AUT-O-RAMA Drive-in Theater

North Ridgeville, Ohio

At the end of June, 1999, I was traveling east at night on I-80, not far west of Cleveland. I'd been out to Montana to teach a platinum workshop at Photographer's Formulary, then spent some time doing large format landscape work as I made my way to meet with friends in Billings. But then I had to do a long straight-through ride back from Billings to Connecticut, making the trip in just over 48 hours. I had to get back to deal with a series of important doctor's appointments for my father in New Jersey. As I cruised in the dark along the interstate, I was amazed to see a huge moving picture just off to the right of the roadway. An enormous drive-in movie screen. I noted what the next exit number was so I could find out more about the drive-in. I hadn't really begun my DI theater project yet. When I did begin seriously researching and locating DI theaters in 2001, I found that this had to have been the AUT-O-RAMA. As I accumulated more and more 8x10 and 7x17 inch pictures of the theaters, I remembered the theater by the highway, and visualized, well, this.

When I'd gotten the clearing storm pictures at Norwalk, I called the owner of the AUT-O-RAMA and let her know I'd be arriving in the area late in the afternoon. She had chores to do at the theater and agreed to meet me for an interview. It was stormy again, but as afternoon moved toward evening it got a little brighter and I set up my 7x17" Korona for a nice framing of the lot and screen and highway with passing trucks, in the dull overcast light. Suddenly once again the clouds parted in the west, the sun dropped out and brilliantly lit the screen against a backdrop of dark clouds. I got 7x17 and 8x10 b&w negatives, along with color digital captures. A picture I'd had in my mind for more than a decade, finally captured.

North Ridgeville, Ohio

It was a great ending for this expedition, the last theater on my itinerary. I found a cheap place to stay less than a mile away and made some more pictures in early morning light the next day. They've got the transportation front covered here, not only is the Interstate adjacent to the main screen, but a railroad with lots of freight traffic runs on the south border, and planes constantly pass directly overhead, probably leaving Cleveland. It must make for some noise pollution, but the movie sound here is entirely converted to short range FM broadcast so a car stereo probably does a fine job countering the ambient noise.

Stencil

Waterbury, Connecticut

This stencil  has been turning up in a few places. I don't recall seeing it until recently.

detail

Starview Drive-in Theater

Norwalk, Ohio

After a couple of hours at the Tri-Way, waiting for early morning fog to lift enough for shooting, I headed east across Indiana and into Ohio. I wound up in a severe storm system just before reacing the Starview theater. But just as I got there the storm broke and made for really interesting shooting conditions.

Norwalk, Ohio

GONE DANCING

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

AMERICAN DARLING VALVE

Waterbury, Connecticut

There's just no end to the surprises that fire hydrants offer.

Tri-Way Drive-in Theater

Plymouth, Indiana

The Tri-Way is a four screen theater (the name is a geographical reference) not far from The Melody. Both serve the same resort lake area. The marquee is new, but painstakingly designed and built in the tradition of classic big neon marquees from decades ago.

Plymouth, Indiana

The field is big and the owner is proud of his concession stand with a wide selection of restaurant quality foods. 

Plymouth, Indiana

There's also an extensive miniature golf course, all custom built on site with no stock parts. The owner met me early in the morning at the theater for a fascinating interview.

Hole in the Sky

Naugatuck, Connecticut

This effect was created by two cloud banks crossing into each other. It lasted a surprisingly long time before the clouds blended together.

49'er and Melody Drive-in Theaters

Valpariso, Indiana

After making a 7x17 negative and some digital captures at the Kenosha, north of Chicago, I hit the toll roads to get past the city before rush hour. At about four o'clock the 49'er DI in Valpariso was in nice light with a sky that seemed very mid-western to me. Even in a relatively narrow view you sense the breadth and flatness of the land.

Knox, Indiana

By five-thirty I'd reached The Melody Drive-in, a meticulously maintained theater that again goes all the way back to 1949. The owner is second generation, having bought the theater from his father.  The western sky was completely overcast when I arrived. The owner and I wandered around the lot, talking about the theater's history as I worked out potential camera positions. Suddenly the sun popped out. I ran for the car and set up for both 8x10 and 7x17 b&w negatives, along with digital captures.

Knox, Indiana

This is a tourist area, with several lakes and numerous resorts that draw enough people during the summer season that two drive-in theaters with a total of six screens find plenty of customers.

PUBLIC IGNORANCE IS CORPORATE BLISS

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

A completely text-based bit of graffiti, with no graphic element at all. Dead on, though.

Assorted Signs and Nicknacks

Naugatuck, Connecticut

detail

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Kenosha Drive-in Theater

Kenosha, Wisconsin

This theater has a single screen and a large field that can hold 800 cars. It has been operating continuously since 1949—hmm, just like me—and is the oldest of Wisconsin's working drive-ins.

Storm Clouds

Naugatuck, Connecticut

Approaching storm, yesterday afternoon. This morning in Woodbury there's snow on the ground, several inches of wet heavy stuff since the temperature is right at the freezing point.

Another Drive-in Theater in the Cornfields

Jefferson, Wisconsin

The Highway 18 theater, which has been operating since 1953. Highway 18 would have been the main route between Milwaukee and Madison back then, though there's an Interstate running parallel a few miles north now. This theater had closed for the season already on September 20th, and had more hostile KEEP OUT and NO TRESPASSING signs scattered about than almost any other DI I've ever found on my expeditions. Well, there was one in West Virginia that had a sign that said, "Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be prosecuted." Luckily, I found nothing particularly special about the theater itself, other than a lot of obsessive-compulsive instruction signs about how patrons should behave. But the marquee is literally unique. I've never seen anything like it. The tall pole could make you think it's like a modern gas station sign lifted to be visible from the highway, and perhaps this presentation doesn't go all the way back to the fifties. But the graphic style of the sign is pure "Googie" style. This was very big during the heyday of the DI theater so either the sign has been there all along or, if it's new, is a conscious tribute to DI theater traditions. Either way I found the marquee was worth two very different pictures with the 8x10 and 7x17 cameras. This M-4/3s digital capture is close to the 8x10, but still a third rendering of the subject.

Jefferson, Wisconsin

Of course I disobeyed the signs, just not with 40+ pounds of view camera equipment. I made a quick survey with a digital camera in hand. Just one of many micro-mangement signs was next to a gap in the fence. It said, in red, NO PATRONS BEYOND THIS POINT,  and then in black, DO NOT APPROACH THE BOX OFFICE! Hmm, survivors will be...

Church and State

North Canaan, Connecticut

Big Sky Drive-in Theater

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

"Big Sky" is one of the most common names for drive-in theaters. In the case of this large three-screen venue a couple miles outside the resort town of Wisconsin Dells, it seems appropriate.

UNSAFE ICE CONDITIONS

Lee, Massachusetts

Stating the obvious. But then it's really weird to have so little ice in western Massachusetts in February. Ordinarily at this time of the year the summer boat launch would be a convenient parking area for ice skaters. Meanwhile, Europe is in a record deep freeze. Strange doings.

Skyway Drive-in Theater

Fish Creek, Wisconsin

The Door County peninsula extends northeast from the city of Green Bay, WI, up into Lake Michigan. It's a vacation resort area, along with a fair amount of farmland in the middle of the strip of land. The Skyway is an old but beautifully maintained theater near the top of the peninsula. There was another theater just a few miles away up until a couple years ago, but all I found at the right location was a large vacation house development under construction. As at Manestique, the flatness of the land and the nearly surrounding large body of water made for a particular kind of light and sky that I'm not used to seeing in the hills of western Connecticut.

Fish Creek, Wisconsin

Once again there is some playground equipment, some of it dating back fifty years or more, some of it plastic stuff that must have been installed recently. Here's a link to a GoogleMap showing the theater (not where entering the address initially takes you, btw). To get a sense of how surrounded by water this is, look at this zoomed out view.

Dig Safe

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Manestique Drive-in Theater

Manestique, Michigan

I knew that this theater had been operating as recently as about ten years ago, but was no longer. The only address information I had was "on Rt. 2" which wasn't enough for me to find a view on Google Maps or MapQuest so I didn't know what to look for. As I neared the town the theater was easy to spot. The field is overgrown, but the screen is in terrific shape and the center house looks tight and in good repair, though I don't know if there's any equipment in it. If there is, it would be easy to start it up again, but the current owners of the property don't seem to have any interest in running a drive-in.

Manestique, Michigan

The flat land and broad sky—at least to someone who lives in southern New England—struck me as very mid-western looking, and also the light had a look I associate with being near a lot of water. The town is right on the lake and the light reminds me of the light on Cape Cod. These lakes are big. The sandy soil also reminded me of The Cape or the Jersey Shore. This is another theater that shows up well on GoogleMaps, once you find it. Here's a view of the lake shore just a few minutes down the road from the theater. To someone like me, not used to big lakes, it would be easy to pass this off as an ocean view.

Manestique, Michigan

M

Canaan, Connecticut

Getty 4 and Cherry Bowl Drive-in Theaters

Muskegon Heights, Michigan

September 16 turned out to be a long, productive day. After making pictures at the Sunset Theater in Hartford I left at about noon for what the GPS predicted would be an hour and a half drive to Muskegon Heights and the Getty 4. This turns out to be a really large four-screen theater with a gravel and grass field surrounded by a fringe of trees and shrubs for privacy and light pollution screening around the entrance side and a surprisingly large wooded area at the back. The layout of this theater shows up wonderfully in the aerial view in Google Maps.

Muskegon Heights, Michigan

The theater had just closed for the season the week before, but I got to talk with the management who were on site preparing the grounds for the winter break. The Getty still uses a lot of traditional pole speakers and they were all meticulously wrapped in plastic for the long off season. Between the northern latitude and lake effects I'm sure Muskegon sees some pretty serious winter weather.

Honor, Michigan

I left the Getty 4 with a projected two hour and forty minute ride to Honor, MI, and The Cherry Bowl, one of the most well-known drive-in theaters in the country. I got there right at five o'clock with really nice late light on the amazing screen tower, plus the other features like old cars, giant hot dogs and chickens, a miniature golf course, and more.

 Honor, Michigan

I've already written about my visit here at this post from the road. I also posted from the road on how the day finally ended, in Traverse City, MI,  where I found a place to stay at seven thirty, or about twelve hours, 391 miles, and six drive-in theaters after the day began in Coldwater, MI. The Cherry Bowl's name comes from the fact that cherries are the area's primary agricultural crop. In fact, not far away in Charlevoix there's a monument to what's claimed to have been the largest cherry pie ever created.

SALE

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Three Simple Theaters

Mendon, Michigan

After photographing the colorful Capri theater in very early morning light I headed west for two theaters I'd researched online but had not been able to make contact with ahead of time. On the way, I ran into this derelict theater on the highway in Mendon. The morning light was still really nice and I made b&w 8x10 pictures and digital captures.

Dowagiac, Michigan

The 5-Mile Drive-in Theater is neat and clean but plain and simple. Except for the strange stonework component of the marquee. It had closed for the season just a week earlier, and would seem to be related to another theater not far away in Hartford, MI.

Dowagiac, Michigan

There were no speaker poles, and no instructions at the ticket booth about tuning to a short range FM broadcast, but there were large speakers mounted on top of the single screen and on stanchions at the back of the field. It's rare for a theater to rely on loudspeakers but this is a small field with no nearby neighbors so I think that's what's going on.

Dowagiac, Michigan

Strange to see a drive-in field without any speaker poles at all, not even empty ones to help with parking. There are those big loudspeakers at the top of the screen. The playground equipment is a nice touch as well. This used to be standard but insurance and liability problems have made playground equipment a rarity.

Hartford, Michigan

The Sunset is also well kept and just about as simple as you can get.

CLOSED

Lee, Massachusetts

More Fire Suppression Facilities

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

The Capri Drive-in Theater

Coldwater, Michigan

The impeccably maintained Capri is one of the most well-known and successful drive-ins in the country. It will open for its 48th season this year.

Coldwater, Michigan

When the Capri switched from window speakers to FM broadcast sound, they removed the speaker poles, which interestingly turned out to be a mistake. People parked farther apart, and the management found they were having to turn people away,  having filled the lot, but with fewer cars than before. The answer was to install empty plastic poles to guide parking.

Coldwater, Michigan

Red, White, and Blue

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

Auburn/Garrett Drive-in Theater

Garrett, Indiana

Named for the two nearest towns, this theater couldn't be more simply built, but it's been around since 1951, showing first-run films last September.

Garrett, Indiana