The Wheel-In Motor Movie (what a great name!), south of Port Townsend WA, reopened for its 60th season this week, as documented in the Peninsula Daily News.

The Wheel-In is owned by Rick Wiley, and he says that he’s “excited” about converting to digital projection next year. But even with digital, the Wheel-In won’t be showing 3D movies. “Three-D doesn’t work at drive-ins,” Wiley said. “You have the windshield blocking you, there are no walls, and you can never get the glasses back at the end of the movie.”

You really should go read this article for an interesting portrait of this third-generation drive-in owner who enjoys the hard work it takes to keep it running. According to the Peninsula Daily News, “The day before opening, (Wiley) was cutting grass, installing speakers and installing the sign that his grandfather created 60 years ago.” It makes me want to go visit soon!

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.

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.