Category Archives: Canada

Aug. 22: Hanover Drive-In Theatre, Hanover ON

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It’s Day 234 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my ninth in Ontario. It took an hour to drive from Guelph to the Hanover Drive-In Theatre, in Hanover of course.

The early years of the Hanover haven’t left many traces on the internet or most of the other places I look. Most of what I know comes from a single 2013 article in The Post, which I covered in brief when it came out. That’s the source for the year the drive-in opened, 1953. The Motion Picture Almanac that year listed H. Fisher as the owner; in 1959 it listed Bert Fisher, so maybe his full name was Herbert. In 1963, the almanac said the owner was B. Wiggins. A caption fragment of a since-moved photo at the Grey Roots Museum and Archives was “Hanover, Drive-In, Theatre, Bert Fisher, Beverley Wiggins” so maybe that was the B Wiggins who later owned the Hanover.

Flash forward to 2013, when the Hanover’s owners, JD Lyons and Lyle Schaus, installed a digital projector. “The choice to go to digital was one you didn’t have a choice in,” Lyons said. “Film is quickly going to be disappearing.”

That Post article said that the benefit to the community was a big reason why the partners invested in digital. “We sort of had to pay, convert, or become history,” Lyons said. ” We decided, after dwelling on that for some time, that we would make the move and go to digital.”

And that’s about it. That gorgeous old-fashioned screen tower (better photo here) looks like it could be the original. The theatre only takes cash, TripAdvisor visitors love it, and it’s open weekends plus Tuesdays, which is why I scheduled a Tuesday visit.

Update: A very helpful researcher at Grey Roots Museum and Archives followed up by sending me a copy of that scrapbook page that had moved. At the top of the page was the note “By: Mr. Harvey Schmitt – 1964”. The photo was dated September 1960, and its caption read, “The Hanover Drive-In Theatre was built by Mr. Bert Fisher of Listowel in 1953. It is presently owned and operated by Mr. Beverley Wiggins of Durham.”

I knew this day would come. One screen, no choice in the movie I see, and that movie is The Nut Job 2. On first viewing, it seemed relatively inoffensive to grown-ups but best suited for small children.

Miles Today / Total: 66 / 27761 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Nut Job 2 / 148

Nearby Restaurant: I had a good time in the afternoon betting the horses via simulcast and having a late lunch at The Coach House at Hanover Raceway. I looked out over the track, empty that day, and enjoyed a sandwich and a beer as I looked over my opportunities to lose more Canadian currency.

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you want a hotel in Hanover, your choice is probably going to be the Travellers Inn Hanover. It’s a small place with rooms that have the full set of modern amenities despite a very nice price. There’s coffee available and plenty of cash left in my pocket for breakfast.

Only in Hanover: On the way between Guelph and Hanover, just north of Varney, is the world’s largest Adirondack chair, according to Roadside America. For much of its life, it was painted white, but the most recent report is that it was painted red with white Canadian maple leaves.

Next stop: Owen Sound Drive-In, Owen Sound ON.

Aug. 21: Mustang Drive-In Theatre, Guelph ON

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It’s Day 233 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and my eighth in Ontario. It took a little over an hour to drive from downtown Toronto to the Mustang Drive-In Theatre just outside Guelph.

Guelph has had a drive-in theater since at least 1948, but it wasn’t always the Mustang. The Guelph Drive-In sat on the north side of town until it was razed to make way for a shopping center around 1958. As the Waterloo Region Record put it, “The closing of the Guelph Drive-In created a business opportunity elsewhere.”

In 1959 Charles Jemmett built the JEM Drive-In northeast of town. (The name was based on his family name and was always in all-caps.) The JEM had the same capacity, about 400 cars, as the Guelph, so that drive-in must have been doing well enough.

According to a Kitchener Waterloo Record article quoted at length by a commenter on Cinema Treasures, “Sometime in the late 1960s, Charles Jemmett sold the JEM Drive-In to Premier Operating Corp. of Toronto and retired. Premier renamed it the Mustang and later sold it to Sunset Cinema Inc., which continues to operate it today.”

Blogger Steven Petric wrote, “The success at the Mustang drive in can be pointed to the strategy of bring back families to the drive-in by running only the latest movies and avoiding R-rated slashers and horror flicks. Plus kicking out the drinkers and the trouble makers”.

How did the Mustang switch to attracting families? Petric wrote that a Mustang article in the Guelph Mercury newspaper was one example of how to lure the right crowd. “Families don’t have to worry about babysitting,” it said. “If the kids are tired, bring your pillows, and sleep in the vehicle, and smokers, come one, come all. Then there’s the sunsets. You won’t get that anywhere else.”

The video of the day comes from one of Drone to Earth’s many uploads to YouTube. I recommend that you check out the others in that series, as well as a video tribute to projectionist Bill Cardinell.

Miles Today / Total: 58 / 27695 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Hitman’s Bodyguard / 147

Nearby Restaurant: I really wanted to go back to another great Mandarin buffet, but I think I ought to avoid duplicating experiences in these regional chains. Instead I enjoyed a wood oven pizza at Buon Gusto. I really love a thin crust like on the pies here, and a meat-free margherita is at least a little healthier to eat. The local Royal City Saison beer is on tap. Good times!

Where I Virtually Stayed: Sure, it’s just another Hampton Inn, but that always represents a pretty safe bet for me. The one in Guelph has a heated salt water pool, which is something I don’t see every day. Guest laundry facilities, an indoor theater next door (useful during winter months), and a typically solid breakfast. Add a clean, comfortable room with all the amenities, and that’s why I choose Hampton a lot.

Only in Guelph: Just three years ago, the latest piece of artwork on the University of Guelph campus was unveiled. It’s a huge statue of a sleeping gryphon, the mythical mascot of the school’s sports teams. At least the gryphon is, not the sleeping part.

Next stop: Hanover Drive-In Theatre, Hanover ON.

Aug. 20: The Docks, Toronto ON

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It’s Day 232 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and the end of a full week in Ontario. It took me barely a half hour to drive from Oakville to The Docks in downtown Toronto. If I hadn’t been driving on a Sunday morning, it probably would have taken twice as long.

The Docks on Polson Pier is an entertainment complex with go-carts, beach volleyball, a nightclub, mini-golf, and a driving range, all within a stone’s throw of Lake Ontario. On weekend evenings, that driving range transforms into what we care about, a two-screen drive-in theater.

That drive-in opened in late spring 2001. In a Toronto Star article about the grand opening, they addressed the loss of older drive-ins over the previous years. “You took something away from people that they didn’t want to be taken away,” said a Docks spokesperson who asked not to be named(!). “It was pure economics. But it was inevitable that they’d come back.”

In 2004, Toronto Life ran an article saying mercurial then-owner Jerry Sprackman was trying to replace everything on the site with a casino if he could get approval. (The article was quoted at length by a poster at TorontoNightclub.com.) That didn’t happen. The article noted in passing that “(t)he movie screen was up at the drive-in before approvals were given or anyone noticed”.

The Star ran what amounted to an update this January, related to a request for a new liquor license. The Docks lost its license in 2005 after noise complaints from neighboring islanders. In 2008, a new company got a license with strict conditions, and now more ownership changes have complicated the issue. If you read the article and take notes, you might be able to figure out the timeline.

When it opened, The Docks was showing movies seven days a week. Now it’s down to weekends, and I was there for its Sunday Carload night. Its listed capacity is 400 cars, but a few years ago they proved you can fit 500 MINIs.

The video of the day comes from The Docks’ Facebook page. Another nice video on YouTube shows a gathering of Volkswagens at the drive-in, but the nicest images don’t come till the end.

Miles Today / Total: 23 / 27637 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Logan Lucky / 146

Nearby Restaurant: Hanging around downtown Toronto, I gravitated to the Real Sports Bar and Grill. The ambiance reminded me of a huge Las Vegas sports book, with subdued lighting and a huge TV screen surrounded by dozens of smaller screens, all playing sports of course. I felt compelled to order chicken wings (sold by the pound) to balance the Molson Canadian beer. It was an experience!

Where I Virtually Stayed: You knew this already – there are a whole lot of very nice hotels in downtown Toronto. For this trip, I got to check an item off my bucket list by staying at the Renaissance Toronto Downtown Hotel, better known as the hotel in the Rogers Centre. Back when it was SkyDome, the new home of the MLB Blue Jays was the first stadium with a built-in hotel, with 70 rooms facing the field. The Jays were on the road, but I still got a room facing the field. It had a mini-fridge and solid wifi; sometimes that’s all I need.

Only in Toronto: The Toronto Islands hold more than noise-hating neighbors. They’re also the home of Centreville Theme Park, a place that was children’s heaven. The islands were hit hard this year by spring flooding and are slowly getting back to normal. For grown-ups, there are bicycle rentals, cafes, a lighthouse, and even a small commercial airport.

Next stop: Mustang Drive-In Theatre, Guelph ON.