Category Archives: Carload-related

Carload is back for 2025

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Master of Science diploma from the University of Colorado
How I spent my summers (and springs and autumns and winters) the past two years.


Hello again! How are you doing? I want to apologize for being gone so long here. The last two years, I’ve been spending most of my time working toward a master’s degree in data science. The virtual certificate arrived last week, and the paper diploma is supposed to show up in February.

After decades of working with computers using self-taught skills, I wanted to get some validation of what I can do. Data science sounded like the perfect field. It combines computer programming, which I used to do for a living; clear communication, which I also used to do for a living (and still trying to do here); and statistics. No problem, I thought. I can whip up an earned run average or a shooting percentage with the best of them.

They weren’t that kind of statistics.

What I had to learn involved stuff such as how to plot regression, how to compute confidence levels, and what the heck are random variables, which are neither random nor variables. Thank goodness for the Khan Academy, whose free online classes brought me up to a base level so I could start learning more. Long story short, the statistics component was the source of the missing 0.1 in my 3.9 grade point average.

During my longest semester break, I finished Drive-Ins of New Mexico. (Find out more including the free epub download here.) I chose that state because of all the helpful, friendly people I ran into while doing research there for Drive-Ins of Route 66. They were so friendly in Farmington that they repeatedly requested that I come give a talk there. That finally happened last August. I had a great time; my only disappointment was having to cut my visit short because of a change in one of my school assignments.

Anyway, that’s all behind me now. My goal is to get Carload back to regular updates. While I also research California drive-ins for a future book (got any photos for me?), I’ll be catching up on some of the general drive-in news that I missed. At least I’ve still got plenty to work with. Stick around, won’t you?

The Most Popular* drive-in closes

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from the Apache Drive-In Facebook page

Throughout the years, there have been well over a thousand posts here at Carload.com. (Please don’t make me count them.) During that time, one in particular stood out as the most visited, the *Most Popular post that’s ever appeared here. That post was about the Apache Drive-In in Tyler TX.

As you can tell by its sign, the Apache’s selling point wasn’t its snack bar, manicured grounds, or first-run films. It was known for showing “XXX Adult Videos” on the big screen for a small viewing field surrounded by trees.

On March 9, a post on the Apache’s Facebook page said, “Sad to announce the Apache Drive-In Theatre is permanently closed and the property has been sold.” Since that account had previously posted notes about holiday hours and pandemic-era closures, it looks legit, though I haven’t found any other sources to verify the news.

There’s still one adult-film drive-in left in Texas, the Fiesta Drive In Theatre in El Paso. But while the Fiesta always wears its, uh, heart on its sleeve, the Apache had seemed more furtive. The stories I read about the place always involved employees who didn’t want to talk about the owners, and the photos showed a screen with panels coming loose. It didn’t have much on an online presence. From afar, (I’ve never been to Tyler), the Apache sounded like a place where some folks quietly, maybe anonymously went to enjoy the show. Of course this lack of information about the drive-in led to unsatisfied curiosity. That’s the reason why thousands of internet users have clicked on the Apache post over the 9+ years it’s been available.

No matter what it showed, I find it a little sad to have to take another drive-in off the active list.

My secret: The Internet Archive

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Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle showing off one of beloved 78 rpm records on a century-old Victor Talking Machine.

After I put Drive-Ins of New Mexico to bed (mostly) last week, I had the rare opportunity to visit one of the best sources for my research. The Internet Archive is accessible through the internet from anywhere, but to tour the physical plant, you need to be in the right place on a Friday afternoon.

The Archive, perhaps best known for the Wayback Machine of preserved web pages, also hosts the Media History Digital Library for the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. That’s a huge resource for drive-in theater history, especially up to 1955 or so.

And that’s not all. Browsing around a couple of years ago, I found a collection of Motion Picture Heralds from 1950 to 1954. Another section includes bound copies of California Highways and Public Works, another 1950s publication full of aerial photos in the public domain. There are probably more research resources that I haven’t discovered yet.

Then there’s the content. There’s a section of Drive-In Movie Ads to use for your own intermission trailers. There are thousands of Feature Films to put together your own double features around the intemissions. Or if you want someone else to do all that for you, there’s a series of prepackaged Shocker Internet Drive-Ins.

If you want something that’s not drive-in related, the Archive has over two million books available. For music, you can choose from over 100,000 LPs. And then there’s the collection that I think is founder Brewster Kahle’s favorite: over 400,000 78 rpm and cylinder records.

Really, I’ve just scratched the surface in this post. Go wander around the Archive the way you would any other extensive library. I’m sure that you’ll find something you didn’t expect, and something that you’ll love.