WKBW, Buffalo NY’s News Leader, posted a nice little video snippet over the weekend celebrating the return of the Transit Drive-In for another season. The Transit has been around since 1952, and current owner Rick Cohen’s family bought it in 1957.
The video is well worth watching even though, frankly, the story doesn’t include much that will be new to drive-in fans. I’ll take any excuse to show Rick Cohen, but the views of the gorgeous retro concession area are also fun to see. Enjoy!
This is so sad. I wrote that the Cascade Drive-In in West Chicago IL was in danger of closing because of its landowner’s desire to sell its space. Now drive-in owner Jeff Kohlberg has officially pulled the plug.
As the Daily Herald reported, Kohlberg wrote “Not often that you see a thriving business close. But it’s out of our hands.”
We can celebrate the decades of fun and entertainment that the Cascade gave countless drive-in patrons even as we know that everything changes. Here’s hoping that another new drive-in sprouts to take the Cascade’s place.
Here’s another great example of a local TV station celebrating a local drive-in. Instead of the coming of spring (which may have no meaning in Florida, for all I can tell), it was a tie-in with the Oscars ceremony that prompted ABC affiliate WFTS, Tampa Bay’s News Leader, to run a visit with the owners of the Ruskin Family Drive-In Theatre in Ruskin FL.
“Ted Freiwald helped build the Ruskin Family Drive-In in 1952,” the story begins, and he’s been keeping it running for most of its existence. Although he made the digital conversion years ago, the Ruskin Family still has the old-school car window speakers as well as FM sound.
You really should watch this affectionate look at a local institution. And if you want to read a little more about the Ruskin, check out my virtual visit there during the year of the Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey.