Category Archives: Illinois

Apr. 4: Drive N Theatre, Newton IL

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It’s Day 94 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It took about two and a half hours to drive the shortest route between the the Holiday Drive-In in Rockport IN and the Drive N Theatre in Newton IL.

According to the theater web site, the Drive N opened as the Fairview Drive-in Theatre in 1953. In the early 1990’s, the Fairview briefly closed after the screen was damaged by a storm. It soon reopened under new management and was eventually remodeled in 2002 boasting a new concession area and screen.

The Fairview closed after the 2014 season and was sold. In June 2015, its new owners reopened it as the Drive N.

Although it’s been open for a full month this season, the Drive N is only open on Fridays and Saturdays this time of year, so I missed out by arriving on a Tuesday. I won’t even be able to stick around for this Saturday’s Easter egg hunt. Oh well.

Miles Today / Total:  121 / 10513 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 46

Nearby Restaurant: There aren’t many drive-ins as remote as the Drive N. Back in Newton, I picked the Filler Up Buffet because, you know, it says buffet right in the name. All you can eat home cooked meals and made from scratch desserts including pecan pie. Yum!

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you’re going to stay in Newton, you’re definitely going to want to stay at the Cobblestone Hotel and Suites. Cobblestone is a smaller hotel chain in the Midwest, but if they’re all like the one in Newton, I’ll keep searching them out. There was wine and beer in the evening, a refrigerator in my room, and a great breakfast buffet. In between, a little casino! First time I’ve run into that at a small-town hotel.

Only in Newton: The grave of beloved actor, Rudolph narrator and folk singer Burl Ives is in the Mound Church Cemetery between the towns of Oblong and Newton.

Next Stop: Skyview Drive-In, Belleville IL.

Video: IL’s Skyview’s Sign Looks Better In Neon

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The Belleview (IL) News-Democrat posted a nice little article about the Skyview Drive-In there, which will reopen for its 68th season on March 17. Although it contains a lot of tasty trivia, the article’s best feature is its accompanying video, embedded here, that shows several superb vintage photos of the Skyview and its iconic sign.

The rocket ship marquee appeared in 1950, one year after the drive-in opened. It had flashing lights until the early 1980s, when a city ordinance outlawed flashing signs. Since then, the Skyline has kept the lights off, but the photos in this video provide a wonderful glimpse into how they used to look.

To find out the ticket price in 1949, what the Skyline keeps locked up near the concession stand, and plenty of other fun facts, you really need to go read it!

Drive-in author tells USA Today his top ten

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Mesa Drive-In marquee with photo creditAt one level, I look at USA Today’s story, posted late last night, as pure link bait. Any top ten list is designed to pull in visitors from all over just because its title is intriguing and its slide show is eye candy. On the other hand, they used my photo! So now I can change that line on my resume to “Award-winning photographer featured in USA Today.”

Where was I? Oh yes, the article. Well-known drive-in historian Don Sanders gave USA Today’s Larry Bleiberg his top ten favorite drive-in theaters. I don’t know if they were the top ten active drive-ins, or whether it just happens that Sanders’ favorites all happen to still be alive. There are notes and photos for each, so you really should go read it! But here is a quick summary: