It’s Day 361 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. On another cold, sunny day, it took barely 20 minutes to drive the short distance from Becky’s Drive-In just east of Walnutport PA to Shankweiler’s Drive-In Theatre in Orefield PA.

Shankweiler’s is the oldest drive-in still in operation, and it was probably just the second drive-in theater to open, period. Kerry Segrave’s book Drive-In Theaters lists the opening date as April 15, 1934, echoed on the drive-in’s own excellent history page, but calls the date “questionable”. If it’s accurate, Shankweiler’s opening comes before the next known drive-in, a very short-lived enterprise in Galveston TX.

Its humble beginnings are a big reason why it’s hard to independently fix the date. Wilson Shankweiler was a movie buff who saw the original Camden NJ drive-in while on vacation in 1933. As Segrave writes, “Behind the hotel he owned in Orefield was a deserted (biplane) landing strip, which Shankweiler converted to a makeshift drive-in.” (The hotel building, still there, was converted to a funeral home in 2010.) “The first screen consisted of two poles and a sheet. A 16-mm projector sat on a table in the middle of the landing strip, while audio was provided by one large horn speaker down front.” Patrons could also walk in and sit on benches near the screen.

The company of drive-in inventor Richard Hollingshead later sued Shankweiler’s for patent infringement but lost. When locals instituted an amusement tax, the drive-in tried to dodge it by advertising free movies with a parking fee of 50 cents a car.

The first external reference to the drive-in that I could find in The Morning Call of nearby Allentown was on May 22, 1937 when an ad for Shankweiler’s restaurant added “Shankweilers’s Open Air Theatre Now Open” (for the season, I presume?) “Talkie Shows Every Sun., Wed. & Fri. Evenings”.

From there, Shankweiler’s evolved into a regular drive-in. It switched to in-car speakers in 1948. Hurricane Diane destroyed the projection booth and “Shadow Box Screen” in 1955, so the drive-in rebuilt with a CinemaScope screen and a typical concession / projection / restroom building.

According to Lehigh Valley Business, in 1958, Shankweiler rented the drive-in to Al Moffa, a close friend who had helped him build it. “The next year, Shankweiler sold it to Moffa’s manager, Bob Malkemis.” Electrician Paul Geissinger was working there as a projectionist in 1982 when the drive-in added AM radio sound to supplement the speakers.

Before he passed away in 1984, Malkemis sold Shankweiler’s to Geissinger and his wife to keep it going. (An article in The Christian Science Monitor said the purchase was in 1985.) In 1986, Geissinger built the first FM broadcast unit for use in a drive-in, as I once mentioned in an old article recap.

That Lehigh Valley Business article from August 2015 said that the Geissingers still owned Shankweiler’s, and it looks like that’s still true today. “I felt obligated to keep this place going,” Geissinger said. “I fell in love with the place.” It made the switch to digital conversion by 2013.

You’re not going to find many better drive-in profiles than the embedded YouTube video of the day from Retro Roadmap and Mod Betty. It shows what it’s like today and talks about its history, all in an entertaining package. Enjoy!

Shankweiler’s closed its season on Labor Day. I’m glad that such a historic place is still going strong.

Miles Today / Total: 11 / 39959 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 200

Nearby Restaurant: I don’t know whether Norma J’s Restaurant in Orefield came before or after the drive-in, so it’s definitely vintage. It’s not fancy, but it’s a fine example of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. I had a huge omelette for a late breakfast, with enough coffee to make me forget the temperature outside.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotel to Shankweiler’s is about four miles away, a Holiday Inn Express in western Allentown. That works. There were cookies and coffee waiting at check-in. My comfortable room had all the modern amenities including a Keurig coffee maker. Breakfast was the usual high HIE standard including its addicting cinnamon rolls. All this and proximity too!

Only in Orefield: What, the world’s oldest surviving drive-in theater isn’t enough for you? Roadside America says you can also find a landlocked lighthouse in Orefield that really just a redecorated grain silo on a family farm.

Next stop: Sky-Vu Drive-In Theatre, Gratz PA.

It’s Day 360 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, time to return to Pennsylvania for the final six drive-in visits. On this cold, sunny day, that meant spending a bit under four hours driving from the Southington Drive-In in Southington CT to Becky’s Drive-In just east of Walnutport PA.

Becky’s, the legacy of William “Becky” Beck, opened as the Route 45 Drive-In in the 1940s. The exact dates vary in the telling, but Beck opened a drive-in on leased land, then two years later purchased a lot that was a block away and built there. Cinema Treasures has a Grand Opening ad from June 26, 1946. The Lehigh Valley Marketplace wrote that Beck “opened the Route 45 Drive-in on leased property; in 1946, he bought the land where his namesake theater now stands.” Which would put the first opening in 1944.

The Blue Mountain Town & Country Gazette wrote in July 2014 that when the Route 45 opened, it had two loudspeakers for the whole viewing field. “Around 1981, he put in the radio transmitters in AM, so people couldn’t steal or damage the speakers,” said Beck’s son Darrell. “Then it went to FM and it’s done that way still today.”

Around 1971, Beck switched to adult movies “for survival” according to later generations. “People would snicker, but we had to do that or there would be a store here now,” co-owner Cindy Beck Deppe told The Allentown Morning Call in September 1997. It was also about that time when Pennsylvania promulgated a change to that highway’s number from 45 to 248, and about when the Route 45 changed its name to Becky’s. (However, a Morning Call traffic accident story in September 1972 still called it the Route 45.)

By all accounts, Beck gave generously of his time and talents and was a beloved figure in the community. The Morning Call wrote in October 1982 that neighbors weren’t bothered that Becky’s was showing X-rated movies. It said that he had retired and his son Dennis had purchased the drive-in “at the beginning of the year.” That matched when the Gazette said all five Beck siblings bought the business.

William Beck died in 1987, and the following year his widow and children switched back to family films. Second-eldest Dale Beck passed away in 1997, but the remaining siblings and their families still run Becky’s. The drive-in added a second screen in 2005 and swapped it for a permanent second screen in 2007. More recently, they put in a new refreshment stand (midway between the screens) and expanded the restroom facilities.

In 2013, drive-in historian Don Sanders called Becky’s the best drive-in in the country. “It offers everything a drive-in’s supposed to offer,” he told USA Today. “Really good food, a pastoral setting, a field sloped so you can see.”

The embedded video of the day is another rare treat. It’s a collection of news reports about Becky’s in 2001-2003, posted on the drive-in’s Facebook page.

Becky’s closed its season in mid-October. I’m glad that such a class act is still going strong.

Miles Today / Total: 200 / 39948 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 200

Nearby Restaurant: The Fire Stone Pizza & Grill sounds like just a pizza joint, but it’s got a lot more than that. More than strombolis and calzones, the Fire Stone also takes pride in its topped French fries and hamburgers. I had the “loaded” fries with bacon and cheddar, then a mushroom swiss burger. Maybe I’ll just eat a big salad tomorrow.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The closest hotels to Becky’s are in Lehighton, about 11 miles away, and one of those is a Hampton Inn. There were cookies, flavored water and coffee waiting for me at check-in. My comfortable, standardized room had all the modern amenities. The fine standard Hampton breakfast had plenty of warm protein to go along with the continental favorites. Staying here was just a no-brainer.

Only in Walnutport: Next door in Slatington, there’s a historic Fireman’s Drinking Fountain. The 12-foot high statue depicts a volunteer fireman carrying a child and holding a lantern, illuminated with an electric light at night. It was erected in 1909 in the center of Slatington to provide a drinking fountain for people and a drinking area for horses and dogs. After it was damaged in a 1979 car accident, it was restored and rededicated in July 1980.

Next stop: Shankweilers Drive-In Theatre, Orefield PA.

It’s Day 356 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. On a chilly, overcast day, I was glad it took less than an hour to drive from the Point Drive-In between Northumberland and Mechanicsville PA to the Laurel Drive-in in Hazleton PA.

The Laurel was built on the site of the Mount Laurel Race Track, and was so good it opened twice. Its associated miniature golf course and restaurant opened in early June 1950, then the drive-in’s first movie was on Saturday, June 24, 1950. However, the Laurel’s official grand opening was Friday, July 14. The Plain Speaker of Hazleton wrote that the “500-car” drive-in was owned by Charles V. O’Donnell and Anthony D. Sacco. It offered RCA in-car speakers and “an all-metal screen over 60 feet high.”

The Hazleton Standard-Sentinel wrote, “Sacco and O’Donnell began the Laurel Acres project three years ago.” The concession stand was “equipped with a large screen view window, speakers, a 100-foot snack bar, and rest rooms.”

There were more newspaper clippings about the Laurel over the next couple of decades. In July 1956, owners O’Donnell and Sacco announced a new sound system, extra speakers, and free mini-golf for drive-in patrons. In October 1959, O’Donnell and Sacco, “trading as Laurel Drive-In Theater” were in court about a theater in Tamaqua. A windstorm blew the roof off the concession stand and damaged the screen on Sept. 10, 1968, and about 50 speaker posts “were torn from the ground”. Sacco and O’Donnell were mentioned as joint owners then too.

The odd thing is that O’Donnell’s name is missing from everything but those contemporary newspaper accounts. The 1952 Theatre Catalog said the Laurel was owned by just Anthony Sacco, and the 1951-88 Motion Picture Almanacs all listed only a single Sacco as the owner. A March 2016 article in The Times-Tribune includes an otherwise good summary: “The Laurel Drive-In is a family-owned business owned by (manager) Steve Sacco’s father, Frank Sacco. Steve Sacco’s grandfather, the late Anthony Sacco, started the drive-in in 1950.” The MPAs changed the owner’s initial from A to F by 1980, so that could be about when Frank took over.

(For a really weird one, check out this 2014 Standard-Speaker photo caption. It said that today’s Frank’s founding father was “Frank ‘Chic’ Sacco”. A 1952 article in The Plain Speaker mentioned a “Chic” Sacco who chaired a church committee, but his real first name was John. Was that the same Chic? Why would anyone mistake him for Anthony? But I digress.)

In recent years, the Laurel has had trouble converting to digital projection. Based on its Facebook posts this year, for 2017 it opened in mid-May and closed in mid-September. As far as I can tell, except for two classic horror weekends, the film-only Laurel showed only three movies all season – Baywatch, Wonder Woman, and Transformers: The Last Knight. In my opinion, they ought to call the folks who run the Mahoning about finding interesting 35mm films to show in the absence of a digital projector.

A post on that Facebook page says, “We look forward to seeing you again next year.” I really hope they can find a way to keep this great family-owned community treasure going for another few decades.

The embedded YouTube video of the day is an aerial view of the Laurel. I’ve seen plenty of drone videos this year, but I can’t recall seeing another that gets quite that high.

Miles Today / Total: 52 / 39488 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 200

Nearby Restaurant: They told me that one of the best places in Hazleton for lunch is Jimmy’s Quick Lunch, one of the few restaurants in town that predate the Laurel. As Mod Betty at Retro Roadmap points out, it’s got a very cool vintage neon sign after dark, and it’s home of the Jimmy Dog, a weiner topped with chili and mustard and onion cubes. Great stuff!

Where I Virtually Stayed: Once again I stayed strong and bypassed a Hampton Inn to save money and prove I could do it. Instead I stayed at a Red Roof Inn for less than half the price. Apparently it used to be a Best Western, but it’s pretty nice right now. My clean room had all the modern amenities, and the continental breakfast was enough to fortify me to look for a real meal, with more than enough cash left in my pocket for any restaurant in town.

Only in Hazleton: Just north of Hazleton there’s a large lump of coal to commemorate the Lattimer Miners Massacre. On September 10, 1897, about 300 to 400 unarmed strikers marched to a coal mine at the town of Lattimer to support a newly formed union. The sheriff and 150 armed deputies opened fire on the crowd, killing 19 and wounding dozens more, almost all of them shot in the back.

Next stop: Fair Oaks Drive-In Theatre, Middletown NY.