clams and chips, fries and onion rings.” Clams and chips? That’s a thing around here.

In 2012, the Sussex made the switch to digital projection, which led to a CBC News article. Manager Cindy MacDonald said, “If we wanted to keep the drive-in open, we didn’t have much choice but to do the upgrade because those big, old movie reels are going to be a thing of the past very soon.”

This year, the Telegraph-Journal (subscription required) wrote about the Sussex for its opening weekend. “It’s never been shut down in the over 50 years it has been in operation. It’s a part of the Sussex community, and it has been for years,” said Boudreau, described simply as “owner” in the article.

Boudreau said the drive-in reached its capacity of “around 450″ twice in 2016, turning away over a hundred cars. “Those were two great weekends last year, and we’re hoping to have weekends like that this year. On average we see from 70 to 80.”

For me, the most important update was on the Sussex Facebook page last week. “That’s a wrap folks! Thanks again to all our loyal customers for another great season! Have a great fall and winter, we will see you again in 2018!”

Miles Today / Total: 346 / 30408 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 163

Nearby Restaurant: A good old retro-feel diner is a decent choice as a substitute when the drive-in is closed for the season. In Sussex, that means JJ’s Diner. I was expecting burgers to go with the white-black checkerboard floor and the red vinyl furniture, but the hot turkey sandwich was even better. Topped with a banana split supreme for dessert, and I was set for the night.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The only thing better than a nice, safe chain motel is a really great mom and pop place like the Pinecone Motel. The rooms are clean and full of all the modern amenities. The best part is breakfast, featuring homemade blueberry waffles along with the continental breakfast regulars. All at less than half the price I paid the night before.

Only in Sussex: Just east of the Pinecone Motel is / was Animaland, founded in the 1960s by concrete sculptor Winston Bronnum. He wanted to build the “Disneyland of the north” along what was then the main highway into town. It was closed in the mid-1990s, but was reborn as a campground this year. Blowhard the bony horse still stands out front to welcome visitors.

Next stop: Neptune Drive-In, Shediac NB.