Drive-in me wild: Johnny Rockets wants to bring back the drive-in theater

A rendering of the Johnny Rockets restaurant/drive-in theater concept. Go, Johnny, go!

We've just read a news dispatch that seems just too good to be true for all of us eccentric roadside attraction fans. Johnny Rockets, the restaurant chain with a retro 1950s hamburger joint theme, has partnered with a drive-in theater company (they still have those?) with the intent of building 200 new drive-in theaters (with Johnny Rockets drive-through restaurants attached, of course) by 2018. 200! It seems like a great idea to us... the theater brings in all kinds of folks: young people who have never experienced cinema al fresco before, budget-conscious families (tickets will probably cost around $6) and older folks nostalgic for the good old days. And then Johnny Rockets get to lure everyone to their fine dining establishment for a full night of retro fun and rake in the dough. Whether or not people drive up in droves is anybody's guess (thriving drive in theaters are few and far between) but good for Johnny Rockets for having the vision to look in the rear view mirror while looking ahead.

Here's a gallery of some of the drive-ins we've come across, both thriving and abandoned, on our travels:

 Ruskin, Florida

 San Luis Obispo, California

 Shinnston, West Virginia

 Hyde Park, New York (FDR's hometown)

 Moab, Utah

 

Lincoln, Rhode Island

 

 Lincoln, Pennsylvania

 Middleboro, Massachusetts

Ruskin, Florida

Monte Vista, Colorado

Keeping it reel: The Ruskin Family Drive-In of Ruskin, Florida

How cool would it be to live in that mobile home next to the drive-in?

 Keeping it alive...we like the sound of that.

 They're proud of their 2000 square-foot screen, and who can blame them?

 Thank you, and please come again.

 I believe this is clue that Paul is dead.

All this and a Beloved Drive-In Theatre Cat, too? We liked this place before, but now we love it.

I had a ModBetty moment while driving down the Tamiami Trail (Route 41) in the western part of my new home state of Florida recently. She's the hostess with the mostess of fun retro places to visit at her groovy website Retro Roadmap and the Ruskin Family Drive-In theater has her name written all over it. It's a place that's been around since 1952 (the first movie they screened was "Singin' in the Rain", for crying out loud) and they're still open year round, rain or shine, hot or cold, including holidays. If that isn't dedication to the glorious retro tradition of drive-in movie theaters, we'll eat our pork pie hats. Here's a little something from their website (a website for a drive-in?, now that's a paradox):

"We call it the “Last family drive-in” in the U.S.A. because families, dating couples, single parents with children and everyone else young and old can come and visit.  We had family values when family values were the rule.  We still have family values although by some we’re not considered cool."

Not considered cool? What are you, nuts?...nothing could be cooler. Movie memorabilia fans should take note of the fact that they sell off their old movie posters at the bargain price of $5, so if you're in the market for a "Hunger Games," "Madea Christmas" or "Wolverine" placard, check them out. This money and the snack bar profits go to support their digital projector, a rarity among drive-ins.

Thank you, Ruskin Family Drive-In, for keeping the flame, or flick in this case, burning brightly in the great state of Florida.

You oughta be inn pictures: The Movie Manor motel of Monte Vista, Colorado

Not only does the Movie Manor feature a working drive-in theater, they also still have the old-fashioned speakers you attach to your car...

...and it appears they have at least two brands. This one is an Eprad...

...while this one appears to be a Projected Sound model. Any drive-in aficionados care to enlighten me?

A working drive-in movie theater is a wonder to behold. Relics of a bygone era, they stand proudly as if to say, "Hey, everybody, I'm still here! Home theater? Ha! Is that all ya got, punk? I got chunks of guys like you in my stool!" (okay, that last line came from Phil Hartman). So we were particularly delighted when we came across the Best Western Movie Manor motel while cruising down Highway 160 in south-central Colorado. Back in 1964, the Star Drive-In opened, with a small motel where guests could see the movies from their rooms. Some time later, the Best Western chain took over and changed the name to Best Western Movie Manor and in 2003 they added a second screen for an additional 200 cars. An old self-promotional postcard has this to say about the place (thank you Roloff):

"Kelloff's Best Western Movie Manor, the world's only movie motel. A unique concept in accommodations. Rooms face a giant outdoor movie screen so you can enjoy watching the latest movies, complete with sound, without leaving the comfort of your room. Kelloff's Restaurant, next to the motel, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. While you enjoy your meal, view two spectacular mountain ranges - the San Juans and Sangre de Cristos."

We were on a rather tight travel schedule, so we weren't able to take advantage of this extraordinary movie-lodging opportunity, but we did stop to snap a few pictures. And that post card copywriter wasn't just blowing smoke about the mountain range scenery being spectacular.

Be sure to check out this panoramic photo display from the motel's website.

Beautiful mountain scenery by day, and the theatrical stylings of Mr. Vin Diesel on a screen the size of a Zeppelin hangar by night, all without leaving the comfort of your one-queen, one-king or two-queen bedroom...Colorado, we like your style.

Lactose Intolerant: Rhode Island's Abandoned Milk Can Building

The thriving Rustic Drive-In is across the street.

And just down the road is Coffee & Cream, home of the giant travel mug.

The Milk Can's story is a well-intentioned but sad one. The building dates back to 1929 and is a prime example of that era's buildings-shaped-like-things roadside architecture. It went out of business in 1968 and sat vacant until the state wanted to use the land it was on for a highway exit ramp in the 1980s. Stanley Surtel Jr. and his father-in-law Frank D'Andrea bought the structure for $1,100 and had it moved from its original Lincoln, Rhode Island location to a new spot a mile down the road on Route 146 in North Smithfield. Almost immediately, the new owners encountered problems. It took preservationists and highway officials 17 months to devise a way to move the building without damaging it. Then regulations for installing a septic system added another delay. Surtel and D'Andrea put $50,000 into restoration when the state informed them the ground water on the new location was horribly contaminated with 600 times the allowable amount of benzine. Never reopened, the structure has been sitting on that same plot since 1991.

As much as I love beautifully restored or original old places, abandoned ones have a special eccentric quality all their own. Poignant, sad, ironic, spooky, or just plain weird... it's all good.

The Milk Can is on a particularly fertile stretch of Route 146. The spectacular Rustic Drive-In is across the street and is the rarest of rare roadside attractions: a thriving drive-in movie theater showing first-run fare like the new Harry Potter movie and selling out. And just down the road, a newer structure, the Coffee and Cream, is a recent establishment with the feel of an old time place but with a contemporary spin: a giant travel mug out front. But the Milk Can is the cream of the crop in this trifecta of retro Rhody road sites. It's an udder delight.