Photo from the Evergreen Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 336 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Just when I thought my drives were short, this one was shorter. It took barely 15 minutes to drive from the Comet Drive In just south of Connellsville PA to the Evergreen Drive-In Theater in Mount Pleasant PA.

The drive-in opened as the Ruthorn in June 1947. That was probably pronounced roo-thorn (not rut-horn) because the name was a portmanteau of its two owners: Donald J. Ruth and Robert M. Thorn. During the winter after the 1948 season, it was renamed the Evergreen. Since Ruth eventually became the sole owner, my guess is that the name change signalled the end of Thorn’s participation.

Ruth ran the Evergreen until he passed away in 1961. His widow sold the drive-in that off-season to Homer and Rita Michael. Box Office magazine wrote in April 1962, “The Michaels … have modernized the Evergreen, first with a complete fresh paint job, including screen resurfacing, and also with installation of new in-car speakers.”

In 1998, Homer Michael, a former police officer, put out the word that he wanted to sell the Evergreen. Joe Warren, who had operated the Greater Pittsburgh Drive-In in North Versailles until it closed in 1997, was looking to get back into the business after a year off. The deal closed that off-season. Warren installed a newer projection system and reopened the drive-in in June 1999.

Warren told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in July 1999 that he was looking to add at least one more screen as soon as he could. “We have to if we want to survive,” he said. The Evergreen’s history page says that two additional screens were added after the 2001 season.

The Morning Call caught up with Warren in 2016. They said he will tell you he was ‘born into’ the business and will show his birth certificate listing his home as a New York drive-in as proof. “I was born in New York where my family was building a drive-in,” he said. Warren made the digital conversion in 2014, and the Evergreen appears ready for several more decades of entertainment.

Even though it’s a Saturday night, on this first weekend of December, the drive-in had been closed for the season for several weeks. It’s nice to know that it’ll be back next spring.

Miles Today / Total: 11 / 38659 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 199

Nearby Restaurant: Time once again for some great barbecue, this time at Gorky’s Smokin’ Grill. For a late lunch, I ordered a full rack of ribs with cornbread and baked beans and swapped out Kansas City sauce with Gorky’s to see which I would prefer. With a cold beer or two to go with it all, I definitely didn’t need to eat again for the rest of the day.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t a whole lot of hotels in Mount Pleasant, but there’s a Holiday Inn Express less than a mile from the Evergreen, so that seemed like a pretty smart choice. There were cookies and coffee waiting at check-in. My comfortable room had the full set of modern amenities including a Keurig coffee maker. And the hot breakfast in the morning included those addicting HIE cinnamon rolls. Good stuff!

Only in Mount Pleasant: Just north of town, there’s a historical marker commemorating the Morewood Massacre. According to ExplorePAHistory.com, it reads: On April 2, 1891, at the nearby Morewood Mines of the H.C. Frick Coke Co., sheriff’s deputies killed these strikers; two more died later. These were among some 16,000 workers striking for higher wages in the coke region. Thousands of mourners attended the funeral of the original seven victims, who were buried in a mass grave in St. John’s Cemetery, Scottdale.

Next stop: Silver Drive In, Johnstown PA.

Photo by dixonwh via Cinema Treasures

It’s Day 335 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. One more month to go! Once again, this day’s drive was really short, less than a half hour from the Brownsville Drive-In, just south of Grindstone PA to the Comet Drive In in Connellsville PA.

The Comet opened in June 1950. It was named by 19-year-old Anna Marie Fasson, who won a contest sponsored by the Morrell Amusement Company. From there, the ownership picture stays fuzzy for quite some time. For the 1950s, the reference books of the day used names such as the Hanna Theater Service, the Moore Theater Service, and Ted Laskey. That’s about all I know about that.

A July 1967 newspaper article announcing extensive renovations said the Comet was (only recently?) part of the Manos Theatre chain. Then on July 28, 1971 it held a “grand opening tonight to celebrate its new, bright look.” At that point, it had a panoramic screen and a new marquee.

From that point, most of what I know about the Comet comes from a magnificent, lengthy article from the Sept. 9, 1994 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which I found on Newspapers.com. The drive-in “was still making a small profit when it closed in 1986”. Its Sunday flea market continued even as it stayed dark at night. Then in the fall of 1993, Carmikes Cinema bought the Manos chain, and it didn’t want the Comet.

Enter Brian Erwin, Manos’ director of operations. He asked president and co-owner Ted Manos how much it would cost to buy the Comet. When Manos gave him a figure, Erwin said he’d buy it. “He just looked at me,” Erwin recalled, laughing. “I know what he thought: ‘I’ve been paying you too much money!’ ”

Erwin’s goal was to maintain the Comet as a drive-in. “I knew [the land] was worth more … but anybody else who would have bought the place would have bulldozed it.” The box-office sign advertising $3.50 for admission was a holdover. “People ask me why I haven’t raised prices,” Erwin said, “and I tell them, because there was a sign in the box office.”

At the time of that article, Erwin had switched from AM to FM sound and was pondering a second screen, which he followed through on the next season. Since then, he’s kept the Comet going, converting to digital projection in 2014.

Even though it’s a Friday night, on this first night of December, the drive-in had been closed for the season for several weeks. It’s nice to know that it’ll be back next spring.

Miles Today / Total: 18 / 38648 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 199

Nearby Restaurant: My favorite place for the rare Friday night dinner with no movies to watch is probably a sports bar with pizza and wings, a place such as Bud Murphy’s. The huge, well-dressed nacho plates I saw there made me wish I had friends in town to share one with. I settled on a combination of the two major flavors at this establishment as a Buffalo chicken pizza. And with that I needed enough beer to cool my mouth. I was thankful that my hotel was within walking distance across the river.

Where I Virtually Stayed: If you want to stay in Connellsville, you’ll want to stay at the Cobblestone Hotel and Suites, which might be the only hotel in town. The place, which still looks new, sits on the bank of the Youghiogheny River. My room had the full set of modern amenities, and breakfast had several hot options as well as the standard continentals. For the only place in town, it’s pretty nice.

Only in Connellsville: According to Wikipedia, Connellsville sat in the center of the Connellsville Coalfield, so coal mining and coke production were major sources of employment and revenue during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Connellsville became known at the “Coke Capital of the World” due to the amount and quality of coke produced in the city’s many beehive ovens. During this time, Connellsville had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States.

Next stop: Evergreen Drive-In Theater, Mount Pleasant PA.

Photo from the Brownsville Drive-In Facebook page

It’s Day 334 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. After a long drive the day before, it was refreshing to need just a half hour to get from the Skyview Drive-In in Carmichaels PA to the Brownsville Drive-In, just south of Grindstone PA.

This drive-in owned as Ficks in April 1949, the brainchild of Isadore J. “Izzy” Ficks. Ficks Drive-In Theatre, Inc. incorporated in 1950, and a year later the company deeded 9½ acres with buildings to Izzy and someone named Margaret B. A. Moody. In March 1954, Ficks announced he had bought out “the Moody interests” in the Ficks Drive-In.

Remember Louis Stuler and Duard (or Durwood or Durward) Coe, who founded the Skyview in Carmichaels? They bought the Ficks and renamed it the Brownsville before the 1959 season.

According to TribLive, John “Preach” Sebeck and his brother, Tom Clark Jr., bought the Brownsville in 1972 after working at the drive-in in high school. (The article says they bought it from Ficks himself, but we know that’s not accurate.) “Clark and Sebeck tried to keep everything the same when they took over the drive-in and only restored the things that really needed it.”

At some point in the 1980s, the Brownsville became a twin. The 1993 photo of the drive-in at HistoricAerials.com shows two screens, and its 1969 photo shows that the main screen used to be northwest of the concession stand before moving to the west side. Soon after that 1993 photo, the Brownsville added a third screen.

In 2007, the Route 40 Classic Diner was transported in four separate parts from Mattoon IL to the front of the Brownsville. The diner and drive-in are both managed by Charlie Perkins.

In 2014, the Brownsville caught a bit of a break. Honda’s Project Drive-In had given away digital projectors to nine drive-ins the year before, and it had some leftover cash in its Indiegogo account. As the 10th highest-voted drive-in, the Brownsville received that amount plus a donation from vAuto towards a new projector.

On this last night of November, the drive-in had been closed for the season for several weeks. It’s nice to know that it’ll be back next spring.

Miles Today / Total: 16 / 38630 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 199

Nearby Restaurant: Of course I had to eat at the Route 40 Classic Diner on the drive-in grounds. They’ve got the decor just right, with the black and white tiled floor, the neon jukebox in the corner, and metal-trimmed tables. I ordered a late breakfast with hotcakes and plenty of coffee, listened to the music, and imagined I was back when the Ficks was showing movies.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Google said the closest hotel to the Brownsville is the Hampton Inn & Suites California University – Pittsburgh in Coal Center. That’s a mouthful! I didn’t even know there was a California University of Pennsylvania. Anyway, the Hampton was the typical high quality, with cookies and coffee at check-in, a room with the modern amenities, and the Hampton quality breakfast in the morning.

Only in Grindstone: Grindstone is an unincorporated area, so let’s turn our attention to Brownsville, the nearby borough. According to Wikipedia, Brownsville attracted major entertainers in the early postwar years, who also were performing in nearby Pittsburgh. Mike Evans wrote in his book Ray Charles: The Birth of Soul (2007) that the singer developed his hit “What’d I Say” as part of an after-show jam in Brownsville in December 1958.

Next stop: Comet Drive In, Connellsville PA.