Need a good site for a new drive-in?

Posted on Oct 15, 2013 by mrdrivein

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Every once in a while, someone asks me where they could build a new drive-in. In the olden days, the answer was pretty simple: On the highway out of town, just past the city limits. Now it’s more complicated. Here is my list of the factors when evaluating a new drive-in site:

Are there people around? Farmland in the middle of nowhere is cheap, but there probably aren’t enough customers willing to drive far enough to watch a movie, then drive all the way home.
Is civilization expanding in the site’s direction? If rings of suburbs are spreading thataway, then it might not be many years before the taxable land value will skyrocket, leaving the choice of extra overhead or selling out.
Are utilities available? The site needs to be close enough to water and electricity to hook up without too much extra expense.

Add these up, and you’ll see that the ideal site is close to a decent population center, but on a parcel that would be difficult to develop into anything else. I happen to have a pretty good example, 2175 River Road, Grand Junction CO. Take a look. It’s right next to major highways. It’s within the city limits. It’s bounded by the interstate highway and a wastewater treatment plant. (Hope the evening breezes are okay.) Grand Junction is large enough to support a minor-league baseball team, but its closest drive-in is 46 miles away in Delta.

Apparently, this plot is currently being used as storage by a company that sells trailers, mainly horse trailers. I have no idea who owns it, whether they’d be willing to sell or lease it, and even whether there are any utilities already serving that drive-in-shaped piece of land. But you’ve got to admit, it’s a fine example.

Now it’s your turn. You know your region better than I do. Look over a map and find something similar – a piece of land big enough for a drive-in, close enough for patrons and utilities, but homely enough for other builders to leave it alone. When you spot a good one, either start building or leave a comment here so we can all look it over. Maybe one of us can plant the seed that will sprout into a new drive-in theater.

Honda to spend a month promoting drive-ins

Posted on Aug 4, 2013 by mrdrivein

What does Honda have in common with drive-ins? Until recently, I’d say the closest link was The Beach Boys’ 1964 album All Summer Long, which included the songs Little Honda and Drive-In. The former was an international hit, and I often hear the latter at drive-in theaters. In fact, I’d say that Drive-In is probably the best drive-in celebration song of all time. But I digress.

Almost 50 years later, Honda is about to give us a much better reason to connect it with drive-in theaters. This Friday, Honda will launch Project Drive-In, a month-long effort to raise awareness of the wonderful, fragile state of drive-ins today. The best part is that Honda will effectively rescue five drive-ins from oblivion, paying for new digital projection equipment. And you get to pick which drive-ins get saved.

According to Jessica Fini of Honda Public Relations, visitors to Project Drive-In will be able to cast their votes for their favorite drive-in out of a list of over 50 that need help. Some of those drive-ins were chosen by Honda, and others were added after they heard about the promotion and asked to be included. Voting will run through September 9, and a couple of weeks later, Honda will present checks or equipment to the five winners.

Fini said that she hopes that raising general awareness about the drive-ins in need might even help the theaters that don’t finish in the top five. And why is Honda so interested? “A lot of people have an emotional attachment to drive-ins,” Fini said. “We started hearing about all the drive-ins that are in trouble. It’s just a natural connection for us to raise this effort further through a social media promotion.”

As the Maine Sun Chronicle reported recently, Honda has been busy filming some videos to run in conjunction with this promotion. Fini told me that they won’t be used as TV ads (darn!) but will be featured on the Project Drive-In site. So spread the word, and get ready to vote early and often to keep your favorite drive-in alive.