Circle Drive-In adds fall football

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Circle Drive-In marquee

photo by drpep from the Carload Flickr pool

The Valley Advantage of Scranton PA clued us in on a smart promotion by the Circle Drive-In of Dickson City. Since mid-September, the Circle has been showing Monday Night Football on its big screen. Attendance has been light, but I’ll bet it would beat any movies shown on a Monday night. Besides, manager Dave Castelli thinks the crowds will grow once viewers spread the word.

Castelli said that he thinks he’s the only drive-in that shows MNF, and notes that the Circle has a licensing agreement with the NFL. That’s a really important step for anyone who wants to bring in a crowd for a game anywhere outside the home, because the NFL keeps a vigilant eye on such endeavors.

The Circle is also scheduled to show a Penn State game on an alumni night Oct. 22, two days before its last MNF event of the drive-in season.

There are other special events planned for the Circle in the months to come. “We’re going to throw everything up against the wall and see what sticks,” Castelli said. “That’s what’s changing about our industry — you have to be a destination.”

For more details and a nice photo from the Valley Advantage article, you really should go read it!

Porterville screen resists demolition

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There’s an odd little story in the Porterville CA Recorder about one of the screens at the Porterville Drive-In. It’s amusing, and a testament to 1950-era engineering, how difficult it was for a demolition company to knock it down.

According to Cinema Treasures, the Porterville opened in May 1950, added a second screen some time later, and closed after the 2004 season. The Burton School District purchased the site earlier this year and “agreed to clean up the area, including removing the two screens.” Since the school district hasn’t mentioned its plans for the property, I’m not sure those screens needed removing. Especially considering the oldest definitely wasn’t in danger of collapse.

That article in the Recorder contains a great play-by-play of Housley Demolition’s diligent work at taking down what was apparently the original screen. Housley workers cut six of the seven steel beams that held up the screen, believing that its weight would make it bend down on the seventh. After the sixth cut, nothing. As the Recorder eloquently put it, “Even the pigeons did not move.”

Then workers spent over two hours cutting the seventh beam, but the screen remained stubborn. The next day, Housley brought a large excavator, which finally pushed the screen down. I guess they really knew how to build eight-story-high screens 66 years ago.

There are some great photos of the demolition process and a lot more details in the Recorder article, so you know you really should go read it!

Monroe MI approves drive-in plan

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Here’s yet another data point in a remarkable season of drive-in renewals. The Frenchtown Township MI planning commission has approved a special use permit and zoning adjustments to allow a developer to rebuild the Denniston Drive-In in Monroe. The next step is for the developer to submit a full site plan to the commission, according to the story in the Monroe News.

The article doesn’t mention his name, but according to Dean Cousino, the hardest-working man in Monroe, the developer is Todd Williams from Brownstown Township. Cousino told me that the full site plan won’t be included in the commission’s next meeting on Oct. 20, so we’ll have to wait to learn more about the project.

The Denniston was a huge single-screen drive-in that opened in the 1950s and closed in the 1980s, when a small two-screen indoor theater took its place there. That theater closed a few years ago. As you can see by the Google Earth View above, the lot is still remarkably clear.

According to the story in the News, the current plan is to face the screen to the east, opposite of original screen’s orientation. The site already has utility service, and the developer plans only a concession stand with restrooms. And a screen, of course. For more details, you really should go read it!