Category Archives: Ohio

Video: Watch as wind knocks down Van-Del screen

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Winds of up to 60 miles per hour knocked down one of the screens at the Van-Del Drive-In just north of Middle Point OH on the old Lincoln Highway, halfway between Van Wert and Delphos. Owner Rodney Saunders told WPTA, Fort Wayne IN’s News Leader, that the Van-Del is insured, and they plan to rebuild the second screen.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that the wind apparently spared the Van-Del’s primary, glorious old screen tower. (Besides the fact that no one was hurt, of course.) The screen that went down appears to have been built less than 20 years ago. Let me explain.

Around the turn of the millennium, film distributors began requiring longer commitments to show summer blockbusters. For example, theaters might have to promise to show a given movie for at least four weeks. Some drive-ins responded by adding auxiliary screens to help burn off “leftover” weeks while keeping the main screen available for newer releases. By 2009, the Van-Del had added two more screens, one in back of the main viewing field and one next to the Lincoln Highway. They still had all three in 2019, but by 2020, they were advertising movies on just two of them, on Screen 1 and Screen 3. Looking at old aerial photos, I’d guess that Screen 2 was the one that had been next to the highway.

As I noted in my virtual visit in 2017, the Van-Del has been through a lot of ownership changes. To summarize its CinemaTreasures listing, the drive-in was built by J.W. and C.N. Christopher, opening in June 1948 as the Star Lite. They sold it three months later to Paul Staup, who renamed it the next spring as Staup’s Auto Movie. Staup leased the theatre to Carl H. Schwyn for five years, and that’s who finally renamed it the Van-Del Auto Movie. Thomas Epps bought the drive-in from Staup at the start of the 1967 season. After the 1998 season, Epps sold it to Jim and Joyce Boyd, who added the extra screens. Saunders bought the place in 2020; maybe he was the guy who took down Screen 2.

That brings us to today. As we wait for the rebuilt, improved(?) second Van-Del screen, here’s some video of the aftermath, courtesy of WANE, Fort Wayne IN’s other News Leader.

OH Starlight owner dies, drive-in closed this season

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Drive-in screen at twilight with sunset in background
photo from the Starlight Drive-In Facebook page

Sad news. The Starlight Drive-In, which sits about halfway between St. Henry and Maria Stein OH, won’t reopen this year. Its owner, who was still posting movie information notes on the Starlight’s Facebook page May 8, died suddenly on May 10. According to his obituary, Dan Myers, 72, had operated the Starlight Drive-In since 1988.

Elaine Myers posted to Facebook the next day, “We are sorry to announce that the Starlight Drive-In Rt.127 119 will not be open this season.” It had been scheduled to open May 26.

I wrote more extensively about the Starlight when I paid it a virtual visit in 2017. Back then, Mr. Myers had found enough cash to convert to digital projection even though his GoFundMe appeal fell short. “If you’re ever in the area of grand Lake St. Mary’s in Ohio stop in and say hi,” he wrote. I’m sorry I never got the chance to do that.

Nothing is as important as the passing of a family member. Although it makes me feel guilty, I hope that after the Myers folks work through the emotions and practicalities of the situation, they can find someone to operate the Starlight for the benefit of all of its patrons.

Ohio Sunset screen goes down

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Ghoulish? Maybe. In an April full of stories about drive-ins reopening for another season, I’m relaying one about the final day of a retired screen.

The Sunset Drive-In in Ontario OH closed in 2015, and Joe Lykins bought the property in 2019. Lykins disassembles old barns and uses their vintage wood to build new structures, and he needed room to work. According to the Mansfield News Journal, Lykins recently needed to add a retaining pool to the property, and that meant the screen had to go. The newspaper captured a fine video of the screen-toppling last week.

In the accompanying news story, Lykins said the drive-in wasn’t economically viable. He tried to give away the screen, but had no takers. “People are going to hate me,” he said.

According to Cinema Treasures, the drive-in opened in 1947 as the Mansfield-Galion. It was renamed the Sunset before the 1953 season. It persisted as a family-owned business until the movie studios’ digital imperative required theaters to buy expensive new projectors or close. The Sunset chose to go dark when film ran out.

There are more details and photos about this somber story at the News Journal site. If you’d like to know more, go read it!