Category Archives: Video

Video: Jesup Drive-In reopens after hurricane damage

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Last fall, Hurricane Helene mangled the tin fences and dented both screens at the Jesup Twin Drive-In Theatre in Jesup GA. After $350,000 in repairs, the Jesup is reopening for a couple of community days March 14-15, followed by a grand reopening the following weekend.

That’s all according to a report by WTOC, the Southeast News Leader. (Yes, I know that I claim that every TV station with a drive-in story is its local News Leader; WTOC really means it. But I digress.)

Jesup Drive-In owner Ralph Hickox, who also happened to be mayor of the city of Jesup, told WTOC that his main reason for rebuilding was because of what the drive-in means to the locals. “The love of the community and what it means to people… I just couldn’t be the one that let it shut down,” he said.

The Jesup is the oldest drive-in in the state, opened in 1948, although it was closed for about 10 years in the 1960s. Atlanta’s Starlight Drive-In Theatre, which opened the following year, is Georgia’s oldest continuously operating drive-in.

Hickox said that his drive-in is still profitable, which is great to hear considering how much it cost to rebuild it. Here’s hoping that it stays a beloved institution for generations to come.

Video: Rose City to reopen

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I’m happy to have some really good news to report. Local entrepreneur Paul Cole is pouring half a million dollars to renovate and reopen a prized drive-in of his youth – the Rose City in Newark NY. The story came to us first from the Finger Lake Times, and WROC, Rochester’s News Leader, followed up with the YouTube video you hopefully see above.

“I remember coming here as a kid,” Cole told the Times. “They used to have a playground in the back. We were here the night my mother broke water with my brother. That was 1975.” The Rose City stayed alive for another decade, closing after the 1985 season. (Not 1981, as the Times erroneously wrote.)

Cole purchased the property this year from the estate of the late Eugene Colacino. The original screen, 100×45 feet, is still standing after decades of overlooking Highway 31. Recent aerial photos suggest that the original ramps are still in place. But the screen needs some cleanup, and for the concession-projection building, Cole is pretty much starting from scratch.

WROC said that Cole plans to have a soft launch in the fall, with an official opening following next April. (That sounds like what the reborn Tee Pee Drive-In of Sapulpa OK did last fall and this spring.) It’s great to see another classic drive-in getting restored to a modern version of its former glory.

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!