Category Archives: Washington

Video of the Auto Vue, open for its final season

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Yes, we covered the upcoming closing of the Auto Vue (Colville WA) months ago, and no, we don’t enjoy dwelling on bad news. But we do love our embedded video, and this offering is worthy.

KXLY, Spokane’s news leader, presented a lovely video postcard of the Auto Vue and its owner, Steve Wisner. There’s not a lot of new information, except that over half the money Wisner would have needed was for upgrading the screen as well as buying a digital projector. Spending a couple of minutes looking around that well-worn physical plant, that’s easy to believe. Thanks to KXLY for preserving this one last look at a 60-year-old drive-in.

Here’s some video of the Skyline Drive-In

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I know I ran a note just a few weeks ago about the Skyline Drive-In of Shelton WA, but I saw that KING, Seattle’s news leader, ran a story about its progress raising money to finance the conversion to digital projection. There’s not a whole lot new about the story except that the Skyline has raised about $12,000 of the $40,000 needed for its Kickstarter campaign. Well, that and the fact that the Skyline has a Director of Marketing. I don’t know any other drive-ins that employ a marketing director. But I digress.

No, the reason I returned to the topic of the Skyline is the lovely video footage embedded here. It’s such a nice look at the projection room, and the Skyline’s old equipment, that I wish it lasted a little longer. For just a little more information, feel free to visit the KING site.

Valley 6, Wilmington now permanently closed

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Valley 6 Drive-In signWhile it’s great fun to celebrate the birth of a new drive-in, we also need to make mention of drive-ins that pass away. Sometimes they close to great fanfare, but more often they just decline to reopen in the spring. Here are two more of those stories.

From the Auburn (WA) Reporter comes word that the Valley 6 there really looks dead. It hasn’t ordered movies for the 2013 season, and its manager passed away in December. What appears to be its official Facebook page hasn’t been updated since May 2012, and a Valley 6 fan page there (where I borrowed that Valley 6 sign photo) says its phone number is disconnected. There’s also a Facebook group with discussion from former employees.

The Washington Court House (OH) Record Herald wrote last Friday that Phillip Chakeres, the CEO of the company that owns the Wilmington Drive-In, hadn’t decided whether it will reopen this season. He “plans to make the final decision within a month.” Then yesterday, the same reporter wrote in The News Democrat of Georgetown OH that Chakeres said the Wilmington “will not open this season and its future is questionable”. The stated reason is unusual for drive-ins these days: the Wilmington was losing money.

It’s likely that there are more closings that we will only hear about after the fact; newspapers rarely publish business obituaries. The News Democrat story included an ominous note about Chakeres’s drive-ins: “Chakeres now operates three in Clayton, Springfield and Fairborn, having recently permanently shut down three in Celina, Lucasville and New Carlisle.”