photo from the Starlite Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 108 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. After leaving the Midway Drive-In Theatre near Osawatomie, I soon picked up the Kansas Turnpike and finished my two-hour drive to the Starlite Drive-In Theatre in Wichita.

The Starlite began its life as the single-screen Rainbow in 1953. The drive-in underwent extensive renovation in 1974, including a large new projection and concession building and a second screen, and became the Landmark Twin. In the intervening years, the name morphed into the Landmark Starlite and then to just the Starlite that it is today.

As Wichita On The Cheap pointed out, the Starlite has changed to Carload pricing during this spring. Wouldn’t it be nice that every drive-in that mentioned a carload would point back to this site? By all accounts, they run a first-class concession stand, so I’m a little sad that I’m not able to sample it this trip.

The Starlite is only open weekends this time of year, leaving me with a Tuesday night watching TV in my room. At least I was able to get an early start for the next morning’s drive.

Miles Today / Total:  159 / 11661 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 51

Nearby Restaurant: It’s got buffet in its name and it’s close to the Starlite, so the New China Buffet was my natural choice. As promised, it provided all the Chinese standards that I’d expect in America, plus a nice salad bar and a few surprises. And best of all, it’s a buffet!

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel was the Holiday Inn Express South, and I was glad to be back with that chain again. It’s right by the Kansas Turnpike, so there were plenty of other weary travelers there. I loved the Keurig coffee maker in my room and the biscuits and gravy at breakfast. Sometimes it’s nice to be somewhere that feels familiar.

Only in Wichita: Wichita was home to the world’s first Pizza Hut, and Wichita State University has moved the original building to its campus. It doesn’t look like a hut and it doesn’t look like the classic Pizza Hut restaurant shape – it’s just a small brick building. The founders named it Pizza Hut because their sign only had room for nine characters.

Next stop: Kanopolis Drive In Theatre, Kanopolis KS.

photo by Drive-In 54 via Cinema Treasures

It’s Day 107 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I left the I-70 Drive-In in Kansas City MO and drove just less than an hour southwest of the metro area to the Midway Drive-In Theatre, which is midway between Paola and Osawatomie KS.

The years have been rough on a lot of the Midway drive-ins. It was a common name (at least a half dozen just in North Carolina, for example) for a common situation. Drive-ins needed to be outside of town, so why not build one where it could draw from two potential audiences? That land in the middle of nowhere was typically the cheapest was just a bonus. Of the dozens of Midways that were ever built, only seven are still in operation today.

The Kansas Midway was built in 1952 or 1953 and holds fewer than 300 cars. It’s maybe a mile closer to Osawatomie, which is where all of my old reference books place it, but it claims a Paola address.

KCTV, Kansas City’s News Leader, ran an story about the Midway in 2013. At the time, farmer/owner Paul Dimoush was trying to find the money to buy a digital projector. He blamed his wife for getting into the drive-in business. “She said she got tired of watching corn grow and looking at cows so here we are,” he said with a laugh. Government leaders all over Miami County were working on the Midway fundraiser.

Somehow, it worked. The Midway upgraded to digital projection in 2014, so I’m confident that it’ll continue for the years that it’ll take to pay off that new equipment. But it’s definitely closed for the season now. It was pretty rainy outside anyway.

Miles Today / Total:  55 / 11502 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 51

Nearby Restaurant: I’m in love with the El Potro Mexican Cafe in Paola. I think it’s the margaritas, or maybe the chips and cheese. Great service, authentic Mexican food, and for me, a hot plate of pork carnitas tamales. Add the churros with chocolate and honey for dessert, and I didn’t think I would ever eat again. But there’s always room for another margarita.

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you’re going to stay the night in Paola, you’ll probably spend it at the Paola Inn. My room was clean, had a refrigerator, and the wifi was great. A nice hot breakfast in the morning had me ready to continue through Kansas.

Only in Paola Osawatomie: At the John Brown Museum, a large stone building contains the log cabin of Reverend Samuel Adair and his wife, Florella, who was the half-sister of the militant abolitionist. That cabin, which survived an earlier attack by a proslavery mob, is where Brown stayed while fighting the unofficial Bleeding Kansas war of the late 1850s. The cabin was dismantled and reassembled in 1912, and its surrounding stone pavilion was built in 1928.

Next stop: Starlite Drive-In Theatre, Wichita KS.

photo by Chris1982 via Cinema Treasures

It’s Day 105 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I had planned to go east to west within the Kansas City area from the Twin to the I-70 to the Boulevard, but then I noticed that the I-70 shows movies on Sundays this time of year but the Boulevard doesn’t. So I drove the 30 minutes of urban streets from the Twin to the Boulevard just over the Kansas border at the far south edge of KCK.

The Boulevard’s grand opening ad in June 1950 announced, “No longer do you have to drive to a drive-in! You can walk, take a bus or street car, or drive to the truly new drive-in!” To me that sounds like they were still working out the business model, but I’m intrigued at the thought that someone once took a streetcar to a drive-in. The ad claims room for 1000 cars, but reference works at the time suggested 750 or 800, and Cinema Treasures now says it’s 600. That’s still a lot for one relatively narrow viewing field.

My favorite memory of the Boulevard was during its lean times. In 1985 I watched Brewster’s Millions while I had a portable TV in my car showing Siskel and Ebert’s review of Brewster’s Millions. The third movie of that night was announced as “not for the kids.” They don’t show those kind of movies at the Boulevard any more. My most recent memory was in 2012 for Men in Black 3, and the place was packed with happy families, just like most drive-ins these days.

With just one screen, the Boulevard offers only one choice, so I watched The Fate of the Furious for the second straight evening. But here they serve beer, which makes movies and most other things in life just a little better. When consumed early and in moderation, of course.

Miles Today / Total:  17 / 11435 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: The Fate of the Furious / 50

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant, just a little west of the drive-in down Merriam Lane, is Tacos El Matador. It’s actually quite good. The place doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the authentic Mexican-style tacos make me glad I stopped by.

Where I Virtually Stayed: I was back to a Holiday Inn Express, this time by the University of Kansas Medical Center a couple of miles east of the Boulevard. It’s within a stone’s throw of the Missouri border and the Westport area, where I lived for a couple of years. I had a fridge in the room and bacon for breakfast, and what could be better than that?

Only in Kansas City: Take a standard old-style diner and add model trains and you get Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. Diners use their table-mounted telephone to call in their orders, which are delivered by model train, lowered from the overhead tracks. The food’s okay, but the trains are the reason to go out of your way to visit.

Next stop: I-70 Drive-In, Kansas City MO.