Video: Moonlite Reopens in West Wyoming PA

Great news! After sitting idle for 30 years, the Moonlite Drive-In in West Wyoming PA has reopened. Even better is that we have video of the event courtesy of WNEP, Scranton’s News Leader.

Owner Eric Symeon bought the place in early 2017 and spent two years working to clear out the effects of decades of neglect. He told the nearby Times Leader, “There was only two of us working on it, clearing the land, doing all new sewers, electric.” WNEP added the detail that over 200 trees were removed to make room for the restored parking ramps.

If you want to read more about the process, Carload ran stories on Symeon’s work as he applied to reopen the Moonlite and when he bought the drive-in’s digital projector from the freshly closed Cascade Drive-In of West Chicago IL earlier this year. Then sit back, watch the video, and rejoice that another drive-in has rejoined the land of the living.

Please Buy My New Book

About a year ago, I had an idea that clicked so hard in my head that I couldn’t shake it out. It was for a book I wanted to read, an intersection between two nostalgic niches – Route 66 and drive-in theaters. Since nobody else had published the book I wanted, I was stuck with the task of writing it.

For the past six months, I’ve been working on gathering all the details and images I can legally plop into my book, and now it’s ready for you to read. Drive-Ins of Route 66 is available on Amazon as a Kindle book, a full-color paperback, and a less expensive black and white paperback. The Kindle version is also included for Kindle Unlimited members. (And of course, if you click through the links in this post, I get a small affiliate percentage in addition to any royalties I’d earn.)

This book is chock full of quirky turns of phrase, old and new illustrations, and the stories behind each of the 105 drive-in theaters that ever existed within about two miles of Route 66, or one of its alternates, while it was active. Some tell of fights with the censors, some tell of fights with each other, and at least one drive-in is described for the first time in print in over half a century. I’ll be adding some excerpts (such as the chapter called A Short History of Drive-Ins) here on Carload in the weeks to come so you can get a taste.

This book is meant to be periodically updated with new information. So if you spot a mistake or know something interesting to add, let me know so I can include it in the next edition. With ebooks, that next edition could be out next week.

If you’re okay with reading books on a device or your computer (however you’re reading this now), I’d recommend the Kindle version, which lets you see some very nice color photos at a fraction of the cost of the full-color paperback. (It turns out that printing dozens of book pages with all of those inks gets expensive.) You know you want to read this, so go buy it!

Video: Rodeo Celebrates 70 Years

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of local TV news segments about nearby drive-in theaters. This week, KING-TV, Seattle’s News Leader, posted an affectionate look at Bremerton WA’s Rodeo Drive-In Theatre that has to be in my Top Ten.

As I wrote two years ago during my Drive-In-A-Day Odyssey, “Rodeo Motor Movies” opened in 1949 as a single-screen drive-in for about 600 cars. The Seattle-based Cascade/Seven Gables Cinemas bought the Rodeo in 1977 and added two more screens the following year, expanding the capacity total to about 1000 cars.

Jack and Cindy Ondracek bought the rundown Rodeo in 1986 after it had been for sale for several years, and they still own it today. “It was a big leap of faith at the time but it worked out real well,” said Jack, who is now the projectionist. Cindy runs the box office, and oldest daughter Cheryl manages the snack bar.

KING’s video, which I can’t recommend highly enough, shows plenty of patrons relaxing and getting happy waiting for the movie to start. Its story ends with a perfect quote from Cindy: “People up here value the fact that the evening is sometimes the most amazing part of the entire day. Out here we kind of embrace that, and we give you a great way to finish the day off.”

There are photos and more details in KING’s post online. For a good time, you really should go read it!